Table Of ContentRoutledge Frontiers of Political Economy
ECONOMICS FOR AN
INFORMATION AGE
MONEY-BARGAINING, SUPPORT-BARGAINING
AND THE INFORMATION INTERFACE
Patrick Spread
Economics for an Information Age
Economics for an Information Age examines the central role of information within
economics and society. The neoclassical economic model, taught as ‘main-
stream economics’ in universities around the world, relies on a mathematical
model of ‘resource allocation’ in which private advantage gives rise to public
advantage in the shape of an optimal allocation of resources. However, this
model assumes ‘perfect information’. In the present ‘information age’ such an
assumption is even farther from the reality than it was in the past. People dis-
seminate and manipulate information to further their interests.
This book explains economic behaviour in terms of a theory of ‘money-
bargaining’ and political and intellectual ‘support-bargaining’, in which the
dissemination of information plays a central role. It uses this lens to explain
how information is created, manipulated, disseminated, organised, understood,
interpreted, used, bought and sold.
This book will be of interest to mainstream and heterodox economists alike,
as well as historians of economic thought, and anyone who seeks to better
understand the impact of the information age on economic behaviour.
Patrick Spread received his first degree from Oxford University and a PhD
from the London Business School, UK. On leaving Oxford he worked for a
few years in London, then undertook various long-term assignments over-
seas, firstly in the Pacific and subsequently in Asia and Africa. He has written
seven books on support-bargaining and money-bargaining, and several journal
articles.
Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy
Class and Property in Marx’s Economic Thought
Exploring the Basis for Capitalism
Jørgen Sandemose
Economics, Ethics and Power
From Behavioural Rules to Global Structures
Hasse Ekstedt
Supranational Political Economy
The Globalisation of the State–Market Relationship
Guido Montani
Free Cash, Capital Accumulation and Inequality
Craig Allan Medlen
The Continuing Imperialism of Free Trade
Developments, Trends and the Role of Supranational Agents
Edited by Jo Grady and Chris Grocott
The Problem of Political Trust
A Conceptual Reformulation
Grant Duncan
Ethics and Economic Theory
Khalid Mir
Economics for an Information Age
Money-Bargaining, Support-Bargaining and the Information Interface
Patrick Spread
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
books/series/SE0345
Economics for an
Information Age
Money-Bargaining, Support-Bargaining
and the Information Interface
Patrick Spread
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Patrick Spread
The right of Patrick Spread to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Spread, Patrick, 1944- author.
Title: Economics for an information age : money-bargaining, support-
bargaining and the information interface / Patrick Spread.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. |
Series: Routledge frontiers of political economy ; 249 | Includes
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018027458 (print) | LCCN 2018029131 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780429437014 (Ebook) | ISBN 9780429792694 (Pdf) |
ISBN 9780429792687 ( Epub) | ISBN 9780429792670 (Mobi) |
ISBN 9781138611283 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Knowledge economy. | Information theory in
economics.
Classification: LCC HC79.I55 (ebook) | LCC HC79.I55 S68 2019
(print) | DDC 330—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018027458
ISBN: 978-1-138-61128-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43701-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
To my wife, Evelyn
Contents
Introduction 1
Guide to the chapters 6
Summary of content of previous books on support-bargaining and
money-bargaining 9
1 Information and interests 13
Neoclassical economic theory and information 15
Knowledge and institutions 29
Individual knowledge and social construction 33
Issues of interests 36
2 Support-bargaining and the information interface 45
Natural science and support-bargaining 49
Intellectual support-bargaining 51
Support-bargaining and ‘social construction’ 57
‘Social construction’ of the information interface 63
3 Creation and manipulation of the
information interface 69
Words and figures of speech 78
Imputation of motivation 85
Psychology, support-bargaining and the information interface 92
Imputation of psychological drives 97
4 Economics and the information interface 101
Neoclassical economic theory as a frame of reference 102
Akerlof and asymmetric information 114
Stiglitz and the neoclassical frame of reference 120
Money-bargaining and the information interface 123
Communal interest and government 134
viii Contents
5 Economics and behavioural economics 145
Behavioural psychology and the psychology of support-bargaining 149
Fusion of instinct and analysis 152
Prospect theory and situation reference 156
Self-preservation and confidence 164
Behavioural theory in the developing world 168
6 The information interface and reality 175
Groups and their reality 180
Truth and the assembly of support 182
Large truths and small truths 185
The pursuit of truth and the pursuit of agreement 190
Collective intentionality and the ontological approach 196
Ontology and information 202
Natural science and the information interface 203
Maps as information interface 210
The symmetry connection 220
7 Media theory and the information interface 227
Media theorists and the significance of media technology 233
Harold Innis: media of space and time 238
Poe’s follow-up to Innis 246
Marshall McLuhan: medium and messages 250
Consequences of the Toronto School 266
8 Media, governance and the information interface 271
Intellectual support-bargaining and government 275
Money-bargaining and the information interface 280
Government and media 287
Truth and free speech 294
Government, media and money-bargaining 298
Conclusion 301
Economics for an information age 301
References 313
Index 321
But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.
Cicero in Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare
