Mary 
 
I am not aware of the commonness ot the usage of "coercion" by economic  
theorists to which you refer.  I suspect that the usage you justifiably  
criticize appears more commonly in documents authored by conservative think  
tanks than in economic journals.  The former are usually quite distinct from  
economic theory -- "economic polemics" might be the better term. 
 
Phil Ruder 
 
On Sun, 14 May 1995 [log in to unmask] wrote: 
 
> When did "coercion" become commonly used by economists to mean 
> virtually everything the government does?  I note several possible 
> substitute words that could be chosen:  constrain, compel, oblige, 
> force -- why coerce?  Coerce is a very narrow, very STRONG term. 
>      -- Mary Schweitzer, Dept. of History, Villanova 
>  
 
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|       Phil Ruder                                                      | 
|       Dept. of Bus. and Economics     [log in to unmask]            | 
|       Pacific University              (vox)  503-357-6151             | 
|       Forest Grove, OR                (fax)  503-359-2242             | 
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