Abstract
Lerner stated in 1972 that
‘An economic transaction is a solved political problem. Economics bas gained the title the queen of the social sciences by choosing solved political problems as its domain’ (1972, p. 259; italics in original).
Lerner’s first point was correct; when people engage in commodity exchange, the exchange is uncontested and non political. Because an economic transaction is a solved politicla problem, when a market operates we are not in the realm of politics, the world of infuence, persuasion and bureaucracy, but the more frictionless realm of economics.
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Notes
Lerner stated ‘With or without a fight, there is a settlement or compromise in which the rights are defined.… What I want particularly to stress is that the solution is essentially the transformation of the conflict from a political problem to an economic transaction’ (1972, p. 259; italics in original)
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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Ridley, M.A. (1998). Introduction and Motivation. In: Lowering the Cost of Emission Reduction: Joint Implementation in the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Environment & Policy, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5256-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5256-3_1
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