The Idea of efficiency in economic thought and praxis: An intellectual and social history

Abstract

There is no idea in all of economic theory and praxis that is more important than that of efficiency. Despite, or perhaps because of its centrality and ubiquity, efficiency’s intellectual provenance has largely escaped scholarly attention. My project will address this lacuna by developing an intellectual and social history of economic efficiency. This project constitutes the core of a larger multi-year, booklength study of the global career of efficiency.