----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Albert Hirschman is a priviledged mind, who has always concentrated his research efforts in the field of Political Economy. All his writings have this broad social science outlook. He was always very critical of a straigth-minded economics, which is unable to see the social embeddness of economic phenomena. This being the case, he has nothing to do with Becker or other authors who are commonly associated with the so-called economicsīs imperialism. Among the many things he wrote, I am particularly fond of two books: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, but also of his Shifting Involvements, published for the first time in 1982 by Princeton University Press. In this book Hirschman criticizes the conventional consumer theory, arguing that it does not pay due attention to the fact that goods not only generate satisfaction to the consumer, they can also generate disappointment and deception. Ana Maria Bianchi Universidade de Sao Paulo ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]