Synopses & Reviews
"No one, economist or civilian, could turn the pages of this book without spotting, time and again, some unexpected and arresting idea that really wants to be thought about. Paul Seabright takes the evolutionary point of view seriously and asks how human institutions make social life possible at all, especially when the many people on whom we depend for our subsistence are strangers. From biology to banking, it is a lively landscape."--Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
"For too long, economists have been talking only to each other. Paul Seabright's achievement is to locate economics firmly in the mainstream of modern intellectual life, and to do so with style and verve."--John Kay, author of The Truth about Markets, columnist for the Financial Times
"The Company of Strangers is a gem--an undiluted delight to read. It addresses some of the most central problems of social science with compelling arguments, lightly worn rigor and erudition, and utterly jargon-free language. Seabright has an amazing eye for the telling detail, whether drawn from fiction, biology, social science or current news. I can think of no better introduction to the problem of social order-how is it possible?"--Jon Elster, Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Columbia University, author of Alchemies of the Mind and Ulysses and the Sirens
"The division of labor among strangers is humankind's most momentous invention, on which all modern society depends. Yet since Adam Smith pointed this out in 1776, the question of how such relations between strangers are possible has continued to puzzle us. Now Paul Seabright deepens, adjusts, and extends the idea in the light of what we now know from psychology, genetics, and economics about human motives. Drawing on an extraordinary breadth of study, he explains how, unique among species, we found ourselves with a nature that equipped us to build this division of labor and so come to treat strangers as honorary friends."--Matt Ridley, author of Nature Via Nurture and The Origins of Virtue
"Fascinating. If you really want to understand who we are today, and how we make a living, read The Company of Strangers to learn how, some 200, 500, even 140,000 years ago, we grew and evolved--in rather amazing ways."--Shlomo Maital, author of Executive Economics: Ten Essential Tools for Managers
Review
"An entertaining, wide-ranging account about how the economy evolved in a way that allowed strangers, even potentially hostile strangers, to cooperate and even collaborate within market-based institutions. Seabright tells the story of how human beings, despite their genetic predisposition toward violent and even murderous behavior, have managed to produce a complex civilization through market-based institutions."--Choice
Review
"Why is everyday life so strange? Because, explains Mr. Seabright, it is so much at odds with what would have seemed, as recently as 10,000 years ago, our evolutionary destiny."--Economist
Review
[A] clear, thought-provoking, and elegant book.
Review
"Few economists are so sweeping in their ideas as Seabright, and few so anxious to make us look freshly at the world. . . . In The Company of Strangers, Seabright has produced one of those books that lie low, speak quietly, but work a change on the reader."--Robert Fulford, National Post
Review
The trust among billions of people that makes our global economy function can be sustained only thanks to the institutions that make it worth everybody's while to participate. . . . This is a book every concerned citizen should read.
