First published in 1985, Theories of Modern Capitalism provides a succinct study of Marxist and non-Marxist theories of Capitalism, its recent development, and the prospects of a transition to socialism. The study begins with a critical examination and comparison of four major theories of capitalism, in the works of Marx, Weber, Schumpeter and Hayek. This is followed by an analysis of the most recent phase of capitalism which has been conceptualised by Marxists thinkers in various ways as 'organised capitalism'', 'state monopoly', or 'late capitalism'. Finally, Bottomore considers the question of a 'transition to socialism' in the diverse interpretations which have been offered by Marxists on one side, and by Weber, Schumpeter and Hayek on the other. Theories of Modern Capitalism will be valuable in a wide range of courses in social and political theory, and will also have an appeal to a broader readership concerned with issues of social and economic policy.

Most of us are familiar with free-market competition: the idea that society and the economy benefit when people are left to self-regulate, testing new ideas in pursuit of profit. Less known is the fact that this theory arose after arguments for the scientific method and freedom of speech had gone mainstream-and that all three share a common basis. Proponents of self-regulation in the realm of free speech have argued that unhindered public expression causes true ideas to gain strength through scrutiny. Similarly, scientific inquiry has been regarded as a self-correcting system, one in which competing hypotheses are verified by multiple independent researchers. It was long thought that society was better left to organize itself through free markets as opposed to political institutions. But, over the twentieth century, we became less confident in the notion of a self-regulating socioeconomy. Evan Osborne traces the rise and fall of this once-popular concept. He argues that-as society becomes more complex-self-regulation becomes more efficient and can once again serve our economy well.

A bold history of the rise of central banks, showing how institutions designed to steady the ship of global finance have instead become as destabilizing as they are dominant. While central banks have gained remarkable influence over the past fifty years, promising more stability, global finance has gone from crisis to crisis. How do we explain this development? Drawing on original sources ignored in previous research, The Rise of Central Banks offers a groundbreaking account of the origins and consequences of central banks' increasing clout over economic policy. Many commentators argue that ideas drove change, indicating a shift in the 1970s from Keynesianism to monetarism, concerned with controlling inflation. Others point to the stagflation crises, which put capitalists and workers at loggerheads. Capitalists won, the story goes, then pushed deregulation and disinflation by redistributing power from elected governments to markets and central banks. Both approaches are helpful, but they share a weakness. Abstracting from the evolving practices of central banking, they provide inaccurate accounts of recent policy changes and fail to explain how we arrived at the current era of easy money and excessive finance. By comparing developments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland, Leon Wansleben finds that central bankers' own policy innovations were an important ingredient of change. These innovations allowed central bankers to use privileged relationships with expanding financial markets to govern the economy. But by relying on markets, central banks fostered excessive credit growth and cultivated an unsustainable version of capitalism. Through extensive archival work and numerous interviews, Wansleben sheds new light on the agency of bureaucrats and calls upon society and elected leaders to direct these actors' efforts to more progressive goals.

Who gains and who loses from economic transformation in Eastern Europe is a key question, but one which is too rarely discussed. This book, first published in 1992, examines the evidence about distribution of income under Communism in Eastern Europe. Contrary to popular impressions, a great deal of information exists about distribution of income and household earnings in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. With glasnost much material previously kept secret in the USSR has been made available. The book contains extensive statistical evidence that had not previously been assembled on a comparative basis, and brings the story right up to the end of Communism. The findings bring out the differences in experience between countries under Communism: between Central Europe and the former Union; between Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland; and between the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

