This insightful Modern Guide offers a broad coverage of questions and controversies encountered by contemporary economists. A refreshing approach to philosophy of economics, chapters comprise a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives, from lab and field experiments to macroeconomics and applied policy work, written using a familiar, accessible language for economists. Highlighting key areas of methodological controversy, the Modern Guide looks at estimating utility functions in choice data, causal modelling, and ethics in randomised control trials. Chapters further explore topical issues, including: economists' attitudes to other disciplines; gender bias in economic research; methods of modelling social influence in economics; behavioural welfare economics; anti-poverty policy controversies; and inflexible reliance on DSGE models in macroeconomics. Furthermore, it explores the implications of the last financial crisis for macroeconomic confidence, and ways to adapt abstract theory to everyday policy advice. Avoiding philosophical jargon, and with the majority of chapters written by economists, this Modern Guide will challenge economists and scholars of philosophy of economics to engage with different approaches to the topic. This will also be a useful tool for policy makers administering nudges, development initiatives, macro-forecasting and monetary policy.

Over the last 25 years, nearly two billion people across the globe have risen out of poverty and income levels have risen worldwide. Yet in the US, the top 1% earn twice the amount of income as the poorest 50% of the population. In the midst of rising prosperity, economic dissatisfaction--driven by the persistent fear felt by many that they are ''falling behind''--is higher than at any point since the 1930s. In Understanding Economic Inequality, the author brings an economist's perspective informed by new, groundbreaking research on inequality from philosophy, sociology, psychology, and political science and presents it in a form that it is accessible to those who want to understand our world, our society, our politics, our paychecks, and our neighbors' paychecks better. As any history of the 21st century would be incomplete without understanding ''the 99% versus the 1%'', the insights provided by the author will prove valuable to any reader. This book also provides the foundation for undergraduate courses on wealth and income inequality, and an essential reading for introductory economics, labor economics, public policy, law, or sociology courses.

In this fascinating book, Imad A. Moosa challenges existing preconceptions surrounding normative economics, arguing that what some economists see as undisputed facts of life may be myths caused by dogmatic thinking. With this in mind, Moosa argues that the alleged puzzles found in the economics and finance literature are not puzzles at all, because they can be explained intuitively, without the need for complex models or the extravaganza of econometrics. Plausible explanations are suggested for puzzles in various areas of economics and finance, such as the home bias puzzle, the PPP puzzle and the presidential puzzle. The author explains why some common beliefs are, in fact, myths, including those of the power of the market, inefficiency of the public sector and the use of low-interest policy to combat the depression caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. Controversies in Economics and Finance is a thought-provoking and stimulating read that exposes common flaws in economic analysis. It will be of great benefit to academics, graduate students and policy-makers looking to understand the limits of economic analysis.

The second edition of this important textbook introduces students to the fundamental ideas of heterodox economics. It is written in a clear way by top heterodox scholars. This introductory book offers not only a critique of the dominant approach to economics, but also presents a positive and constructive alternative. Students interested in an explanation of the real world will find the heterodox approach not only satisfying, but ultimately better able to explain a money-using economy prone to periods of instability and crises. Key features of this textbook include: A non-conventional understanding of economic analysis on a number of relevant topics A new analysis of the state of macroeconomics Deep and convincing criticism of orthodox thinking Discussion of the crucial importance of money, banking and finance today New discussions of the theories of consumption and investment Analysis of the roots of the 2008 global financial crisis A presentation of the features of sustainable development. Students of economics at all levels can use this textbook to deepen their understanding of the heterodox approach, the fundamental roots of the 2008 global financial crisis and the need to rethink economics afresh.

