New perspectives on economic development : : a human agency approach / / Fu-Lai Tony Yu.

• Author: Yu, Tony Fu-Lai.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: 1st ed. 2011.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (182 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This book is the first of its kind to use Austrian subjectivism to analyze issues in economic development. Unlike scholars in mainstream neoclassical economics who explain economic development by quantitative growth models, this book attempts to understand economic progress in human agency perspective. In this approach, human agency is placed at the centre of economic analysis. This book begins with a review of the theories of economic development in the history of Austrian economics, with the intention of extending the contributions of major Austrian economists to development economics. After pointing out the weaknesses in the orthodox neoclassical approach to economic growth, the book then puts forward a subjectivist methodology which integrates the contributions of Max Weber, Alfred Schutz and Austrian Economists to interpret economic phenomena and policies. This chapter also serves as a methodological foundation for arguments elaborated in subsequent chapters. The rest of the book discusses important issues in economic development, namely, entrepreneurial process, national capabilities, innovation, trade, government, transition and catching up strategies for firms in latecomer economies. The book ends with concluding remarks and a proposal for a new research agenda in economic development. This book is well written, free from mathematics and is highly readable. It adds new insights not only in economics, but also in management, politics and social sciences. It will be useful to scholars, policy makers and students in economic development, entrepreneurship, theory of the firm, management of innovation, government policy, economic sociology, Austrian and evolutionary economics.

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgments -- Table of contents -- Chapter 1. Economic development in Austrian economics -- 1.1 Introduction: economic development in Austrian economics -- 1.2 Carl Menger: uncertainty, knowledge and entrepreneurship -- 1.3 Eugene von Bohm-Bawerk: the roundabout production process in the capitalist development -- 1.4 Ludwig von Mises: entrepreneurship, economic calculation and the market process -- 1.5 Friedrick A. Hayek: competition, discovery process and spontaneous growth -- 1.6 Israel M. Kirzner: entrepreneurial discovery as the engine of economic growth -- 1.7 Implications on constructing an Austrian model of economic development -- Chapter 2. Bringing human agency back in: a subjectivist approach to economic development -- 2.1 Orthodox neoclassical approaches to economic development: a critique -- 2.2 Uncertainty, knowledge problems and entrepreneurship as the centre of economic analysis -- 2.3 Foundations of the Austrian subjectivist approach -- 2.4 Human action, sense-making and the formation of interpretation framework -- 2.5 Entrepreneurial learning and the market process -- 2.6 Trial and error elimination -- 2.7 Competition, market selection and coordination -- Chapter 3. The entrepreneurial process -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Theories of the entrepreneurial process in economics -- 3.3 The entrepreneurial process as a process of subjective interpretation -- 3.4 Success or failure: profit or loss in the entrepreneurial process -- 3.5 Summary -- Chapter 4. National capabilities -- 4.1 A need for a new research agenda -- 4.2 Foundation of national capabilities -- 4.3 Formation of agent's capabilities: experience and interpretation -- 4.4 Capabilities to innovate -- 4.5 From individual agent to firm capabilities -- Chapter 5. Innovation and communication -- Chapter 6. Economics of international trade -- Chapter 7. Government as a learner -- Chapter 8. A new perspective on transition -- Chapter 9. Entrepreneurial strategies for small firms in latecomer economies -- Chapter 10. Conclusion.