Publisher's Synopsis
Democracy is the rule of the people. Exchange is supply and demand. Individualism, agreement, tolerance and choice are the underlying values that make possible the productive collaboration of the market and the state. This book assesses the theories of democracy and exchange of five interdisciplinary thinkers who tried to unite political and economic reasoning into a single theory of moderation and pragmatic management.
Democracy and Exchange is about the twin pillars of the consultative order. The subject is perennially topical and interesting, both in rich countries and in less-developed countries that are developing their own institutional mix. It also provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of the political economy of five seminal theorists: Adam Smith, Richard Titmuss, T.H. Marshall, J.K. Galbraith and Joseph Schumpeter.
David Reisman's book will be of great interest to academics trying to understand the history of economic, political and social ideas, institutional economics, economic sociology and social policy. It is a comprehensive and novel interpretation of two related interrelated concepts, five difficult authors and some of the most pressing issues in present-day debates.
