Market share

Economists have long used their tools to analyze social phenomena. Now sociologists are learning to stop worrying and love -- or at least study -- the market.

(Globe Illustration / Tomasz Walenta)

By Virginia Postrel

July 24, 2005

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ECONOMISTS HAVE LONG been famous (or notorious) for plunging into such seemingly non-economic topics as crime or marriage. Beginning in the 1960s, University of Chicago economist Gary S. Becker brought economic theory to bear on family life, discrimination, education, and addiction, arguing that incentives, rational choices, and competitive pressures shape all sorts of behavior. He got a Nobel Prize for ... (Full article: 1835 words)