Power in economics

Economics is a social science. It is concerned with a certain section of human relationships, and a very important section at that. Economic activities take up, after all, a large part of the adult's waking time, and the results of these activities play a decisive part in determining one's standard of living and social status. It is almost self-evident that people will be anything but indifferent to the factors which influence their economic con ditions. As in other important social fields we should expect that individuals and groups will struggle for position; that power will be used to improve one's chances in the economic 'game'; and that attempts will be made to derive power and influence from acquired economic strongholds.
Power should, therefore, be a recurrent theme in economic studies of a theoretical or applied nature. Yet if we look at the main run of economic theory over the past hundred years we find that it is characterized by a strange lack of power consider ations. More or less homogenous units - firms and households - move in more or less given technological and market conditions and try to improve their economic lot within the constraints of these conditions. This model has been explored in great detail by modern economic science and very important insights into the working of the market mechanism have been gained. But that people will use power to alter the mechanism itself; that uneven power may greatly influence the outcome of market operations; that people may strive for economic power as much as for economic wealth: these facts have been largely neglected.