Vatiero, M: Understanding Power

Dr. Vatiero‘s book offers a remarkable progress in the analysis of positional goods. His concept of double-rivalry stemming from these goods advances our understanding of competitive processes and of the conflicts that characterize modern capitalist economies. The book offers interesting insights not only for economist but also for other social scientists. - Ugo Pagano, University of Siena and CEU. * * * * * * * Few Neo-Institutional scholars have investigated the role of power within Coasean institutions, in particular within the firm. Dr. Vatiero‘s analysis of power relations does so and the result is an insightful work for a deeper foundation of Labour Law and Economics. - Riccardo Del Punta, University of Florence. * * * * * * * Dr. Vatiero‘s main merit is to investigate the Commonsian distinction between authoritative and authorized transactions and to highlight the fundamental institutional domains of market. The resulting complex framework is a very useful analytical tool to fully understand the emergence, structuring and change of market institutional frames as well as the nature of the surrounding institutional complementarities. - Antonio Nicita, University of Siena.