This book presents an enquiry into the interface between nature, economy and society, which is still in its early stages, notwithstanding the commendable progress and advances made in the field of environmental and natural resource economics within the ever-expanding boundaries of economics as a discipline. It further delineates the evolution of an inter-disciplinary framework for analyzing the status, the future goals, mechanisms and policy instruments that can help move towards a more ecologically sustainable, economically beneficial and socially just future. A pre-requisite for preparing a comprehensive and coherent framework involves unfolding the multiple layers of interconnectedness between the three systems nature, economy and society, each of which has its own internal consistencies as well as externalities. Against this backdrop, the book presents scholarly contributions that focus on four broadly defined building blocks, namely: i) accounting for ecosystems services for life and human well-being; ii) impacts of economic growth on ecosystems; iii) social norms, equity, and governance; and iv) alternative approaches to green and socio-economic systems. The analyses, presented by some of the most eminent national and international scholars, address the major environmental challenges that nations around the world face today and consider which specific policy directions at the international and national level are needed. In particular, the choices India and South Asia now face, as development and environment both need to be addressed adequately, touch on many of these challenges.

The Circular Economy: Case Studies about the Transition from the Linear Economy explores examples of the circular economy in action. Unlike other books that provide narrow perceptions of wide-ranging and highly interconnected paradigms, such as supply chains, recycling, businesses models and waste management, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the circular economy from various perspectives. Its unique insights into the approaches, methods and tools that enable people to make the transformation to a circular economy show how recent research, trends and attitudes have moved beyond the "call to arms" approach to a level of maturity that requires sound scientific thinking.

The eleventh volume of a new, well-received, and highly acclaimed series on critical infrastructure and homeland security, Information Technology Protection and Homeland Security is an eye-opening account of a diverse and complex sector. This book describes the processes needed to identify assets, assess risk, implement protective programs and resilience strategies, and measure their effectiveness. While the IT sector can never be made immune to all possible intrusions or hacks, a concerted, well thought out effort to incorporate security upgrades along with careful planning for facilities can help minimize attacks. Although Information Technology Protection and Homeland Security was written to serve information technology (IT) personnel, project designers, communications technicians, and all computer operators who have an interest in the IT sector, the text is accessible to those who have no experience with the IT sector. While working through the text systematically, the reader will gain an understanding of the need for a heightened sense of awareness of the present threat facing the IT sector. Moreover, the reader will gain knowledge of security principles and measures that can be implemented-adding a critical component to not only the reader's professional knowledge but also providing them the tools needed to combat terrorism. Other books in the Critical Infrastructure and Homeland Security Series include: Dam Sector Protection and Homeland Security Energy Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security Food Supply Protection and Homeland Security Transportation Protection and Homeland Security Government Facilities Protection and Homeland Security

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Adair Turner became chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority just as the global financial crisis struck in 2008, and he played a leading role in redesigning global financial regulation. In this eye-opening book, he sets the record straight about what really caused the crisis. It didn't happen because banks are too big to fail--our addiction to private debt is to blame. Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth--but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money--the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money. Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.

Coming at a critical juncture for the euro, the book takes stock of the ECB's experience during its first ten years and discusses the way ahead. The articles are written by well-known experts in the field and provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of relevant policy issues, including the ECB's communication and its monetary strategy and instruments.

Renowned political economist Samir Amin, engaged in a unique lifelong effort both to narrate and affect the human condition on a global scale, brings his analysis up to the present--the world of 2013. The key events of our times--financial crisis, the emerging nations, globalization, financialization, political Islam, Euro-zone implosion--are related in a coherent, historically based, account. Changes in contemporary capitalism require an updating of definitions and analysis of social classes, class struggles, political parties, social movements and the ideological forms in which they express their modes of action in the transformation of societies. Amin meets this challenge and lays bare the reality of monopoly capitalism in its general, global form. Ultimately, Amin demonstrates that this system is not viable and that the implosion in progress is unavoidable. Whether humanity will rise to the challenge of building a more humane global order free of the contradictions of capital, however, is yet to be seen.

This edited volume analyses the channels through which EU membership contributed to the convergence process of member countries in the Baltics, Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. These channels include trade, investment, finance, labour, and laws and institutions. Global integration has certainly played an important role. A large part of FDI flows and financial integration in the world have been persistent features of globalization. Have these countries experienced more intensive integration through these channels because of EU membership, with its much tighter institutional and political anchorage, than their fundamentals and global trends would suggest? Contributions by lead researchers of the area address different aspects of this question. .

