Institutional Economics (Vol. 2)

康芒斯The Commercial Press · ChinaApr 2023

Rating 4.2
Word count
380K words
Chapters
37
ISBN
9787100081313

Tags

Finance and Economics Property TransactionMonopoly CapitalEconomic SystemEconomic SchoolCapitalismHistory of Economic ThoughtConcept EvolutionCollective ActionAcademic MonographTheoretical Origins

Summary

This book is one of the major works of the American bourgeois economist John R. Commons, centrally reflecting Commons's erroneous ideas in openly defending monopoly capitalism; it is an important representative work of the institutional school. The book imitates the teaching of the natural sciences. Every idea included in the book is traced back to its founder, then the gradual revisions and changes of that idea are stated, and the early double or triple meanings of each idea are separated out until each idea, as a single meaning, is combined with the other ideas in the political economy science I envision.

Editor's review

Commons's Institutional Economics (Volume II) is a foundational work of the institutional economics school, and the Commercial Press translation is known for its rigor. This book is not an easy popular economics read; rather, it explores in depth the complex relationship between legal institutions, collective action, and economic development. Commons treats transactions as the basic unit of economics and emphasizes the decisive influence of law and custom on economic behavior—a perspective that still has strong explanatory power for emerging issues such as the platform economy and data property rights today.

Reading this book requires some foundation in economics and legal history. The second volume focuses on the logic of collective action, the construction of economic order under the legal framework, and the institutional evolution of capitalism. Commons's discussion bears a clear imprint of the American Progressive Era and is extremely helpful for understanding the institutional foundations of modern economies. His theory provided an important source of ideas for later property rights economics and law and economics.

As a professional reader, I believe the value of this book lies in its systematic nature—it provides a complete theoretical framework for analyzing economic institutions. Although some cases are slightly dated, the core propositions remain evergreen. The Commercial Press edition preserves the scholarly weight of the original, with detailed notes, and is suitable for in-depth study. It is recommended to read it alongside works of economic history to better appreciate the historical depth of Commons's theory.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read Volume I or the preface first to grasp the core concepts and framework of Commons's theory
  2. Can be read comparatively alongside works of economic history, such as North's Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
  3. Focus on the discussion of core concepts such as "transaction" and "collective action," and consider their applicability in the contemporary digital economy

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 汉译世界学术名著丛书
  3. 第九章 未来性
  4. Ⅰ 债务的流通性
  5. Ⅱ 债务的解除
  6. Ⅲ 债务的创造
  7. Ⅳ 债务的稀少性
  8. Ⅴ 利息和利润贴现（或折扣）
  9. Ⅵ 交易的货币和价值制度
  10. Ⅶ 利润的边际
  11. Ⅷ 世界范围的偿付社会
  12. Ⅸ 社会
  13. 第十章 合理的价值
  14. Ⅰ 凡勃伦
  15. Ⅱ 从个人到制度
  16. Ⅲ 从自然权利到合理价值
  17. Ⅳ 统治权
  18. Ⅴ 习惯的假设
  19. Ⅵ 理想的典型
  20. Ⅶ 集体行动
  21. 第十一章 共产主义、法西斯主义、资本主义
  22. 译名对照表
  23. 〔三画〕
  24. 〔四画〕
  25. 〔五画〕
  26. 〔六画〕
  27. 〔七画〕
  28. 〔八画〕
  29. 〔九画〕
  30. 〔十画〕
  31. 〔十一画〕
  32. 〔十二画〕
  33. 〔十三画〕
  34. 〔十四画〕
  35. 〔十五画〕
  36. 〔十六画〕
  37. 〔十七画〕

FAQ

What are the similarities and differences between this book and the views of institutional economists such as North and Coase? Commons places greater emphasis on law, collective action, and conflict resolution, and his analysis is more legal in character; North focuses on institutional change and economic performance; Coase focuses on transaction costs and property rights. Commons provided an important foundation for institutional analysis in subsequent research.
Do I need to read Volume I before reading this book? Reading in order is recommended. Volume I establishes the theoretical framework and core concepts, and Volume II carries out in-depth analysis on that basis; reading Volume II directly may make it difficult to grasp its logical thread.
How does this book help in understanding contemporary economic issues? Commons's analysis of transactions, property rights, and collective action provides a classic theoretical perspective for understanding modern institutional issues such as platform governance, data property rights, and industry standard-setting, helping to see through surface phenomena to the essence of institutions.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

康芒斯 Author

Commons is an author relatively often mentioned in Chinese books on finance and economics. Publicly available biographical information about him is limited, and the existing material is not enough to sketch a complete career, so readers' understanding of the person and his work comes mainly from the works themselves. Two of his books are included here, Institutional Economics (Volume One) and Institutional Economics (Volume Two), both classified under finance and economics, which shows that his writing centers on the field of institutional economics. In terms of subject matter, these two works address the relationship between institutions and economic operation, and are theoretical in nature, involving the construction of a framework and the systematic organization of ideas; they can serve as introductory or reference reading for understanding the basic framework of institutional economics. Stylistically, the works consist mainly of thematic discussion, with attention to defining and developing concepts, and the arrangement of chapters serves theoretical exposition rather than popular case studies. As for influence, the continued inclusion and reading of Commons's works in Chinese finance and economics books suggests that his discussion still has reference value for issues related to institutional economics. Owing to limited public information, no further inferences about his life are made here.