Review
"In his absorbing book, Seabright . . . marvels at how easily we 'entrust our lives to the pilot of an aircraft, accept food from a stranger in a restaurant, enter a subway train packed full of our genetic rivals.' It's not often that an economist provides nuggets for cocktail party conversation."--Peter Young, Bloomberg News
Review
"Paul Seabright contends that the Neolithic revolution, which saw the beginning of farming, changed not only the environment but also human nature. Settling down to tend fields promoted societies based on trust. Today, he says, all our economic institutions rely on trust. . . . [I]t is a provocative read."--Maggie McDonald, New Scientist
Review
"So what does it take to become truly global? In a nutshell, it means learning how to live in The Company of Strangers. In [this] illuminating book . . . Paul Seabright, himself an economist, brings together insights from history, biology and sociology to explain the concept of modern civilization."--Korea Herald
Review
A brilliant book. -- Martin Wolf, Financial Times The Company of Strangers is a model of how different disciplines can enrich each other to explain human progress. -- George Peden, Times Literary Supplement [A] clear, thought-provoking, and elegant book. -- Howard Davies, Times Higher Education Why is everyday life so strange? Because, explains Mr. Seabright, it is so much at odds with what would have seemed, as recently as 10,000 years ago, our evolutionary destiny. -- Economist An important and timely book. . . . It starts in the mists of prehistory but ends emphatically in the here and now. -- Giles Whittell, Times A welcome and important contribution. . . . The Company of Strangers exemplifies a new breed of economic analysis, seeking answers to fundamental questions wherever they are found and ignoring disciplinary boundaries. . . . [It] is highly readable and will be accessible to a wide audience. -- bert Gintis," Nature There seems to be no place where Seabright is a stranger. He obviously feels as much at home among classical economists as among evolutionary biologists, quotes modern literature and ancient history with equal aplomb, jumps from experimental psychology to political philosophy and draws liberally on his personal memories of places from Ukraine to India. . . . [His] book is obviously not meant as an exercise in planned economy, but as an excursion, without blinkers and without apprehension, through a tumultuous crowd of ideas. -- Karl Sigmund, American Scientist An entertaining, wide-ranging account about how the economy evolved in a way that allowed strangers, even potentially hostile strangers, to cooperate and even collaborate within market-based institutions. Seabright tells the story of how human beings, despite their genetic predisposition toward violent and even murderous behavior, have managed to produce a complex civilization through market-based institutions. -- Choice We now depend on the efforts of many strangers for our lives. In these days of terror and conflict, Seabright's stunning exploration of this human social experiment is timely. . . . This is a book every concerned citizen should read, along with anybody in business who ever has to tangle with government regulations or the law, and who wants to understand why those relationships are so complex. -- Diane Coyle, Strategy and Business In his absorbing book, Seabright . . . marvels at how easily we 'entrust our lives to the pilot of an aircraft, accept food from a stranger in a restaurant, enter a subway train packed full of our genetic rivals.' It's not often that an economist provides nuggets for cocktail party conversation. -- Peter Young, Bloomberg News Few economists are so sweeping in their ideas as Seabright, and few so anxious to make us look freshly at the world. . . . In The Company of Strangers, Seabright has produced one of those books that lie low, speak quietly, but work a change on the reader. -- Robert Fulford, National Post Paul Seabright contends that the Neolithic revolution, which saw the beginning of farming, changed not only the environment but also human nature. Settling down to tend fields promoted societies based on trust. Today, he says, all our economic institutions rely on trust. . . . [I]t is a provocative read. -- Maggie McDonald, New Scientist Human civilisation is the result of a magnificent collaborative effort, the unwitting by-product of countless individuals working together. . . . Drawing on history, biology, literature, anthropology and economics, his argument is subtle and compelling. -- Guardian So what does it take to become truly global? In a nutshell, it means learning how to live in The Company of Strangers. In [this] illuminating book . . . Paul Seabright, himself an economist, brings together insights from history, biology and sociology to explain the concept of modern civilization. -- Korea Herald
Review
"A brilliant book."--Martin Wolf, Financial Times
Review
"The Company of Strangers is a model of how different disciplines can enrich each other to explain human progress."--George Peden, Times Literary Supplement
Review
"[A] clear, thought-provoking, and elegant book."--Howard Davies, Times Higher Education
Review
"An important and timely book. . . . It starts in the mists of prehistory but ends emphatically in the here and now."--Giles Whittell, Times (London)
Review
