This interdisciplinary reader provides a distinctive introduction to the way social, political and economic life is coordinated. It brings together three quite different models of coordination - markets, hierarchies and networks - and places them into a comparative framework, presenting a comprehensive and insightful overview of social coordination. The articles dealing with each model explore the characteristics of that coordinating mechanism, outlining key theoretical issues and drawing on various empirical examples. The final section shows how these models can be compared and contrasted. It also assesses the respective strengths, weaknesses and limitations of each model.

Markets, Hierarchies and Networks is a set book on The Open University course D212 Running the Country.

Introduction - Jennifer Frances et al
PART ONE: MARKETS
Introduction - Rosalind Levaci[ac]c
On Markets - Alfred Marshall
Markets and Government - Rosalind Levaci[ac]c
An Overview
Socialism, Planning, and the Market - Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden and David Coates
Market Process versus Market Equilibrium - Israel M Krizner
Markets and Managerial Hierarchies - Tony McGuinness
Creating the Single European Market - Dennis Swann
Which Internal Market? The NHS White Paper and Internal Markets - Penelope M Mullen
PART TWO: HIERARCHIES
Introduction - Jeremy Mitchell
In Praise of Hierarchy - Elliott Jaques
Legal Authority in a Bureaucracy - Max Weber
Models of Bureaucracy - David Beetham
Survival Inside Bureaucracy - Guy Benveniste
Market, Capitalism, Planning and Technocracy - Giovanni Sartori
New Directions for Industrial Policy in the Area of Regulatory Reform - John Vickers
PART THREE: NETWORKS
Introduction - Grahame Thompson
Network Analysis - David Knoke and James H Kuklinkski
Basic Concepts
Neither Friends nor Strangers - Edward H Lorenz
Informal Networks of Subcontracting in French Industry
Beyond Vertical Integration - The Rise of the Value-Adding Partnership - Russell Johnston and Paul R Lawrence
Policy Networks and Sub-Central Government - R A W Rhodes
Taking and Giving - Pnina Werbner
Working Women and Female Bonds in a Pakistani Immigrant Neighbourhood
Community, Market, State - and Associations? The Prospective Contribution of Interest Governance to Social Order - Wolfgang Streeck and Philippe C Schmitter
PART THREE: COMPARISON BETWEEN MODELS
Introduction - Grahame Thompson
Markets, Bureaucracies and Clans - William G Ouchi
Interorganizational Relations in Industrial Systems - Jan Johanson and Lars-Gunnar Mattsson
A Network Approach Compared with the Transactions-Cost Approach
Neither Market nor Hierarchy - Walter W Powell
Network Forms of Organization
Price, Authority and Trust - Jeffrey L Bradach and Robert G Eccles
From Ideal Types to Plural Forms
Spontaneous (¿Grown¿) Order and Organized (¿Made¿) Order - Frederick von Hayek