Book Description: "It is easy to become enthusiastic about this book. The authors, a political scientist and an economist....have boldly set as their task an assessment of the politico-economic techniques whereby nations and smaller social group attempt to maximize attainment of their goals. The volume....is unique in its tying together of political and economic theory and its demonstration that the price system, bargaining, hierarchy, and majority vote can be analyzed both as potential complements of and potential substitutes for one another.... Any student of social institutions should be interested in the topics discussed, and those primarily working in the fields of economic theory, economic systems, political theory, and comparative government should find the volume fascinating." -- Henry M. Oliver, Jr., Journal of Political Economy