Pareto, Economics and Society: The Mechanical Analogy (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics)

240 Pages·2001·1.03 MB·English

by  Michael McLure

Pareto, Economics and Society

Vilfredo Pareto was one of the great systems theorists of the twentieth century.
His systems embraced theories of economics, psychology, sociology and
politics. In this important work, Michael McLure takes as his subject of study
the rapport between Pareto’s economic and sociological approaches to theory,
and consequently illuminates the role of economics in public policy
development.
A central theme of this book is the overarching role of the ‘mechanical
analogy’ in all of Pareto’s work. Important aspects and implications of Pareto’s
work considered by the author include
(cid:127) relations between pure economic theory and general sociology
(cid:127) the problem of collective economic welfare
(cid:127) the juxtaposition of Pareto’s political sociology to Buchanan’s public
choice/constitutional economics
(cid:127) Pareto and methodology
(cid:127) implications for public policy and government
Emerging from this investigation is a new, multidisciplinary research
framework for economists, sociologists and political scientists, and an
invaluable ‘Paretian’ framework for the study of government and public
policy.
Michael McLure is a researcher for the Western Australian Treasury on
matters related to economic and financial policy. His work on Pareto includes
a four-volume edited collection, with J.C.Wood, Vilfredo Pareto: Critical
Assessments (Routledge 1999).
i
Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
1 Economics as Literature 14 The Political Economy of Social
Willie Henderson Credit and Guild Socialism
Frances Hutchinson and Brian Burkitt
2 Socialism and Marginalism in
Economics 1870–1930 15 Economic Careers
Edited by Ian Steedman Economics and economists in
Britain 1930–1970
3 Hayek’s Political Economy Keith Tribe
The socio-economics of order
16 Understanding ‘Classical’
Steve Fleetwood
Economics
Studies in the long-period theory
4 On the Origins of Classical
Economics Heinz Kurz and Neri Salvadori
Distribution and value from William
17 History of Environmental
Petty to Adam Smith
Economic Thought
Tony Aspromourgos
E.Kula
5 The Economics of Joan Robinson 18 Economic Thought in
Edited by Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Luigi Communist and Post-Communist
Pasinetti and Alesandro Roncaglia Europe
Edited by Hans-Jürgen Wagener
6 The Evolutionist Economics of
Léon Walras 19 Studies in the History of French
Albert Jolink Political Economy
From Bodin to Walras
7 Keynes and the ‘Classics’ Edited by Gilbert Faccarello
A study in language, epistemology
20 The Economics of John Rae
and mistaken identities
Edited by O.F.Hamouda, C.Lee and
Michel Verdon
D. Mair
8 The History of Game Theory, Vol. 1 21 Keynes and the Neoclassical
From the beginnings to 1945 Synthesis
Robert W.Dimand and Mary Ann
Einsteinian versus Newtonian
Dimand
macroeconomics
Teodoro Dario Togati
9 The Economics of W.S.Jevons
Sandra Peart 22 Historical Perspectives on
Macroeconomics
10 Gandhi’s Economic Thought Sixty years after the ‘General Theory’
Ajit K.Dasgupta Edited by Philippe Fontaine and
Albert Jolink
11 Equilibrium and Economic Theory
Edited by Giovanni Caravale 23 The Founding of Institutional
Economics
12 Austrian Economics in Debate The leisure class and sovereignty
Edited by Willem Keizer, Bert Tieben and Edited by Warren J.Samuels
Rudy van Zijp
24 Evolution of Austrian Economics
From Menger to Lachmann
13 Ancient Economic Thought
Sandye Gloria
Edited by B.B.Price
25 Marx’s Concept of Money: The God of 37 The Decline of Ricardian
Commodities Economics
Anitra Nelson Politics and economics in post-
Ricardian theory
26 The Economics of James Steuart
Susan Pashkoff
Edited by Ramón Tortajada
38 Piero Sraffa
27 The Development of Economics
His life, thought and cultural heritage
in Europe since 1945
Alessandro Roncaglia
Edited by A.W.Bob Coats
39 Equilibrium and Disequilibrium
28 The Canon in the History of
in Economic Theory
Economics
The Marshall-Walras divide
Critical essays
Edited by Michel de Vroey
Edited by Michalis Psalidopoulos
40 The German Historical School
29 Money and Growth
The historical and ethical approach
Selected papers of Allyn Abbott Young
to economics
Edited by Perry G.Mehrling and
Edited by Yuichi Shionoya
Roger J. Sandilands
30 The Social Economics of Jean- 41 Reflections on the Classical
Baptiste Say Canon in Economics
Markets and virtue Essays in honor of Samuel Hollander
Evelyn L.Forget Edited by Sandra Peart and Evelyn
Forget
31 The Foundations of Laissez-Faire
The economics of Pierre de Boisguilbert
42 Piero Sraffa’s Political Economy
Gilbert Faccarello
A centenary estimate
32 John Ruskin’s Political Economy Edited by Terenzio Cozzi and
Willie Henderson Roberto Marchionatti
33 Contributions to the History of
43 The Contribution of Joseph
Economic Thought
A.Schumpeter to Economics
Essays in honour of R.D.C.Black
Richard Arena and Cecile D angel
Edited by Antoin E.Murphy and
Renee Prendergast
44 On the Development of Long-
34 Towards an Unknown Marx run NeoClassical Theory
A commentary on the manuscripts Tom Kompas
of 1861–63
Enrique Dussel
45 Economic Analysis and Political
35 Economics and Interdisciplinary Economy in the Thought of Hayek
Exchange Edited by Thierry Aimar and Jack
Edited by Guido Erreygers Birner
36 Economics as the Art of Thought
46 Pareto, Economics and Society
Essays in honour of G.L.S.Shackle
The mechanical analogy
Edited by Stephen F.Frowen and Peter Earl
Michael McLure

