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Exploitation

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The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
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Abstract

This term ‘exploitation’ is used to characterize social relationships in which one party takes advantage of the attributes or position of another. Used normatively, it conveys the stronger sense that the exploiter takes inappropriate or unfair advantage of another’s condition. While the concept has been invoked in a number of economic contexts, it has been treated most extensively in Marxist analysis of class relations in market economies, featuring in particular orthodox, neo-Ricardian, and rational-choice Marxist approaches to the phenomenon. There is ongoing debate concerning both the systemic basis and the normative significance of exploitation.

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Skillman, G.L. (2018). Exploitation. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_270

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