This important and original dictionary presents for the first time in an easily accessible form a wide range of terms and concepts used in free-market economics. It includes entries on theories of the market economy, as well as empirical studies of economic freedom and informative biographies of free-market economists. Standard dictionaries in economics often omit many terms used in free-market economics, and also place a different interpretation on some terms and concepts, such as 'intervention', 'regulation', 'ownership and 'public goods'. In addition, they often do not include references on important and controversial topics such as free banking. This Dictionary includes definitive entries that are not covered elsewhere, as well as explaining key terms and concepts from the Austrian, Chicago, Virginia Public Choice, Law and Economics and Georgists schools of thought. It also incorporates the essential points of a particular topic, concept or term used in law, finance and classical liberal philosophy as well as many basic terms used in economics. Sorted alphabetically, with extensive cross-referencing this dictionary provides concise and clear definitions of common as well as less well known concepts used in free-market economics. This Dictionary will be an essential source of reference for all those in the public choice and Austrian schools as well as those with an interest in free-market economics.

The Reproductive Bargain reveals the institutional sources of labour insecurities behind Japan's post-war employment system, and helps to explain the transition from unstoppable growth to inescapable stagnation. This economic juggernaut's decline cannot be understood without reference to the reproductive bargain. Gendering institutional analysis is a key to deciphering the enigma of Japanese capitalism.

Recent changes in the global economy have brought about a massively devastating pillage of resources in the developing world by multinational corporations, as well as states with energy and food security concerns. These developments have also brought about a major change in the form taken by imperialism (actions taken by the state to advance the interests of the dominant capitalist class). Extractive Imperialism in the Americas explores the changing face of US imperialism in the regional context of the Americas, a major stage of this system in crisis.

Information and communication technologies, henceforth ICTs, have received enormous attention in recent times. During the decade of the 90s, there was a significant expansion in ICT infrastructure both in the context of industrialized and developing countries. Notwithstanding these facts, a 'digital divide' exists between industrialized and developing nations and between urban-rich and rural-poor within nations. The present study addressed this issue under four research questions. The first is why access to ICTs is important. The second is how to provide access for the households living in rural areas of developing countries. The third is what are the direct welfare implications of the use of telecommunications. And the fourth is what are the indirect welfare implications of the use of telecommunications. The study addressed these four issues under two aspects: institutional aspects and welfare aspects. The study focused on these two aspects in the context of rural areas of Bangladesh and Peru. The empirical findings of the study are based on household surveys that were conducted in the rural areas of the two study countries. Contents: ICTs - Institutional aspects of provision - Welfare aspects of use - Business-NGO partnership - Public-Private partnership - Compensating variations - Willingness to pay for rural telecommunication services - Transaction costs and households' market participation - Information and rural middlemen.

Debt as power is a timely and innovative contribution to our understanding of one of the most prescient issues of our time: the explosion of debt across the global economy and related requirement of political leaders to pursue exponential growth to meet the demands of creditors and investors. The book is distinctive in offering a historically sensitive and comprehensive analysis of debt as an interconnected and global phenomenon. -- .

Concluding the Commodore trilogy, this book takes a look at Commodore's resurgence in the late 1980's and then ultimate demise. This was a period of immense creativity from engineers within the company, who began “moonshot” projects using emerging CD-ROM technology. Get to know the people behind Commodore's successes and failures as they battle to stay relevant amidst blistering competition from Nintendo, Apple, and the onslaught of IBM PC clones. Told through interviews with company insiders, this examination of the now defunct company traces the engineering breakthroughs and baffling decisions that led to the demise of Commodore.

In this textbook, governance aspects are presented and explained in a comprehensible way at different levels: After a look at the roots of the governance discussion in economics and political science, political and economic negotiation and problem-solving processes are discussed on the macro level "Orders of Governance" and institutional and normative framework conditions are considered; on the meso level "Cooperation", forms of steering and control as well as cooperation and coordination of social economy enterprises are dealt with; and on the micro level "Interactions", governance is dealt with from the perspective of the actors and their interactions.