The Cost of Institutions: Information and Freedom in Expanding Economies

205 Pages·2007·1.146 MB·English

by  Jacob P. Rodriguez, Steven R. Loomis, Joseph G. Weeres (auth.)

The Cost of Institutions
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The Cost of Institutions
Information and Freedom
in Expanding Economies
Jacob P. Rodriguez,
Steven R. Loomis, and Joseph G. Weeres
the cost of institutions
© Jacob Rodriguez, Steven Loomis, Joseph Weeres, 2007
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7969-8
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2007 by
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
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and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union
and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-53825-6 ISBN 978-0-230-60479-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230604797
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rodriguez, Jacob.
The cost of institutions : information and freedom in expanding
economies / Jacob Rodriguez, Steven Loomis, Joseph Weeres.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Institutional economics. 2. Knowledge management. I. Loomis,
Steven. II. Weeres, Joseph G., 1939-III. Title.
HB99.5.R64 2007
330—dc22 2006036370
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Macmillan India Ltd.
First edition: June 2007
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Michelle
For Ena, Sophia, and Stephen
For Lee
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Contents
List of Sidebars ix
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
1 Expansion under Uncertainty 15
The Information Priorities of Scale 16
The Division of Information 17
Institutional Change 20
Technical Model of Production 22
Rules of Production 26
2 The State: An Information Theory 31
The Delocalization of Measures 37
International Financial Institutions: The International
Monetary Fund 42
The European Union: Police, Justice, Security, and Customs 48
3 Establishing Direction in Education Production 61
The Importance of Scale 62
Planning and Exchange 64
Education as a Technical Model 68
Trading Off Information 71
Path Dependence 74
4 The Individual and the Collective in Education 79
Dewey and the Means-Ends Problem 80
The Trend toward Central Control 83
A Diffi culty in the Concept of Human Capital 93
5 Markets: The Logic of Convergence 101
Public-Private Convergence and the Case of
Voucher-Receiving Schools 101
Teacher Education 110
Transnational Trade in Higher Education 131
viii ● Contents
6 Market Failure in the Preservation of Liberty 141
Freedom: True and False 142
Game Theory 152
Collective Visions of Rationality 155
Democracy, Law, and Rationality 167
Bibliography 179
Index 189
List of Sidebars
Sidebar 4.1 Andrew Carnegie and Central Control 86
Sidebar 4.2 GI Bill 91
Sidebar 5.1 Accreditation for Market Integration 114
Sidebar 5.2 Schools of Education 120
Sidebar 5.3 The Bologna Process 133