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Outcomes and Processes in Economics and Anthropology

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  • Ray, Isha

Abstract

The premise of this article is that outcomes of economic models and process analyses of anthropology are both essential for understanding social phenomena, including those surrounding the commons. An explanation of any model outcome is invariably about process and structure--the outcomes of several models are compatible with many different causal processes. Anthropologists also pay equal attention to exclusions and inclusions, to the said as well as the unsaid. In that spirit, one must ask if models of resource management that are silent on, for example, influence or the desire for dignity implicitly suggest that these factors are less important to cooperation than economic and ecological factors. This article argues that policy advice has to take into account the explicit findings of a model as well as its silences. Finally, anthropologists are critical of economic models for their simplicity and allegedly obvious outcomes. But models of common-pool resources can and do provide anthropologists with points of departure for their own research. Additionally, models can surprise us with counterintuitive results, especially with respect to emergent phenomena. Such results should be an invitation to anthropologists to investigate new social processes that were hitherto not anticipated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray, Isha, 2006. "Outcomes and Processes in Economics and Anthropology," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 677-694, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:y:2006:v:54:i:3:p:677-94
    DOI: 10.1086/500033
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Isha Ray & Jeffrey Williams, 1999. "Evaluation of Price Policy in the Presence of Water Theft," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(4), pages 928-941.
    2. Tania Murray Li, 1996. "Images of Community: Discourse and Strategy in Property Relations," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 501-527, July.
    3. Lipton, Michael, 1992. "Economics and anthropology: Grounding models in relationships," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1541-1546, October.
    4. David Mosse, 1997. "The Symbolic Making of a Common Property Resource: History, Ecology and Locality in a Tank‐irrigated Landscape in South India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 467-504, July.
    5. Paul Seabright, 1993. "Managing Local Commons: Theoretical Issues in Incentive Design," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 113-134, Fall.
    6. Basu, Kaushik, 2003. "Prelude to Political Economy: A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199261857.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pranab Bardhan & Isha Ray, 2008. "Methodological Approaches in Economics and Anthropology," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & Wilfred Dolfsma (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Social Economics, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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