By virtue of several theoretical models and hypotheses, this book is one of the earliest studies which systematically investigates the structure and changes of China's financial institutions. To begin with, it examines the relation between state utility function and China's economic growth, and reveals the formation and transition of China's state-owned financial institutional arrangements. Based on this analysis, the author studies the influence of monetization on the arrangements, and the financial support to China's gradual reform which have long been neglected by researchers. Also, the model of money demand that can explain the specific conditions of the gradual reform is built, as the neoclassical framework has been incapable of explaining China's financial performance. In the last chapter, it discusses the dilemma of property rights under the state-owned financial system, with the establishment of the credit equilibrium model and the dual model of bad debts. With insightful theoretical analysis and empirical researches, this book will appeal to scholars and students in finance, economics and economic history.

The economic theories of Karl Marx and his disciples continue to be anthologized in books of literary theory and criticism and taught in humanities classrooms to the exclusion of other, competing economic paradigms. Marxism is collectivist, predictable, monolithic, impersonal, linear, reductive - in short, wholly inadequate as an instrument for good in an era when we know better than to reduce the variety of human experience to simplistic formulae. A person's creative and intellectual energies are never completely the products of culture or class. People are rational agents who choose between different courses of action based on their reason, knowledge, and experience. A person's choices affect lives, circumstances, and communities. Even literary scholars who reject pure Marxism are still motivated by it, because nearly all economic literary theory derives from Marxism or advocates for vast economic interventionism as a solution to social problems. Such interventionism, however, has a track-record of mass murder, war, taxation, colonization, pollution, imprisonment, espionage, and enslavement - things most scholars of imaginative literature deplore. Yet most scholars of imaginative literature remain interventionists. Literature and Liberty offers these scholars an alternative economic paradigm, one that over the course of human history has eliminated more generic bads than any other system. It argues that free market or libertarian literary theory is more humane than any variety of Marxism or interventionism. Just as Marxist historiography can be identified in the use of structuralism and materialist literary theory, so should free-market libertarianism be identifiable in all sorts of literary theory. Literature and Liberty disrupts the near monopolistic control of economic ideas in literary studies and offers a new mode of thinking for those who believe that arts and literature should play a role in discussions about law, politics, government, and economics. Drawing from authors as wide-ranging as Emerson, Shakespeare, E.M. Forster, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry Hazlitt, and Mark Twain, Literature and Liberty is a significant contribution to libertarianism and literary studies.

The Fundamental Institutions of Capitalism presents a radical institutional approach to the analysis of capitalism. Ernesto Screpanti puts forward a number of provocative arguments that expose common ground in both neoclassical and Marxist orthodoxies. It will appeal to a broad audience of social scientists including advanced students and professionals with an interest in politics and economics.

After many years in which it appeared to be losing the pre-eminent position it had occupied in the lexicon of the social and human sciences, the term 'capitalism' has once again become a matter of critical concern, both theoretically and substantively, in a range of disciplinary fields. The global financial and environmental crises, and the shifting of economic power associated with the rise of the BRICs and the sovereign debt contagion in the Eurozone, for example, have all put the norms, practices, and devices of capitalist conduct back under the spotlight. Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello's The New Spirit of Capitalism has become a seminal text since its publication, sparking debate about the meaning, significance, and effects of contemporary changes in economic and organizational life, and becoming a reference point in political discussions about the welfare state, collective action in a 'networked' world, and reconciliation of the interests of social justice with the 'laws of the markets'. This edited book offers the first comprehensive attempt to examine the power and reach of Boltanski and Chiapello's argument, the text's theoretical and methodological perspectives, tools, and techniques, and to do so in relation to the development of neo-liberal capitalism in the period since its original publication and in particular the culmination of these developments in the ongoing crisis since the financial collapse of 2007-8. The volume provides both a balanced critique and overview of New Spirit, but also shows how it can be used in a variety of empirical studies to develop new insights into the functioning and regulation of capitalism in the contemporary era. The volume brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplinary fields such as Sociology, Management and Organization Studies, and Geography. Luc Boltanksi and Eve Chiapello also offer their thoughts on the continuing relevance of New Spirit over a decade after its publication, and in the context of contemporary global economic and political developments.

