Theory in Economic Anthropology

This outstanding book demonstrates the theoretical and empirical importance of economic anthropology for the twenty-first century. Ensminger and her colleagues combine the solid empirical work that anthropology is known for with innovative theoretical trends in economics. The work on institutions and social capital and on experimental economics is most notable to me. The book foreshadows a scientific contribution in these areas that will be very significant in the next decade. It is a pleasure to read the more empirical contributions, by established as well as junior scholars, which demonstate that economic anthropology remains solidly rooted in the tradition of careful, theoretically informed ethnography. This remarkable book should be read by a wide range of scholars and students interested in knowing how economic anthropology can advance social science in the twenty-first century.