Economics Dictionary of Arguments

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Collectives: In social sciences, "collectives" refer to groups of individuals who come together based on shared interests, goals, or characteristics, and act collectively to pursue common objectives.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Mancur Olson on Collectives - Dictionary of Arguments

Brocker I 475
Collectives/Olson: Olson's starting question is why some groups succeed in providing public goods while others fail.
>Communicative Action/Olson.
Def Group/Olson: a number of actors who share a common interest.(2) Members may also have their own particular interests. A group is interested in the production of a collective good.(1)
Brocker I 476
Thesis 1: The common interest in a good does not necessarily lead to joint action for the production of that good.
Brocker I 479
Thesis 2: It is easier for small and/or privileged groups to provide public goods than large and/or latent groups.
Problem: it can come to the exploitation of more interested members by less interested members.
Brocker I 480
Groups/Olson: small groups have the advantage that the individual contributions are perceived more strongly. Free riding can be punished.
Brocker I 485
Thesis: In large groups, selective incentives are needed to make the production of collective goods possible. Public goods are created as an unintended by-product of rational action. For example, lobbying can be seen as a by-product of organisations capable of mobilising a latent group through 'selective incentives'.(2) Conversely, an organisation could not offer potential members an incentive to become members if it serves no other purpose than to provide the public good: "Only an organisation that also sells private or non-collective goods or provides individual members with beneficial social or recreational facilities would have such positive incentives" (3).
Solution/Olson: When organizations have selective incentives, they develop a robustness and stability that enables them to survive.

1. Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Cambridge, Mass. 1965. Dt.: Mancur Olson, Die Logik des kollektiven Handelns: Kollektivgüter und die Theorie der Gruppen, Tübingen 1998 (zuerst 1968)., p. 7
2. Ibid. p. 130f.
3. Ibid. p. 131

Johannes Marx, „Mancur Olson, Die Logik des kollektiven Handelns“, in: Manfred Brocker (Hg.) Geschichte des politischen Denkens. Das 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt/M. 2018


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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

EconOlson I
Mancur Olson
The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups Cambridge 1965

Brocker I
Manfred Brocker
Geschichte des politischen Denkens. Das 20. Jahrhundert Frankfurt/M. 2018


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