In this brilliantly researched expos, 'communications Rottweiler' Sharon Beder blasts open the backrooms and boardrooms to reveal how the international corporate elite dictate global politics for their own benefit. Beder shows how they created business associations and think tanks in the 1970s to drive public policy, forced the worldwide privatization and deregulation of public services in the 1980s and 1990s (enabling a massive transfer of ownership and control over essential services) and, still not satisfied, have worked relentlessly since the late 1990s to rewrite the very rules of the global economy to funnel wealth and power into their pockets. Want a globalized and homogenized world of conflict, poverty and massive environmental degradation run by a corporate oligarchy that wipes its feet on democracy? Or a democratic world, where poverty is history, companies work for people and clean water is a right, not a privilege you pay for? Beder 's message is clear - it 's your world, and it 's time to fight for it.

This book examines China, the world's largest auto market since 2008 and the story of how Chinese auto-makers developed is the story of the Chinese economy in microcosm. It focuses on China's systemically important automobile sector, this book reveals how local institutions have moderated structural changes at national and global levels, and consequently generated significant organizational diversity in the production sphere.This book begins with the intriguing observation that individual Chinese car makers have been evolving in different directions despite a shared context; what factors led to these diverse choices and positioning? It is the central aim of this book to explain the variety of institutional forms used by Chinese car manufacturers in navigating the market transition and answering the challenges posed by globalization.

This volume provides a challenging and controversial explanation of the recent events in Russia. It examines the causes, processes, and consequences of Russia's recent political development. Drawing on, and criticising the existing literature, the book also shows how the recent Russian experience can cast light on general theories of revolution and comparative political developments.

This book testifies that the economic thinking of Karl Marx is still valid for the 21st century, introducing readers to unknown materials buried in archives which portray Marx's attitudes to democracy. With contributions from a variety of leading Japanese scholars and edited by one of the most respected Marx experts in the world, Marx for the 21st Century will be read and enjoyed by students and academics in many different areas from political economy to the history of economic thought.

'Hutnyk packs more dynamite in his sentences than any other writer I know.' Amitava Kumar, Penn State University Cultural Studies commonly claims to be a radical discipline. This book thinks that's a bad assessment. Cultural theorists love to toy with Marx, but critical thinking seems to fall into obvious traps. After an introduction which explains why the 'Marxism' of the academy is unrecognisable and largely unrecognised in anti-capitalist struggles, Bad Marxism provides detailed analyses of Cultural Studies' cherished moves by holding fieldwork, archives, empires, hybrids and exchange up against the practical criticism of anti-capitalism. Engaging with the work of key thinkers: Jacques Derrida, James Clifford, Gayatri Spivak, Georges Bataille, Homi Bhabha, Michael Hardt and Toni Negri, Hutnyk concludes by advocating an open Marxism that is both pro-party and pro-critique, while being neither dogmatic, nor dull.

According to renowned Marxist economist Samir Amin, the recent Arab Spring uprisings comprise an integral part of a massive "second awakening" of the Global South. From the self-immolation in December 2010 of a Tunisian street vendor, to the consequent outcries in Cairo's Tahrir Square against poverty and corruption, to the ongoing upheavals across the Middle East and Northern Africa, the Arab world is shaping what may become of Western imperialism - an already tottering and overextended system. The Reawakening of the Arab World examines the complex interplay of nations regarding the Arab Spring and its continuing, turbulent seasons. Beginning with Amin's compelling interpretation of the 2011 popular Arab explosions, the book is comprised of five chapters - including a new chapter analyzing U.S. geo-strategy. Amin sees the United States, in an increasingly multi-polar world, as a victim of overreach, caught in its own web of attempts to contain the challenge of China, while confronting the staying power of nations such as Syria and Iran. The growing, deeply-felt need of the Arab people for independent, popular democracy is the cause of their awakening, says Amin. It is this awakening to democracy that the United States fears most, since real self-government by independent nations would necessarily mean the end of U.S. empire, and the economic liberalism that has kept it in place. The way forward for the Arab world, Amin argues, is to take on, not just Western imperialism, but also capitalism itself.

Urbanisation and urban development are the focus of this comprehensive account which introduces readers to the far-reaching changes now taking place in Chinese cities. New and established scholars from the fields of geography, sociology and urban planning, including Chinese social scientists, contribute chapters on the development of Chinese cities up to the turn of the twenty-first century. All their work reflects the most recent scholarship.

