With a new preface by the author, this reissue of Thomas Sowell’s classic study of decision making updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Annointed, Sowell, one of America’s most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society. He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency, but our very freedom because actual knowledge gets replaced by assumptions based on an abstract and elitist social vision f what ought to be.Knowledge and Decisions, a winner of the 1980 Law and Economics Center Prize, was heralded as a ”landmark work” and selected for this prize ”because of its cogent contribution to our understanding of the differences between the market process and the process of government.” In announcing the award, the center acclaimed Sowell, whose ”contribution to our understanding of the process of regulation alone would make the book important, but in reemphasizing the diversity and efficiency that the market makes possible, [his] work goes deeper and becomes even more significant.”Review''This is a brilliant book. Sowell illuminates how every society operates. In the process he also shows how the performance of our own society can be improved.'' --Milton Friedman''In a wholly original manner [Sowell] succeeds in translating abstract and theoretical argument into a highly concrete and realistic discussion of the central problems of contemporary economic policy.'' --F. A. HayekAbout the AuthorThomas Sowell has taught economics at a number of colleges and universities, including Cornell, University of California Los Angeles, and Amherst. He has published both scholarly and popular articles and books on economics, and is currently a scholar in residence at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
托马斯·索威尔的《知识与决策》探讨了社会制度如何协调分散的知识，并分析了决策过程。本书强调了在不充分的知识下做出决策的挑战，并考察了不同制度（如家庭、市场、军队等）在调动知识方面的优缺点。
你能获得：
A: 本书的核心思想是，决策过程和制度的具体机制决定了哪些知识可以被利用以及利用的有效性。更基本的问题不是做什么决定，而是谁来做决定，通过什么过程，在什么激励和约束下，以及用什么反馈机制来纠正错误的决定。
A: 关注激励和约束有助于我们了解特定决策可能产生的结果，以及这些决策如何影响社会。
A: 社会趋势包括：
Academics, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding how decisions are made in complex systems.
Written in 1980, with a preface added in 1996, the book reflects on the trends in decision making and knowledge dissemination during that period, including the rise of government influence and the impact of social and economic changes.
