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Interpreting Voluntary Exchange: Markets, Speech Acts And Communicative Action

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  • Graham Dawson

Abstract

This paper uses speech act theory to present a libertarian reinterpretation of the Habermasian concept of communicative action. Voluntary exchange in competitive markets is interpreted as a speech act and a form of communicative action that respects autonomy and obstructs power. Where exchange occurs in monopolistic markets, it is defective in being a form of (a) strategic action aimed directly at rival suppliers rather than buyers and (b) economic coercion. Voluntary exchange is not an isolated act but the outcome of a complex bargaining process, which may lead to negotiated exit, without the possibility of which economic relations are coercive.

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  • Graham Dawson, 2015. "Interpreting Voluntary Exchange: Markets, Speech Acts And Communicative Action," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 240-255, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:35:y:2015:i:2:p:240-255
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecaf.12122
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mark Pennington, 2003. "Hayekian Political Economy and the Limits of Deliberative Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51, pages 722-739, December.
    2. Mark Pennington, 2003. "Hayekian Political Economy and the Limits of Deliberative Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51(4), pages 722-739, December.
    3. Dawson, Graham, 1997. "Exit, Voice and Values in Economic Institutions," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 87-100, April.
    4. David L. Prychitko & Virgil Henry Storr, 2007. "Communicative action and the radical constitution: the Habermasian challenge to Hayek, Mises and their descendents," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(2), pages 255-274, March.
    5. Don Lavoie, 2011. "The interpretive dimension of economics: Science, hermeneutics, and praxeology," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 91-128, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Graham Dawson, 2021. "Defending liberal individualism against communitarian critiques," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 476-488, October.
    2. Graham Dawson, 2016. "Interpreting Deliberative Democracy: Speech Acts, Strategic Action and Coercion," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 326-340, October.

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