Rethinking markets to rethink economics

IF 1 2区社会学 Q2 AREA STUDIES

Modern Asian Studies Pub Date : 2023-06-15 DOI:10.1017/S0026749X23000069

Isabelle Guérin

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Abstract

The edited volume Rethinking Markets in Modern India offers a fresh and stimulating look at the day-to-day fabric and running of markets in the Indian context, both past and present. Much more broadly, it is a solid contribution to the conceptualization of markets as a material, social, moral, political, and unequal process, and not as an abstract concept and a normative ideal. Yet the idea of the market as an abstract concept and as an economically and morally superior reality remains the foundation of neoclassical economics. And neoclassical economics tends to be increasingly hegemonic, both in terms of research and teaching. India is no exception. The rich tradition of plural economics schools of thought has been constantly challenged since the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s, and this is even more the case with the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014. Neoclassical economics conceptualizes themarket as an abstractmechanism,which results from the confrontation of supply and demand between two types of actors— producers and consumers—who are assumed to be equal, rational, and seeking to maximize their individual interests. Moreover, neoclassical economics considers the ‘perfect’ market as the most efficient and fairest mechanism for allocating resources. Even though various branches of neoclassical economic theory have developed sophisticated models that relax certain assumptions, the market as the optimal and fairest mode of resource allocation remains prevalent. Of course, any theory aims at a

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重新思考市场以重新思考经济学

编辑的卷反思市场在现代印度提供了一个新鲜和刺激的日常结构和市场运行在印度的背景下，过去和现在。更广泛地说，它是对市场概念化的坚实贡献，市场是一个物质、社会、道德、政治和不平等的过程，而不是一个抽象的概念和规范的理想。然而，市场作为一个抽象概念，作为一种经济和道德上优越的现实，仍然是新古典经济学的基础。新古典经济学在研究和教学方面都越来越趋于霸权。印度也不例外。自20世纪90年代初的新自由主义改革以来，多元经济学派的丰富传统不断受到挑战，2014年印度人民党(BJP)上台后更是如此。新古典经济学将市场概念化为一种抽象的机制，它是由两种类型的参与者——生产者和消费者——之间的供需对抗造成的，他们被认为是平等的、理性的，并寻求个人利益最大化。此外，新古典经济学认为“完美”市场是最有效和最公平的资源配置机制。尽管新古典经济理论的各个分支已经发展出复杂的模型，放宽了某些假设，但市场作为最优和最公平的资源配置模式仍然普遍存在。当然，任何理论的目标都是a

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来源期刊

Modern Asian Studies AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

1.60

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Modern Asian Studies promotes original, innovative and rigorous research on the history, sociology, economics and culture of modern Asia. Covering South Asia, South-East Asia, China, Japan and Korea, the journal is published in six parts each year. It welcomes articles which deploy inter-disciplinary and comparative research methods. Modern Asian Studies specialises in the publication of longer monographic essays based on path-breaking new research; it also carries substantial synoptic essays which illuminate the state of the broad field in fresh ways. It contains a book review section which offers detailed analysis of important new publications in the field.