"A welcome and important contribution. . . . The Company of Strangers exemplifies a new breed of economic analysis, seeking answers to fundamental questions wherever they are found and ignoring disciplinary boundaries. . . . [It] is highly readable and will be accessible to a wide audience."--Herbert Gintis, Nature
Review
"There seems to be no place where Seabright is a stranger. He obviously feels as much at home among classical economists as among evolutionary biologists, quotes modern literature and ancient history with equal aplomb, jumps from experimental psychology to political philosophy and draws liberally on his personal memories of places from Ukraine to India. . . . [His] book is obviously not meant as an exercise in planned economy, but as an excursion, without blinkers and without apprehension, through a tumultuous crowd of ideas."--Karl Sigmund, American Scientist
Review
"We now depend on the efforts of many strangers for our lives. In these days of terror and conflict, Seabright's stunning exploration of this human social experiment is timely. . . . This is a book every concerned citizen should read, along with anybody in business who ever has to tangle with government regulations or the law, and who wants to understand why those relationships are so complex."--Diane Coyle, Strategy and Business
Review
"Human civilisation is the result of a magnificent collaborative effort, the unwitting by-product of countless individuals working together. . . . Drawing on history, biology, literature, anthropology and economics, his argument is subtle and compelling."--Guardian
Review
A brilliant book. Martin Wolf
Review
[A] clear, thought-provoking, and elegant book. George Peden - Times Literary Supplement
Review
One of Strategy and Business's Best Business Books for 2004
Shortlisted for the 2005 British Academy Book Prize
Review
"Miller's book is not only practical but also realistic and timely. It subtly underscores the fact that tribal economic successes to date have occurred when tribes were in control, and he presents that as the basis for the next chapter of economic development in Indian country. This is recommended reading for tribal leaders, planners, Indian and non-Indian entrepreneurs and anyone interested in seeing a glimpse of the economic potential that lies in Indian country."--Douglas Nash, Indian Country Today
Review
"Reservation 'Capitlaism' is worth reading for the opening chapters alone, but Professor Miller also analyzes modern reservation economies, covering a range of tribes from throughout Indian Country with detailed examiniation of specfic tribes. . . . Miller also provides a thorough recitation of the rise of Indian gaming as an economic powerhouse. . . . While Miller's fluid style makes his book accessible to the casual reader, the level of research and extensive endnotes make this book a viable choice as the primary textbook for a course on tribal economic development."--Gavin Clarkson, Great Plains Quarterly
Review
"Robert Miller's Reservation 'Capitalism' promises to be the definitive book on Native American entrepreneurship. This is both a legal and policy primer on the impact of financing contemporary business in Indian Country. Perhaps the most original and significant impact of the book is the early and historic treatment of more than four hundred years of interaction between the two cultures culminating in the twenty-first-century economic and technological changes on reservations. Professor Miller examines the fiscal and economic tools that tribes can--and indeed must--use to help their people reach the level of economic prosperity that will help the Indian Nations sustain their lives, families, communities, cultures, and economies."--Rennard Strickland, Phillip Knight Distinguished Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus, University of Oregon; Senior Scholar in Residence, University of Oklahoma Law Center
Review
"Miller's Reservation 'Capitalism' is a manifesto of big-picture thinking about the problem of the 21st century for Indian country--diversifying and growing reservation economies. Miller brings together law, history, economics, and culture in a brilliant work that speaks to Native and non-Native policymakers and lawyers as much as it does to scholars."--Matthew L. M. Fletcher, professor of law and director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law
Review
"Professor Miller's book is a timely, realistic, and practical work that should be studied closely by tribes as well as individuals--Indian and non-Indian--who have an interest in operating a business in Indian country. It provides a positive and hopeful prognosis for the economic well being of Indian tribes and their members."--Seattle Journal for Social Justice
Review
"Robert Miller delivers first-rate advice on the politics, law, and economics of reservation development. Indian nations--indeed, all nations--can learn from this book's insights. . . . Robert Miller has pulled together an impressive range of scholarly theory, real world experiences of Native leaders, and data. As a result, this book provides a mountain of sound advice to tribal, state, and federal policymakers. The advice is delivered without apology by an author who lives and respects his subject."--Professor Joseph P. Kalt, codirector, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
Synopsis
The Company of Strangers shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives. This completely revised and updated edition includes a new chapter analyzing how the rise and fall of social trust explain the unsustainable boom in the global economy over the past decade and the financial crisis that succeeded it.
Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Paul Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, cities, and the banking system to provide the foundations of social trust that we need in our everyday lives. Even the simple acts of buying food and clothing depend on an astonishing web of interaction that spans the globe. How did humans develop the ability to trust total strangers with providing our most basic needs?
Synopsis
"No one, economist or civilian, could turn the pages of this book without spotting, time and again, some unexpected and arresting idea that really wants to be thought about. Paul Seabright takes the evolutionary point of view seriously and asks how human institutions make social life possible at all, especially when the many people on whom we depend for our subsistence are strangers. From biology to banking, it is a lively landscape."
--Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences"For too long, economists have been talking only to each other. Paul Seabright's achievement is to locate economics firmly in the mainstream of modern intellectual life, and to do so with style and verve."--John Kay, author of The Truth about Markets, columnist for the Financial Times
"The Company of Strangers is a gem--an undiluted delight to read. It addresses some of the most central problems of social science with compelling arguments, lightly worn rigor and erudition, and utterly jargon-free language. Seabright has an amazing eye for the telling detail, whether drawn from fiction, biology, social science or current news. I can think of no better introduction to the problem of social order-how is it possible?"--Jon Elster, Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Columbia University, author of Alchemies of the Mind and Ulysses and the Sirens
"The division of labor among strangers is humankind's most momentous invention, on which all modern society depends. Yet since Adam Smith pointed this out in 1776, the question of how such relations between strangers are possible has continued to puzzle us. Now Paul Seabright deepens, adjusts, and extends the idea in the light of what we now know from psychology, genetics, and economics about human motives. Drawing on an extraordinary breadth of study, he explains how, unique among species, we found ourselves with a nature that equipped us to build this division of labor and so come to treat strangers as honorary friends."--Matt Ridley, author of Nature Via Nurture and The Origins of Virtue
"Fascinating. If you really want to understand who we are today, and how we make a living, read The Company of Strangers to learn how, some 200, 500, even 140,000 years ago, we grew and evolved--in rather amazing ways."--Shlomo Maital, author of Executive Economics: Ten Essential Tools for Managers
Synopsis
The Company of Strangers shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives. This completely revised and updated edition includes a new chapter analyzing how the rise and fall of social trust explain the unsustainable boom in the global economy over the past decade and the financial crisis that succeeded it.
Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Paul Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, cities, and the banking system to provide the foundations of social trust that we need in our everyday lives. Even the simple acts of buying food and clothing depend on an astonishing web of interaction that spans the globe. How did humans develop the ability to trust total strangers with providing our most basic needs?
Synopsis
The Company of Strangers shows us the remarkable strangeness, and fragility, of our everyday lives. This completely revised and updated edition includes a new chapter analyzing how the rise and fall of social trust explain the unsustainable boom in the global economy over the past decade and the financial crisis that succeeded it.
Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, history, psychology, and literature, Paul Seabright explores how our evolved ability of abstract reasoning has allowed institutions like money, markets, cities, and the banking system to provide the foundations of social trust that we need in our everyday lives. Even the simple acts of buying food and clothing depend on an astonishing web of interaction that spans the globe. How did humans develop the ability to trust total strangers with providing our most basic needs?
