1st Edition
Economics for an Information Age Money-Bargaining, Support-Bargaining and the Information Interface
Economics for an Information Age examines the central role of information within economics and society. The neoclassical economic model, taught as ‘mainstream economics’ in universities around the world, relies on a mathematical model of ‘resource allocation’ in which private advantage gives rise to public advantage in the shape of an optimal allocation of resources. However, this model assumes ‘perfect information’. In the present ‘information age’ such an assumption is even farther from the reality than it was in the past. People disseminate and manipulate information to further their interests.
This book explains economic behaviour in terms of a theory of ‘money-bargaining’ and political and intellectual ‘support-bargaining’, in which the dissemination of information plays a central role. It uses this lens to explain how information is created, manipulated, disseminated, organised, understood, interpreted, used, bought and sold.
This book will be of interest to mainstream and heterodox economists alike, as well as historians of economic thought, and anyone who seeks to better understand the impact of the information age on economic behaviour.
Right and Left in Intellectual Support-Bargaining Support-Bargaining and ‘Social Construction’ Collective Intentionality and Support-Bargaining ‘Social Construction’ of the Information Interface Chapter 3: Creation and Manipulation of the Information Interface Words and Figures of Speech Imputation of Motivation Motivation and ‘Truth’ Motivations of Left and Right Psychology, Support-Bargaining and the Information Interface Psychology and Motivation The Psychology of Situation Unconscious Expression in the Information Interface Imputation of Psychological Drives Chapter 4: Economics and the Information Interface Neoclassical Economic Theory as a Frame of Reference Advance of the Neoclassical Model Akerlof and Asymmetric Information Stiglitz and the Neoclassical Frame of Reference Money-Bargaining and the Information Interface Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Consumers and the Information Interface Companies and the Information Interface Company Formats for the Provision of Information Communal Interest and Government Chapter 5: Economics and Behavioural Economics Behavioural Psychology and the Psychology of Support-Bargaining Fusion of Instinct and Analysis Prospect Theory and Situation Reference Self-Preservation and Confidence Behavioural Theory in the Developing World Chapter 6: The Information Interface and Reality Groups and their Reality Truth and the Assembly of Support Large Truths and Small Truths Some ‘Facts’ of Geography The Pursuit of Truth and the Pursuit of Agreement Collective Intentionality and the Ontological Approach Ontology and Information Natural Science and the Information Interface Maps as Information Interface Maps and Causes Maps, Manipulation and Theory-Making The Symmetry Connection Chapter 7: Media Theory and the Information Interface Media Theorists and the Significance of Media Technology Harold Innis: Media of Space and Time Monopoly in Media Characteristics of Media: Codification and Transmission Poe’s Follow-up to Innis Marshall McLuhan: Medium and Messages Message and Information The Distinctive Impact of ‘Electric’ Media Visual Impact and the Medium of Stone Control of the Media Media, Money and Technology The ‘Guru’ Approach Consequences of the Toronto School Chapter 8: Media, Governance and the Information Interface Intellectual Support-Bargaining and Government Money-Bargaining and the Information Interface Government and Media Truth and Free Speech Government, Media and Money-Bargaining Conclusion Economics for an Information Age
Biography
Patrick Spread received his first degree from Oxford University and a PhD from the London Business School, UK. On leaving Oxford he worked for a few years in London, then undertook various long-term assignments overseas, firstly in the Pacific and subsequently in Asia and Africa. He has written seven books on support-bargaining and money-bargaining, and several journal articles.
