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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history
Central economic planning is often associated with failed state socialism, and modern capitalism celebrated as its antithesis. This book shows that central planning is not always, or even primarily, a state enterprise, and that the giant industrial corporations that dominated the American economy through the twentieth century were, first and foremost, unprecedented examples of successful, consensual central planning at a very large scale.
Maurice Dobb was the foremost Marxian economist of his generation in Britain. He was noted for his contributions to value theory, the theory of economic planning and the analysis of Soviet economic development. This set will re-issue 7 of his most important works.
This volume collects published papers and essays from widely scattered and inaccessible sources, some of which appeared for the first time when this book was originally published. In the first part of the book the subjects range from the theory of wages and recent trends in economic theory to economists' criticism of capitalism and socialism, investment-policy in under-developed countries, and economic growth under the Soviet Five Year Plans. The second part includes papers on Lenin and Marx, a study of the economic ideas of Bernard Shaw, and an essay on historical materialism.
This volume consists of lectures and articles by Maurice Dobb selected from among those delivered or written by him during the 1950s and 60s. It includes three lectures delivered at the University of Bologna on 'Some Problems in the History of Capitalism', two lectures on economic development given at the Delhi School of Economics, articles on the theory of development, and a number of articles on various questions of soviet economic planning contributed to specialist journals. The collection ends with a note in retrospect on Marx's Das Kapital published in recognition of the centenary of the appearance of Volume One of that work in 1867.
This volume examines questions concerning the nature and behaviour of capitalism and the development of economic thought and the relation between economic thought and practice in the early twentieth century.
The story of the economic development of the Soviet Union provided the first case in history of the establishment of a socialist economy and was therefore of great interest for economists and economic historians of the twentieth century. At the same time it affords a unique example of the transformation of a country into an industrial nation at an unprecedented pace and under the guidance of a national economic plan. This book examines these changes from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to 1927.
This book follows on from the author's volume Russian Economic Development and although it encompasses some of the same material it charts the history and progress of the Soviet economy down to the efforts at reconstruction after The Second World War. A new chapter was added which covers the post-war decade from the end of the war to the announcement of the Sixth Year Plan.
In Soviet Economy and the War the author presents a concise factual record of Soviet economic developments during a short period. This book outlines the economic planning and performance that accompanied the military training and preparation to meet the onset of Nazism. To some extent complementary to Dobb's Soviet Economy & the War, the author offers detailed studies of a few special aspects of the Soviet Economic System.
Part 1 of this volume analyses the main issues in the theory of Applied Economics. Part 2 surveys the rise of capitalist enterprise and indicates the importance of certain institutions in the growth and working of the economic system at the start of the twentieth century. The concluding chapters stress the relevance of these considerations to the problems facing politicians and administrators.
This is Volume II of Professor Parker's authoritative Official History of Privatisation, covering the period from the re-election of Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to the election of Tony Blair in 1997. Volume II considers in detail several of the major privatisations, including those of airports, steel, water, electricity, coal and the railways, as well as a number of smaller ones. Each privatisation involved major challenges in terms of industrial restructuring, organising successful sales and, in a number of cases, establishing effective regulatory regimes. The policy evolved and new methods of selling and regulating were put in place that enabled further disposals to occur. Monolithic nationalised industries with their emphasis on the benefits of economies of scale, vertical integration and rationalisation, were replaced by industrial structures rooted in the importance of commercial management, risk taking and competition. In government departments and parts of the National Health Service, direct employees were replaced by private contractors, and private investment became a characteristic of public infrastructure in the form of PFI/PPP schemes. This study draws heavily on the official records of the British government, to which the author was given full access and on interviews with the leading figures involved in each of the privatisations, including ex-ministers, civil servants, business and City figures, as well as academics that have studied the subject. This book will of great interest to students of privatisation, British political history and of business and economics in general.