This book addresses the problems of Latin America, through two of the most important features of the post-Bretton Woods economic order, large corporations and weak financial markets. In turn, it shows that their impact on economic growth and development is feeble and short-lived. This resulted in income concentration and an extremely unequal distribution of wealth in the region. As a result, large corporations and financial markets became central institutions in developing economies. In this context, Latin American countries globalized their economies, modifying their productive and financial structures and strengthening large corporation and non- financial structures. This economic order was a failure, as it was unable to achieve development in Latin America; large capital corporations either re-primarized their productive activity or developed an organization based on assembly manufacture, and, as such, financial markets remained underdeveloped because large corporations did not operate through domestic financial markets. In this book, the effects of these trends are analyzed in regional and country studies, while the impact of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis on Latin American economies are also considered. Researchers and students, especially those interested in a Post-Keynesian or heterodox view of the region, will find these studies illuminating.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Presenting state-of-the-art reviews on classical and novel research fields in economic psychology, this Research Agenda studies the fundamentals, perceptions and understanding of economic phenomena and behaviour. Internationally renowned experts as well as the next generation of researchers summarize the field and outline promising avenues of future research. Research topics are addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective, providing a broad spectrum of thought on economic psychology. Exploring important gaps in research, chapters include theoretical as well as applied themes and cover novel research fields, to keep the reader abreast of contemporary developments. These include the psychology of money, product design, financial capabilities, sustainable consumption, diet, ethical conduct, gender inequality, the sharing economy, basic income, happiness, and tax psychology. Researchers and advanced students of economics and psychology looking to update their knowledge and refresh their thinking on future research will greatly benefit from this timely book. Contributors include: S. Asbach, J.M. Bauer, J. Bosak, S. Diefenbach, K. Gangl, A. Gasiorowska, B. Hartl, M. Hassenzahl, D. Hilton, E. Hofmann, J. Khan, E. Kirchler, C. Kulich, C. Loibl, T.L. Milfont, K. Patel, L.A. Reisch, G. Rivers, D. Schwartz, M. Sommer, D. Stimmler, O. Stravrova, C. Tanner, I. Vlaev

This wide-ranging set of papers deals with crucial questions in economic theory, economic policy and economic history. The papers help explain why economic performance deteriorated dramatically in the West over the past three decades as the ''Golden Age'' of capitalism after World War II was replaced by global neoliberal capitalism. They show that theoretical frameworks rooted in the radical and heterodox traditions can explain this evolution and the current global economic and financial crisis, something mainstream theories cannot do. Topics include but are not limited to: methodology: a critique of ''positivism'' is used to explain why mainstream reliance on fairy-tale assumptions should be replaced by realistic assumption sets as argued by Marx and Keynes Marx, Keynes and Minsky on financial market instability versus mainstream theories of ''efficient'' financial markets how Keynes's assumption that the future is unknowable revolutionized not only macro theory but the micro theory of agent choice as well structural causes of the current global financial crisis how innovative theories of competition, globalization, capital investment and financialization inspired by Marx, Keynes and Schumpeter can be used to explain the crisis tendencies of neoliberal capitalism the influence of class conflict on economic policy, including in the current ''austerity'' regimes. The papers in this book should be of interest to most economists and can be used in both graduate and upper level undergraduate courses. Many of these papers are accessible to anyone who reads the business press.

2019 marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of Anthony P. Thirlwall's classic paper that laid out what became known as Thirlwall''s law. This article introduced and provided empirical evidence in favor of the proposition that the long-run rate of growth of an economy compatible with balance-of-payments equilibrium can be approximated by the simple rule of the ratio of the growth of exports to the income elasticity of demand for imports. Thirlwall's law provides a theoretical underpinning for several of the arguments traditionally espoused by the heterodox followers of Keynes. In addition, Thirlwall's law can also be viewed as a guide to policy-making. It has spurred a rich research agenda at both the theoretical and empirical levels. Theoretically the core model has been extended to include the different components of the current account of the balance of payments. Empirically, it has withstood the test of time and has been corroborated, with perhaps a few exceptions, for a variety of developed and developing countries under different historical contexts and different periods of time. This re-release of the special issue of the Review of Keynesian Economics brings together experts and researchers to present the latest developments and debates on Thirlwall's law. Students, economists and policy makers will find this volume enlightening.

