"This is an imaginative little book. Its message should be of use to economists, political scientists,
and all those interested in policy questions related to these areas. Hirschman starts his argument by assuming
that in time all organizations (firms, bureaus, political parties, governments, and so on) develop slack and experience
a deterioration in the quality of their output. The clients of a declining organization have two options for reversing
this trend: exit and voice. And much of the book is devoted to an explication of the ways in which these options
operate, their relative advantages and weaknesses, the interdependence between them...It is in these discussions
of current problems and institutions, however, that I find the book most rewarding. His basic point, that there
exists a symbiosis between exit and voice, is certainly valid and significant. Its importance gets driven home
by the way Hirschman applies the idea to various current issues. One emerges from the book feeling he has obtained
a new analytic insight into policy questions which can be applied again and again."
--Dennis C. Mueller, Public Policy
"This unusual and subtle book is...an exercise in interdisciplinary analysis focused on the interaction
between market and non-market forces affecting the process of development and decline...Professor Hirschman develops
a theory of loyalty as a key factor in the interaction between voice and exit: loyalty is shown to postpone exit
and to make voice more effective through the possibility of exit."
--Economic Journal
"This is a marvelously perceptive essay which illuminates some of the most interesting economic and social
questions of our time. I have read it with enormous interest and admiration, and the further pleasure that one
has in being with an author who can think things through."
