Economics and Social Interaction

First published in 2005, Economics and Social Interaction is a fresh attempt to overcome the traditional inability of economics to deal with interpersonal phenomena that occur within the sphere of markets and productive organizations. It makes use of traditional economic concepts for understanding interpersonal events, while venturing beyond those concepts to give a better account of personalised interactions. In contrast to other books, Economics and Social Interaction offers the reader a rigorous effort at extending economic analysis to a difficult field in a consistent manner, sensitive to insights from other behavioural and social sciences. This collection represents an important contribution to a growing research agenda in the social sciences.

Review of the hardback: 'If you believe that the subject of interpersonal relations lies outside the domain of economics, this rich volume will persuade you otherwise. This is interdisciplinary scholarship at its best.' Robert H. Frank, Cornell University, Review of the hardback: 'For too long both the study of social interactions and the discipline of economics have been impoverished by a radical separation between these two fields of inquiry. In this important new volume Gui, Sugden, and the other contributors creatively explore many fundamental ways in which sociality and economics are linked. Their insights will be valuable for scholars across the social sciences.' Robert Putnam, Harvard University, Review of the hardback: 'Economics and Social Interaction is an excellent examination of the important idea that humans value social relations per se. It bridges the seemingly contradictory tenets of rational choice theory and the mechanisms behind social capital, altruism, and reciprocity. It establishes an exciting dialog between economics and sociology, and shows the directions where these interdisciplinary studies will lead.' Ernst Fehr, Director of the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zürich, Review of the hardback: 'This is a very good, coherent book, which is very interesting …' Review of Australian Economics, Review of the hardback: '… the book is an instructive introduction to one of the most relevant topics of economic theory in the coming years.' Economics and Philosophy

Benedetto Gui is Professor of Economics at Universit... di Padova, Italy. Robert Sugden is Professor of Economics at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.