Media Contact:
Carrie Conko
Director of Communications
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Office: 703-993-4899
Email: cconko@gmu.edu
Home
Publications
Browse By Author
Browse By Publication Author
Paths to PropertyBooksKarol Boudreaux, Paul Dragos Aligica December 18, 2007 This book explores some of the problems and challenges associated with the strategies and policy processes that may lead to the creation of property rights. There is a danger that the cumulated disappointments resulting from defective implementation of formalized property rights will lead, sooner or later, to an overall dismissal of the very idea that secure property are essential for growth and human flourishing. This book argues that there is only one way to stop this disturbing possibility: more sensible, more realistic, and better informed implementation strategies. |
||
 |
Prophecies of Doom and Scenarios of ProgressBooksPaul Dragos Aligica May 30, 2007 The images of the future and of the environmental and demographic challenges humanity will encounter in the coming decades tend to be framed in the public discourse more often than not from a "doom and gloom," "limits to growth" perspective. The origins of this propensity stem from the successful efforts of an intellectual and political movement that--starting from the mid sixties--tried to impose its pessimistic interpretation of the dilemmas posed by the technological revolution and the economic growth associated to it. This book by Paul Dragos Aligica focuses on the alternative paradigm, the pro-growth intellectual tradition that rejected the prophecies of doom and called for realism and pragmatism in dealing with the challenge of the future. The book uses as a vehicle the work of the two major founders of this alternative approach: Herman Kahn and Julian Simon. |
||
|
Learning in Time: New Institutionalism and the Central and Eastern European Economic Reform ExperienceJournal ArticlesPaul Dragos Aligica May 1, 2006 The article investigates how the limits of the mainstream approaches to reform policies invited a challenge from new perspectives and theories. The conclusion points the potential of the new approach to challenge at a foundational level the economics mainstream. |
|
Institutional and Stakeholder Mapping: Frameworks for Policy Analysis and Institutional ChangeWorking PapersPaul Dragos Aligica December 1, 2005 Despite its importance and its widespread employment in policymaking practice, the theoretical and epistemic foundations of institutional mapping have not been elaborated and its legitimacy is yet to be fully granted by the academic community. This working paper is a contribution to this overdue effort. |
|
Uncertainty, Human Action, and Scenarios: An Austrian Theory Based Decision Support Tool for Business Strategy and Public PolicyWorking PapersPaul Dragos Aligica December 1, 2005 This working paper demonstrates that there is an intrinsic link between Austrian theory and scenario methodology not only at the level of basic epistemological principles but also at the methodological and applied levels. |
|
Institutional Analysis and Economic Development Policy: Notes on the Applied Agenda of the Bloomington SchoolResearch Papers/StudiesPaul Dragos Aligica June 1, 2005 This paper focuses on the implications the research program of the Bloomington School has on development policy |
|
Scenarios and the Growth of Knowledge: Notes on the Epistemic Element in Scenario BuildingJournal ArticlesPaul Dragos Aligica February 1, 2005 Scenarios raise a very remarkable challenge. They are a special category of thought experiments and as such they deal with the world of speculation. Nevertheless they are of a crucial practical importance for public policy, management and strategic thinking in general: any premeditated significant action has to be preceded by such a thought experiment that anticipates the possibility of its outcomes and its implications. |
|
The Millennium Challenge Account: Property Rights and Entrepreneurship as the Engine of DevelopmentPublic Interest CommentsBrian Hooks, Peter Boettke, Paul Dragos Aligica April 13, 2004 This Public Interest Comment examines the Criteria and Methodology for Determining the Eligibility of Candidate Countries for Millennium Challenge Account Assistance in FY 2004. |
|
Prediction, Explanation and the Epistemology of Future StudiesJournal ArticlesPaul Dragos Aligica December 1, 2003 This article is a contribution to the development of the epistemological foundations of Future Studies. The article starts by presenting the conventional "covering-law" model of asserting the symmetry between prediction and explanation, a model that continues to undermine the authority of Future Studies as a discipline despite the fact that Logical Positivism, the epistemological paradigm that inspired it, is no longer dominant. |
|
Rethinking Institutional Analysis: Interviews with Vincent and Elinor OstromResearch Papers/StudiesPaul Dragos Aligica November 7, 2003 Political scinece professors Vincent and Elinor Ostrom were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for their pioneering contributions to the field of political economy through their work on institutional reform, common pool resources, self-governance, and a variety of other topics. In honor of this award, Paul Aligica interviewed the scholars on thier work in institutional analysis. |
|
Ambiguity, Imitation and InnovationJournal ArticlesPaul Dragos Aligica November 1, 2003 The paper briefly overviews the conceptual and programmatic background of the EU’s policies in small and medium-sized enterprises. The paper concludes that, despite its rhetoric, the EU does not have a central vision or strategy, but that what seems to be a flaw, i.e. an ad hoc innovative approach consisting of a combination of national-level experiments, might ultimately be a strength. |
|
Analytic Narratives and Scenario BuildingJournal ArticlesPaul Dragos Aligica June 1, 2003 During the last three decades, social sciences were profoundly influenced by the raise to pre-eminence of rational choice theory. Given its influence in other fields and its initial impact on scenario building and operations research, it is remarkable that the rational choice revolution and the emerging literature didn’t make a larger impact on the scenario development dimension of futures studies and on futures studies in general. |
|