When discussing wages, historians have traditionally concentrated on the level of wages, much less on how people were paid for their work. Important aspects were thus ignored such as how frequently were wages actually paid, how much of the wage was paid in non-monetary form - whether as traditional perquisites or community relief - especially when there was often insufficient coinage available to pay wages. Covering a wide geographical area, ranging from Spain to Finland, and time span, ranging from the sixteenth century to the 1930s, this volume offers fresh perspectives on key areas in social and economic history such as the relationship between customs, moral economy, wages and the market, changing pay and wage forms and the relationship between age, gender and wages.
This unique troika of Handbooks provides indispensable coverage of the history of economic analysis. Edited by two of the foremost academics in the field, the volumes gather together insightful and original contributions from scholars across the world. The encyclopaedic breadth and scope of the original entries will make these Handbooks an invaluable source of knowledge for all serious students and scholars of the history of economic thought. Each Handbook can be read individually and acts as a self-contained volume in its own right. It can be purchased separately or as part of a three-volume set. Volume I contains original biographical profiles of many of the most important and influential economists. These inform the reader about their lives, works and impact on the further development of the discipline. The emphasis is on their lasting contributions to our understanding of the complex system known as the economy. The entries also shed light on the means and ways in which the functioning of this system can be improved and its dysfunction reduced. Contributors include: T. Asada, T. Aspromourgos, M. Assous, V. Avtonomov, R. Baranzini, A. Baujard, A. Beraud, E. Bertrand, O. Bjerkholt, P. Boettke, D. Boegenhold, A. Brewer, G. Campagnolo, V. Caspari, V. Chick J. Creedy, F. Dal Degan, M. Dal Pont-Legrande, M. Dardi, J. de Boyer des Roches, D. Diatkine, V. Di Giovinazzo, R.W. Dimand, R. Dujmovits, I. Eliseeva, R.B. Emmett, N. Eyguesier, G. Faccarello, O. Favereau, A. Fossati, W. Gaertner, C. Gehrke, A. Giuliani, J. Glaeser, M. Goedl, R. Gomez Betancourt, H. Gram, M.E.L. Guidi, D. Haas, H. Hagemann, G.C. Harcourt, M.J. Holler, H. Janssen, J. Jespersen, J. Joachim Zweynert, P. Kalmbach, Y.-F. Kao, J.E. King, A. Kirman, H. Klausinger, M. Knell, S. Kolev, H.D. Kurz, B.J. Loasby, N. Makasheva, C. Martin, M. McLure, A. Molavi Vassei, A.E. Murphy, L. Nellinger, S. Oliver, A. Opocher, A. Orain, T. Raffaelli, A. Rainer, G. Rubin, M. Rutherford, M. Salles, N. Salvadori,B. Schefold, M. Schneider, C.P. Schroeder, M.H. Schutz, U. Schwalbe, R. Signorino, N. Skaggs, P. Spahn, P. Steiner, R. Sturn, H.-M. Trautwein, K. Tribe, R. Van den Berg, V. Vanberg, K. Velupillai, R. Venkatachalam, C.C. von Weizsacker, L.R. Wray, K. Yahia
This book constitutes an up-to-date treatment of Russia's economic development and economic policies since 2000, when Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia. After the slow decline and sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia embarked upon a multi-faceted change. This included transition from central management to a market economy, from one-party rule to democracy, from multi-national empire to nation state, and from relative autarchy to opening up to the European and global communities. This book concentrates on economic change, exploring how in spite of steep production decline, widening welfare differentials and increasing social uncertainty, the 1990s also created many of the institutional and policy preconditions for a functioning market economy.
F.A. Hayek (1899-1992) was a Nobel Prize winning economist, famous for his defense against classical liberalism. This volume xamines Hayek's relationship with the Chicago School, and looks at The Consitution of Liberty - Hayek's vision of the wealthy. The study highlights the paradox that arises from the spontaneous order of trade unions.