Pareto, Economics and
Society

The mechanical analogy

Michael McLure
London and New York
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
©2001 Michael McLure
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
McLure, Michael, 1959–
Pareto, economics and society/Michael McLure
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Pareto, Vilfredo, 1848–1923. 2. Economists—Italy. 3. Policy
sciences. I. Title
HB109.P3 M38 2000
330.15'43–dc21 00–058258
ISBN 0-203-47076-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-77900-2 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-24174-X (Print Edition)
Contents
List of illustrations x
Foreword xi
Preface xiv
Acknowledgements xvii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The purpose of the study 1
1.2 Central thesis and research goals 2
1.3 The contribution of the study 5
1.4 Economic approaches to Paretian studies 7
1.5 The structure of this research 10
1.6 Conclusion 15
Appendix 1.1 Pure economic studies of Pareto’s work 15
Appendix 1.2 Socio-economic studies of Pareto’s work 17
Appendix 1.3 Sociological/political studies of Pareto’s work 18
2 Methodology 20
2.1 Introduction 20
2.2 Methodological lessons from the physical sciences 21
2.3 Scientific propositions about social phenomena 27
2.4 The study of non-logical conduct 28
2.5 Some critical assessments 32
2.6 Conclusion 38
3 Method: the analytical elements of pure economics and
general sociology 40
3.1 Introduction 40
3.2 Pure economics: the evolution of homo œconomicus 40
3.3 General sociology: elites, residues, derivations, interests 50
3.4 The rapport between pure economics and general sociology 58
vii
viii Contents
3.5 Rational fools in relation to logical and non-logical conduct 61
3.6 Economic policy: logical and non-logical conduct 63
3.7 Conclusion 64
4 Determinism, ideology and the mechanical analogy 67
4.1 Introduction 67
4.2 The mechanical analogy and Laplacian determinism 68
4.3 Mirowski’s critique of Pareto on exchange theory 71
4.4 The mechanical analogy in the Cours 73
4.5 Integrating the mechanical analogy with the economic
‘fact of choice’ 76
4.6 Dobb: the cause of value in general equilibrium systems 78
4.7 Conclusion 87
Appendix 4.1 Mirowski (1989): the conservation of energy and the
neoclassical theory of value 87
Appendix 4.2 Mirowski (1989): comments on Pareto and the
integrability problem 90
5 Collective economic welfare 91
5.1 Introduction 91
5.2 “Il Massimo di Utilità dato dalla Libera Concorrenza”
and the Cours 93
5.3 The Scorza/Pareto polemic (I): sociology of knowledge 98
5.4 The Scorzal Pareto polemic (II): economic maximum and
methodology 101
5.5 The Scorza/Pareto polemic (III): Chipman’s final comments 107
5.6 Scorza’s influence on the 1906 Manuale/1909 Manual 110
5.7 Conclusion 113
Appendix 5.1 Equations related to collective economic welfare 114
6 Les Systèmes Socialistes and Buchanan’s constitutive elements of
economic policy 119
6.1 Introduction 119
6.2 Sentiment and socialist systems 120
6.3 Romance and democracy 123
6.4 Methodological individualism 124
6.5 Homo œconomicus 125
6.6 Politics-as-exchange or politics-as-power? 130
6.7 Normative issues: rules, outcomes and social selection 133
6.8 Conclusion 137
Contents ix
7 Rationality, individualism and public policy 139
7.1 Introduction 139
7.2 Irreducibly social goods 140
7.3 Rational and irrational behaviour 143
7.4 Preference manipulation and non-logical actions 147
7.5 Preference differentiation by type and institution 152
7.6 Conclusion 153
8 Government and public policy 155
8.1 Introduction 155
8.2 Contextual information 156
8.3 Personal utility, expected social utility and ‘government’ 163
8.4 Public policy 172
8.5 Conclusion 175
Appendix 8.1 Preference types, personal utility and expected social
utility 176
9 Conclusion 179
9.1 General finding 179
9.2 Findings related to the goals of the study 179
9.3 Future research 185
Appendix: Pareto’s major publications 187
Notes 194
Bibliography 206
Index 219