The book's original approach links the visible changes in urban life to changes in the larger political economy of China. Conversely, broad concepts that are central to understanding the country's re-emergence on the world stage, such as the transition from socialism, market reform, and globalization, are made tangible in their effects on people's daily lives in Chinese cities and in detailed examination of how these cities have developed. Case materials are drawn from all China's major cities, but particular attention is paid to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The decades following the Second World War have been depicted as a kind of "golden age of capitalism." In Western societies, an unprecedented economic growth and a balancing of the competing claims of capital and labour had, apparently, been brought under the control of political and democratic institutions. However, efforts to combine this outstanding economic performance with social security appear to be endangered half way through the first decade of the 21st century. This book draws together an international team of contributors, including Douglass North, Harold Demsetz and Michael Piore to assess the current world order.

For many years the countries of East Asia challenged the Washington consensus and offered an alternative development paradigm; their economies were regulated, their financial systems 'repressed' and their states interventionist. However, Asian capitalism was disrupted in the 1990's following Japan's stagnation and the financial crisis of 1997-98. Treading the unexplored theoretical terrain created by the simultaneous decline of the Washington Consensus and Asian developmentalism, this book analyzes the comparative political economy of East Asia and Latin America. leading academics analyze the impact of government intervention, institutional malfunction, social transformation and financial change as well as that of conflict and power on economic development. Written in four distinct parts, it covers * theoretical framework * results of globalization * converging and diverging of paths of economic development * finance and regionalism. Institutionalist and Marxian; from prestigious contributors including Ben Fine and KS Jomo, this book will be of significant interest to students and academics of development economics.

China's explosive economic growth since 1988 has not resulted in an equal increase of income among all Chinese citizens. The authors explore a range of reasons for the disparity and base their conclusions on strong empirical evidence--especially the 1996 survey conducted by the State Statistical Bureau.

The objective of this book is to construct an individually emancipatory economic and political philosophy. This means a concrete-based, man-centered, non-hypostatizing, anti-dialectical approach to the apprehension of the material, i.e. nature in general. This constitutes an emancipation from culture-based understandings of reality, and in particular from the metaphysically biased type of culture represented by capitalism. The proposed philosophical emancipation means individual liberation from the logically flawed, massifying character of the dominant mode of thought of capitalist times. From these bases, the social sciences can also be reformulated. Micocci argues that capitalism can be conceptualized as a limited and limiting socialized mode of thought, an intellectuality whose dialectical features are effectively identified by using the proxy of political economy, both marxist and mainstream. Political economy in fact, being a most representative instance of dialectical thinking, mirrors the dialectical nature of capitalist economic and political relationships. According to Micocci, non-dialectical occurrences in capitalism are simply excluded from normal social, economic, and intellectual activities, which are performed in a metaphysical, intellectually isolated environment. In capitalism, therefore, the materials, the concrete, i.e. nature itself, is not considered as a whole but only as occasional instances. Micocci describes capitalism, in sum, as an intellectually constructed culture (a metaphysics) which preserves itself, and props itself up, by means of its iterative (market-like) functioning.

This book takes a new look at the golden age in neoclassical growth theory and explores in detail sustainability and optimum growth in China, the US and Europe. Innovation, foreign direct investment, trade and growth dynamics are key elements in modern economies - including perspectives on green growth and aspects of the knowledge production function in the context of multinational companies. As such the book considers the role of foreign direct investment in a modified growth model and discusses innovation in an enhanced Mundell-Fleming macro model. Moreover, for the first time it directly links a knowledge production function to the macro production function in a broader context, including real money balances in the production function. It shows - also with empirical relevance - that FDI inward stocks relative to the GDP of host countries, the number of researchers and per capita income are relevant drivers of new knowledge and the stock of knowledge, respectively. This new Schumpeterian theoretical approach lends itself to important policy conclusions for both OECD members and newly industrialized countries.

The slogan "Marxism is dead" was proclaimed almost immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Very soon after, a strange ideological inversion occurred. In place of the "inevitable victory of the proletariat" espoused by Marx, there was the "inevitable process of globalisation," a line now adopted by corporations, politicians and the media the world over. John McMurtry unravels the moral contradictions inherent in this "new world order," and argues that it cannot succeed because it is based on essentially inhuman values. Connecting across a broad spectrum of issues including the Iraq and Balkan wars, the Asian and Russian meltdowns, ecological collapse, the privatisation and deregulation of public institutions, and the principles of technology, neo-classical and Marxian economics, McMurtry's compelling study lays bare the battle lines of an emerging global ethical war. Tracking social uprisings across continents from the rural landless and women's movements of the South to the workers, students and civil alliances marching in the North, the author's original "life-ground ethics" explains the unseen bonds uniting people across cultural and class divisions. Defining the clear choices available to us, and taking apart the official line of "no alternative," John McMurtry delivers not only a devastating philosophical critique of globalization, but also offers us a new economic manifesto, based on principles and human values.