First published in 1964, The Economic Development of South-East Asia: Studies in economic history and political economy contains eight papers originally written for a study group at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. The papers, edited by Professor C. D. Cowan, are written against a background of economic underdevelopment in large parts of Asia. Economic problems increasingly plagued the governments of Asia after the Second World War, and while Western governments were willing to help foster economic development, relations with Asian governments were somewhat hindered by the heritage of their colonial past. Problems also related to the growth of traditional trading ports and export crops, and to the importation of colonial regimes, western funds and skills in the nineteenth century. Such developments come under the loosely generalised concept of imperialism, with its strongly emotional overtones, whose use impedes the objective assessment and analysis of facts. While we understand a good deal about conditions of economic growth in the West, much of what has fostered or retarded growth in other parts of the world remains less clear.
This book is an investigation into the economic policy formulation and practice of neoliberalism in Britain from the 1950s through to the financial crisis and economic downturn that began in 2007-8. It demonstrates that influential economists, such as F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, authors at key British think tanks such as the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies, and important political figures of the Thatcher and New Labour governments shared a similar conception of the consumer. For neoliberals, the idea that consumers were weak in the face of businesses and large corporations was almost offensive. Instead, consumers were imagined to be sovereign agents in the economy, whose consumption decisions played a central role in the construction of their human capital and in the enabling of their aspirations. Consumption, just like production, came to be viewed as an enterprising and entrepreneurial activity. Consequently, from the early 1980s until the present day, it was felt necessary that banks should have the freedom to meet the borrowing needs of consumers. Credit rationing would be a thing of the past. Just like businesses, consumers and households could use debt to expand their stock of personal assets. By utilizing the method of French philosopher Michel Foucault this book provides an original analysis of the policy ideas and political speeches of key figures in the New Right, in government and at the Bank of England. And it addresses the key question as to why policy-makers both in Britain and the United States did little or nothing to stem rising consumer and household indebtedness, instead always choosing to see increasing house prices and homeownership as a positive to be encouraged.
This book examines the causes of the economic and political crisis in Argentina in 2001 and the process of strong economic recovery. It poses the question of how a country which defaulted on its external loans and was widely criticized by international observers could have succeeded in its growth and development despite this decision in 2002. It examines this process in terms of the impact of neo-liberal policies on the economy and the role of development strategy and the state in recovering from the crisis
Both Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping drastically altered the course of contemporary China's economic development using opposing strategies. Mao froze China's economic system in a perennial state of consumer goods shortages and pervasive macro disequilibria. Deng, however, began thawing a rigidly structured system by introducing experimental reform measures. Mao's revolutionary rhetoric brought China's economy to the brink of bankruptcy. Deng's ideological pragmatism netted China glowing successes. Mao closed China to the outside world. Deng engineered China's reintegration into the world economy. Dismantling a dysfunctional system and replacing it with a dynamic new one involving 1.2 billion people is risk-laden. Reform in China began in 1978. It was tentative and experimental, confining reform to organizational and administrative decentralization on farms. Successes on farms ushered in reform elsewhere in the economy. Over time, market-based coordinating mechanisms progressively began replacing the systeM's control devices. Results from decentralization internally reinforced those from liberalization externally. This consequently transformed China's stale, distorted system into a more competitive, bustling new one ready for developmental takeoff. Its meteoric rise among the world's leading markets in recent years has thrust China's economy to the forefront of growth and development. Controlled, phased reform is yielding dividends, not only for its own consumers but for international economic cooperation and growth as well.
This book brings together key players in the current debate on positive and normative science and philosophy and value judgements in economics. Both editors have engaged in these debates throughout their careers from its early foundations; Putnam as a doctorial student of Hans Reichenbach at UCLA and Walsh a junior member of Lord Robbins's department at the London School of Economics, both in the early 1950s. This book collects recent contributions from Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen and Partha Dasgupta, as well as a new chapter from the editors.
First published in 1979, The Transformation of England discusses the creation in late eighteenth century England of the industrial system and thereby the present world. Professor Mathias poses questions about the nature of industrialization, social change and historical explanation, issues that are his principal scholarly concern. This series of essays is divided into two groups. The first group of essays focuses upon general themes such as the 'uniqueness' in Europe of the industrial revolution, capital formation, taxation, the growth of skills, science and technical change, leisure and wages, and diagnoses of poverty. In the second section, Professor Mathias focuses on the social structure in the eighteenth century, considering the industrialization of brewing, coinage, agriculture and the drink industries, advances in public health and the armed forces, British and American public finance in the War of Independence, Dr Johnson and the business world.
