Theory in Economic Anthropology (Volume 18) (Society for Economic Anthropology Monograph Series, 18)

This new volume from the Society for Economic Anthropology examines the unique contributions of anthropologists to general economic theory. Editor Jean Ensminger and other contributors challenge our understanding of human economies in the expanding global systems of interaction, with models and analyses from cross-cultural research. They examine a broad range of theoretical concerns from the new institutionalism, debates about wealth, exchange, and the evolution of social institutions, the relationship between small producers and the wider world, the role of commodity change and the formal/informal sector, and the role of big theory. The book will be a valuable resource for anthropologists, economists, economic historians, political economists, and economic development specialists. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction: Theory Economic Anthropology at the Tum of the Century • Jean Ensminger 10 Part I: The New Institutionalism 22 1 Property Rights and Incentives for Agricultural Growth: Women Farmers’ Crop Control and Their Use of Agricultural Inputs • Edwins Laban M. Gwako 24 2 Transaction Cost Economics: Accomplishments,Problems, and Possibilities • James Acheson 48 3 Experimental Economics: A Powerful New Method for Theory Testing in Anthropology • Jean Ensminger 80 Part II: Rethinking Wealth, Exchange, and the Evolution of Social Institutions 100 4 Commodity Flows and the Evolution of Complex Societies • Timothy Earle 102 5 Economic Transfers and Exchanges: Concepts for Describing Allocations • Robert C. Hunt 126 6 Polanyi and the Definition of Capitalism • Duran Bell 140 Part III: Small Producers Interacting with the Wider World 156 7 Chayanov and Theory in Economic Anthropology • Paul Durrenberger and Nicola Tannenbaum 158 8 Space, Place, and Economic Anthropology: Locating Potters in a Sri Lankan Landscape • Deborah Winslow 176 9 Indians, Markets, and Transnational Studiesin Mesoamerican Anthropology: Predicaments and Opportunities • Jeffrey H. Cohen 204 10 Transcending the Formal/Informal Distinction: Commercial Relations in Africa and Russia inthe Post-1989 World • Elena Obukhova and Jane I. Guyer 220 11 Commodity Chains and the International Secondhand Clothing Trade: and the Work of Consumption in Zambia • Karen Tranberg Hansen 242 Part V: The Role for “Big Theory” in Economic Anthropology 258 12 When Good Theories Go Bad: Theory in Economic Anthropology and Consumer Research • Richard Wilk 260 13 Decision Making, Cultural Transmission, and Adaptation in Economic Anthropology • Joseph Henrich 272 Index 317 About the Contributors 334 This new volume from the Society for Economic Anthropology examines the unique contributions of anthropologists to general economic theory. The authors challenge our understanding of human economies in the expanding global systems of interaction, with models and analyses from cross-cultural research. The book will be a valuable resource for anthropologists, economists, economic historians, political economists, and economic development specialists. This title examines the contributions of anthropologists to general economic theory. The contributors challenge our understanding of human economies in the expanding global systems of interaction, with models and analyses from cross-cultural research Ökonomische Anthropologie - epochenübergreifend - K. Polanyi - K. Marx - Institutionalismus - Transfer - Wirtschaftstheorie - Anthropotheorie - Sozialanthropologie - Krise der Postmoderne - Konsumption - Produktion - Kongressbericht