Concern over conglomerate mergers increased dramatically in the latter part of the twentieth century. An acceleration in conglomerate merger activity rekindled firms' takeover fears and swamped trustbusters, and attention focused on the political and economic issues surrounding conglomerate mergers. Of particular importance is the possibility that conglomerate mergers may increase aggregate concentration and eventually create a 'zaibatsu' economy. This book, first published in 1984, addresses the issue by examining the mutual forbearance hypothesis. More specifically, do multi-market contacts among diversified firms affect market competition?

China's recent economic reforms have led to impressive growth, and an unprecedented enthusiasm for establishing foreign enterprises in China. Since 1993, China has been the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the world after the USA and is now considered to be the world's third biggest economy after the USA and Japan. Its greater economic integration with the rest of the world, especially since its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), has further accelerated its market-oriented economic reforms. China is now opening its protected markets and beginning to submit to the rule of international law. This ongoing transition and increasing participation in the world economy has resulted in significant changes in human resource, management and social welfare practices in China's enterprises. The book examines the key areas, all of which are linked, where China is grappling with institutional reforms as it opens up to the outside world - state-owned enterprise reform; capital markets and financial reform; human resources and labor market reform; social welfare reform; and China's accession to the WTO and the growth of the private sector.

In this book prominent scholars from around the world debate two major themes: the past and future of the capitalist world-economy, and the ways in which a capitalist economy shapes Western research, the academy, and broader knowledge structures. Putting the two themes together, they also analyze the relationship between scholarship and the rest of the world. The book is published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fernand Braudel Center. Contributors Samir Amin, Christopher Chase-Dunn, Bart Tromp,. Claudia von Werlhof, Giovanni Arrighi, Pablo Gonzalez-Casanova, Marcel van der Linden, Randall Collins, Mahm ood Mamdani, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Janet Abu-Lughod, Maurice Aymard, and Immanuel Wallerstein.

The constitutional structure and statutory duties of the central bank lie at the heart of academic debate about the optimal design of monetary policy. There is a growing consensus that governments can achieve lower inflation at a reduced social cost by granting autonomy to their central banks. Nowhere is the debate more relevant than in the transition states of eastern Europe, where the newly established central banks' attempts to stabilise prices have come into conflict with the social objectives of national governments. This book, written by a multinational team of distinguished European academics, explores the changing face of central banking in eastern Europe in the light of the modern macroeconomic thinking, providing insights into the design of monetary policy institutions. The approach is to combine theory with case studies drawn from Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria.

It is often assumed that privatization leads to profit, and that well-delineated property rights and a strong private sector will help boost an economy. This book investigates the property rights in Chinese enterprises in the reform era, finding that distinction between the public and the private are blurred, that national reform policies are implemented unevenly across the country, and that enterprises owned by local governments, in Shanghai, for example, are actually extremely profitable.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203456114

For much of the twentieth century, rivalry existed between centrally planned and capitalist solutions to the problems of economic stability and growth. This changed in the 1990s. In that same decade, the period of rapid growth of the Japanese economy came to an end and by the close of the century, the American model of capitalism was seen as the only possible option. Modern capitalism has achieved spectacular rates of innovation and growth but the system is still menaced by financial crises and economic recessions. Furthermore, there is an unacknowledged diversity of capitalist systems. Contributors to this volume argue that to understand capitalism in evolution, this diversity of systems and approaches must be taken into account and their individual evolutions analysed. This book represents a major understanding of the evolution of capitalism in the twenty first century and brings together a distinguished group of experts with perspectives from America, Europe and Japan.

This is an economic, social and cultural analysis of the nature and variety of production and consumption activities in households in the counties of Kent and Cornwall. It yields important new insights on the transition to capitalism in England.

This title was first published in 2002. This useful collection brings together scholars from diverse standpoints to examine the transition from Communism a decade after it began. The result is a book that illuminates the changes, and particularly the problems, that have accompanied attempts to introduce representative democracy and a viable market economy into formerly Communist states. Specialist chapters on the Former Soviet Union, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan and the former East Germany, institutional accounts of postcommunist states and conceptual chapters result in this volume being ideally suited to university courses, policy makers and NGOs that have an interest in transition countries.