This book assesses the current state of the Greek economy and detects its development and growth prospects up to 2030. The analysis begins with 19th century Greece, addressing the repeated defaults that led to the formation of a dependent state, and the failed modernizing attempts. Then the book addresses current geostrategic dimensions as well as the current structure of institutions and culture in Greece. The second part presents the evolution of sustainability, governance, and inclusivity, as well as the evolution of culture in Greek society and insights into the production prototype. The third part of the book looks forward to what lays ahead for Greece up to 2030. It presents the theoretical background for two scenarios: the normal scenario (business as usual, including the effects of the recent Covid-19 pandemic) and the optimal scenario (a pro-growth scenario including increases of Total Factor Productivity through structural reforms). In presenting these scenarios, the book discusses issues ranging from a comparative analysis between Greece and the Eurozone, the developments in output gap and potential output, public debt, competitiveness, basic macroeconomic variables, a detailed analysis on investments, and inclusive growth.
First published in 1964, Was Stalin Really Necessary? is a thought-provoking work which deals with many aspects of the Soviet political economy, planning problems and statistics. Professor Nove starts with an attempt to evaluate the rationality of Stalinism and discusses the possible political consequences of the search for greater economic efficiency, which is followed by a controversial discussion of Kremlinology. The author goes on to analyse the situation of the peasants as reflected in literary journals, then looks at industrial and agricultural problems. There are elaborate statistical surveys of occupational patterns and the purchasing power of wages, followed by an examination of the irrational statistical reflection of irrational economic decisions. Professor Nove 's essay on social welfare was, unlike some of his other work, used in the Soviet press as evidence against over-enthusiastic cold-warriors, among whom the author was not always popular. Finally, the author seeks to generalise about the evolution of world communism.
First published in 1961, The Soviet Economy is a well informed work which seeks to acquaint students with the structure and problems of the economy of the USSR. In a balanced and perceptive analysis, Alexander Nove describes the organisation of economic life and of the planning system, analysing the practical and theoretical problems within the institutional structure of the Soviet system, and introducing the student to Soviet economic ideas and concepts. The subject is then related to the growth of the Soviet economy and to the extent to which both the institutions and the problems reflect the historical peculiarities of the USSR. The author does not try to argue for or against the system or to provide answers but aims to stimulate the reader to enquire further into the more important questions raised by the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet economy.
From the early 1960s until his death in 1994, Alec Nove was one of the world's leading authorities on Russian and Soviet economic history. This Routledge Revivals collection brings together six of his most essential books on the Soviet Economy, taken from across the full breadth of his eminent career. Written between 1961 and 1989, this definitive collection covers Soviet economic history from the height of the Cold War through to the cultural renaissance of Glasnost in the late 1980s. From Joseph Stalin through to Mikhail Gorbachev, via an exploration of Soviet political economy, efficiency, Socialism and development, this is a truly wide-ranging reissued collection, which will be a delight to Soviet economists and historians.
First published in 1991, Stuart Bruchey's study is a historical tribute to the financial innovation of the American Stock Exchange. He chronicles the heyday of Wall Street - from events leading to the Great Depression, through the New Deal and World War II, to the electronic era, the crash of'87, and the new realities and global opportunities of the 1990s. We observe with fascination the transformation of the relocated outdoor Curb market on Broad Street to its cavernous indoor trading facility on Trinity Place, where it's been ever since - the first trading "posts" topped with light fixtures reminiscent of the outdoor lampposts they replaced. Bruchey relives for us the introduction of the first CRT terminals on the trading floor and the gradual, yet inevitable, influence of technology on the trading process. His study of modernization brings us right into the world of equity options, derivatives and other creative products introduced in latter part of the twentieth century - investment vehicles designed to serve an increasingly sophisticated and demanding marketplace of investors. |
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