Economics of Collective Action [Hardcover]

John R. Commons (Author), Kenneth H. Parsons (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 382 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; New impression edition (July 30, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299053601
• ISBN-13: 978-0299053604
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe this could be your first reading of Commons, but shouldn't be your last, April 19, 2007

By 

Salty Saltillo (from the road, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Economics of Collective Action (Hardcover)

This book is an ok book. The problem is, it was written when Commons was a very old man, his greatest work already done, and reads almost like a set of notes or a reader's guide to his prior works, especially Legal Foundations of Capitalism and Institutional Economics. If you are looking for a way to get up to speed on reading Commons, this would be the best book to start with. It is schematic, simple, and lays out the meaning of many of Commons' key words - scarcity, futurity, working rules, transactions, going concerns, etc. - in very simple terms. After reading a book like this, Commons' prior work makes a lot more sense.

The problem is, taken at its face value, Commons' analytical framework that he sets out in this book seems a bit shallow, silly, pointless even. It is only in its application through Commons' reading of English and American court cases (in Legal Foundations of Capitalism) or reading of the classics of economic science like Adam Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo in Institutional Economics that we get the brilliant gems of insight that make his frame of analysis come alive.

To go even farther, as stated in this book, Commons' framework is faulty. It has been dismissed by detractors as weak. And prima facie they are probably right. But one should not abandon Commons' entirely because of a vague idea here or there.

My recommendation would be to read this book only as a means of gaining a better grasp of Commons' really important above-mentioned books. One should not read this book as the end-all, final statement of Commons' ideas (because he leaves so many insights and arguments out of this book), and anyone who rejects Commons based on this book is making a mistake. There is much to be salvaged and renewed in Institutional Economics and Legal Foundations. But this book might be the supplement you need to get deeper into that material.