Synopsis
"No one, economist or civilian, could turn the pages of this book without spotting, time and again, some unexpected and arresting idea that really wants to be thought about. Paul Seabright takes the evolutionary point of view seriously and asks how human institutions make social life possible at all, especially when the many people on whom we depend for our subsistence are strangers. From biology to banking, it is a lively landscape."--Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
"For too long, economists have been talking only to each other. Paul Seabright's achievement is to locate economics firmly in the mainstream of modern intellectual life, and to do so with style and verve."--John Kay, author of The Truth about Markets, columnist for the Financial Times
"The Company of Strangers is a gem--an undiluted delight to read. It addresses some of the most central problems of social science with compelling arguments, lightly worn rigor and erudition, and utterly jargon-free language. Seabright has an amazing eye for the telling detail, whether drawn from fiction, biology, social science or current news. I can think of no better introduction to the problem of social order-how is it possible?"--Jon Elster, Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Columbia University, author of Alchemies of the Mind and Ulysses and the Sirens
"The division of labor among strangers is humankind's most momentous invention, on which all modern society depends. Yet since Adam Smith pointed this out in 1776, the question of how such relations between strangers are possible has continued to puzzle us. Now Paul Seabright deepens, adjusts, and extends the idea in the light of what we now know from psychology, genetics, and economics about human motives. Drawing on an extraordinary breadth of study, he explains how, unique among species, we found ourselves with a nature that equipped us to build this division of labor and so come to treat strangers as honorary friends."--Matt Ridley, author of Nature Via Nurture and The Origins of Virtue
"Fascinating. If you really want to understand who we are today, and how we make a living, read The Company of Strangers to learn how, some 200, 500, even 140,000 years ago, we grew and evolved--in rather amazing ways."--Shlomo Maital, author of Executive Economics: Ten Essential Tools for Managers
Synopsis
Native American peoples suffer from health, educational, infrastructure, and social deficiencies of the sort that most Americans who live outside tribal lands are wholly unaware of and would not tolerate. Indians are the poorest people in the United States, and their reservations are appallingly poverty-stricken; not surprisingly, they suffer from the numerous social pathologies that invariably accompany such economic conditions. Historically, most tribal communities were prosperous, composed of healthy, vibrant societies sustained over hundreds and in some instances perhaps even thousands of years. By creating sustainable economic development on reservations, however, gradual long-term change can be effected, thereby improving the standard of living and sustaining tribal cultures.
Reservation “Capitalism” relates the true history, describes present-day circumstances, and sketches the potential future of Indian communities and economics. It provides key background information on indigenous economic systems and property-rights regimes in what is now the United States and explains how the vast majority of Native lands and natural resource assets were lost. Robert J. Miller focuses on strategies for establishing public and private economic activities on reservations and for creating economies in which reservation inhabitants can be employed, live, and have access to the necessities of life, circumstances ultimately promoting complete tribal self-sufficiency.
About the Author
Robert J. Miller is a professor at the Sandra Day OConnor College of Law at Arizona State University, chief justice of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon, and a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. He is the author of
Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny, available in a Bison Books edition. Tom Daschle is the former U.S. Senate majority leader from South Dakota.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xv
Trust and Panic: Introduction to the Revised Edition 1
Part I: Tunnel Vision 15
Chapter 1: Who's in Charge? 17
Prologue to Part II 33
Part II: From Murderous Apes to Honorary Friends: How Is Human Cooperation Possible? 35
Chapter 2: Man and the Risks of Nature 37
Chapter 3: Our Violent Past 55
Chapter 4: How Have We Tamed Our Violent Instincts? 65
Chapter 5: How Did the Social Emotions Evolve? 80
Chapter 6: Money and Human Relationships 91
Chapter 7: Honor among Thieves: Hoarding and Stealing 106
Chapter 8: Honor among Bankers? What Caused the Financial Crisis? 116
Chapter 9: Professionalism and Fulfillment in Work and War 134
Epilogue to Parts I and II 147
Prologue to Part III 151
Part III: Unintended Consequences: From Family Bands to Industrial Cities 155
Chapter 10: The City, from Ancient Athens to Modern Manhattan 157
Chapter 11: Water: Commodity or Social Institution? 172
Chapter 12: Prices for Everything? 186
Chapter 13: Families and Firms 204
Chapter 14: Knowledge and Symbolism 226
Chapter 15: Exclusion: Unemployment, Poverty, and Illness 244
Epilogue to Part III 263
Prologue to Part IV 265
Part IV: Collective Action: From Belligerent States to a Marketplace of Nations 269
Chapter 16: States and Empires 271
Chapter 17: Globalization and Political Action 288
Chapter 18: Conclusion: How Fragile Is the Great Experiment? 302
Notes 317
References 343
Index 365