Anarchy, Economy and the State

Anarchism's relationship with economics is usually mediated by other disciplines. At the same time, the few economists who approach anarchism do so by drawing from the mainstream paradigms of their discipline and they often seek to justify the role of the state. The author, by discussing the cornerstone of economics, the rational individual, seeks to address both issues – anarchy and the state – at the same time. In this book homo oeconomicus, which underpins all mainstream economic analyses is discussed in the context of the unprecedented processes that characterize today's world: the emergence of spontaneous organizations, the proliferation of experiences of socialized production, the relationship between economy and the environment. These are all issues that have been at the center of anarchism: consensus decision-making, the redistribution of property rights, the difficult relationship between efficiency and equity, an environmental politics outside the control of the state. Mainstream economics is increasingly unable to offer efficient solutions to our present socio-economic predicament, which calls for people willing to fully recognize the role of altruism, that is the issue of social cooperation, which the homo oeconomicus paradigm is unable to conceive.

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