Cohen, Lloyd R.; Wright, Joshua D. --- "Introduction" [2011] ELECD 592; in Cohen, R. Lloyd; Wright, D. Joshua (eds), "Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law

Editor(s): Cohen, R. Lloyd; Wright, D. Joshua

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848444379

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Cohen, Lloyd R.; Wright, Joshua D.

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

Introduction
Lloyd R. Cohen and Joshua D. Wright


It all began with Gary Becker. The story ­ perhaps apocryphal ­ involves the young
Becker giving a workshop on his original work on the economics of discrimination to a
learned audience, at least half of whom initially thought the subject matter of the paper
was monopolistic price discrimination. Even now, those not learned in the economic arts
believe that economics is either solely or essentially concerned with commercial relations.
And, so it was, originally. Understanding the economic world in that narrow sense of the
term seemed an ambitious and difficult enough task. Then, in the second half of the 20th
century, economists began to turn their attention and apply their minimalist but sturdy
tools to other human activities: marriage, child-bearing, crime, religion, social groups,
etc.
How are we to appreciate the nature of this revolution? And, what are we to make of
its causes and prospects? The fundamental driving force behind this imperial expansion of
economics into these social relations arises from a transformation of our understanding
of the discipline. We once understood it to concern a subject matter: exchanges (princi-
pally commercial) between individuals across markets. But we now understand it as a
discipline in which we use the assumptions and tools of understanding those exchanges
to analyze a wider world of human interaction.
The most interesting part is that the very great power of economics in its core commer-
cial inquiries came from its spare minimalist assumptions: maximizing behavior, market
...