This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Literature
  4. September 2022
  5. Book Review: Entrenchment by Paul Starr

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

Book Review: Entrenchment by Paul Starr

  • Gilles Saint-Paul
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 60, no. 3, September 2022
(pp. 1014–28)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

Entrenchment: Wealth, Power, and the Constitution of Democratic Societies, by Paul Starr, revisits the history of political economy through the lens of a novel concept: that of entrenchment. Policies that benefit some interest groups may become entrenched and persist in spite of subsequent evolutions. Such entrenchment in turn explains why crises occur, sometimes degenerating into violent conflicts: there is a tension between entrenched custom and the need for societal change, or more simply the fact that the balance of power has shifted.

Citation

Saint-Paul, Gilles. 2022. "Book Review: Entrenchment by Paul Starr." Journal of Economic Literature, 60 (3): 1014–28. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20201565

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D02 Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
  • D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
  • D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
  • N40 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: General, International, or Comparative