This timely and provocative book challenges the conventional wisdom that neoliberal capitalism is incompatible with social justice. Employing public choice and market process theory, Nick Cowen systematically compares and contrasts capitalism with socialist alternatives, illustrating how proponents of social justice have decisive reasons to opt for a capitalism guided by neoliberal ideas. Cowen shows how general rules of property and voluntary exchange facilitate widespread cooperation. Revisiting the works of John Rawls, he offers an interdisciplinary reconciliation of Rawlsian principles with liberal democracy by introducing 'robust property-owning democracy', a new form of governance that aims to achieve social justice via practical, liberal means. Chapters address the knowledge problem and the incentive problem that emerge when aiming for a fair distribution of social resources and demonstrate how everyday political bargaining can help achieve just outcomes for all. Utilising insights from philosophy, politics and economics to show the role of market institutions and constitutional government in producing social justice, this book is crucial reading for academics, researchers and students of PPE and the political sciences. Its practical policy proposals will further benefit policymakers interested in mechanisms that spread the benefits of economic growth equitably.

Examining the fundamental thinking underpinning the foundation for economic studies of happiness, this book explores the theories of key economists and philosophers from the Greek philosophers to more modern schools of thought. Lall Ramrattan and Michael Szenberg explore the general measures of happiness, utility as a method, metrical measures of happiness, happiness in literature and the scope of happiness in this concise book. Fundamentals of Happiness builds on major moral and philosophical theories from the ancient, medieval and modern schools that form the foundation of utility analysis. The authors classify the economics of happiness based on psychological, individual, social and institutional views of happiness, revealing how historical schools of thought implicitly or explicitly deal with this. The book also focuses on the relationship between happiness and society and welfare, analysing the measurement of subjective well-being. This will be an invigorating read for economics students, in particular those studying the history of economic thought, looking to understand the basic principles underlying the economics of happiness.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Presenting state-of-the-art reviews on classical and novel research fields in economic psychology, this Research Agenda studies the fundamentals, perceptions and understanding of economic phenomena and behaviour. Internationally renowned experts as well as the next generation of researchers summarize the field and outline promising avenues of future research. Research topics are addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective, providing a broad spectrum of thought on economic psychology. Exploring important gaps in research, chapters include theoretical as well as applied themes and cover novel research fields, to keep the reader abreast of contemporary developments. These include the psychology of money, product design, financial capabilities, sustainable consumption, diet, ethical conduct, gender inequality, the sharing economy, basic income, happiness, and tax psychology. Researchers and advanced students of economics and psychology looking to update their knowledge and refresh their thinking on future research will greatly benefit from this timely book. Contributors include: S. Asbach, J.M. Bauer, J. Bosak, S. Diefenbach, K. Gangl, A. Gasiorowska, B. Hartl, M. Hassenzahl, D. Hilton, E. Hofmann, J. Khan, E. Kirchler, C. Kulich, C. Loibl, T.L. Milfont, K. Patel, L.A. Reisch, G. Rivers, D. Schwartz, M. Sommer, D. Stimmler, O. Stravrova, C. Tanner, I. Vlaev

The twenty-first century has seen major challenges to freedom and democracy. Authoritarianism is on the rise and democracy is in retreat. Some promote individualism and markets as the solution to almost every problem. On the other side there are those who champion collectivism and full public ownership. Neither side is convincing. Unrestrained capitalism has exacerbated inequality. Socialism in practice has ended democracy. Effective defenders of liberty and human flourishing must find a different course. This book argues for a pragmatic, social democratic liberalism that avoids unrealistic extremes and tackles major problems such as inequality and climate change. This book is a topical and powerful statement of social democratic liberalism. It will be of interest to anyone concerned about modern politics, including those in universities and political parties

This volume contains thirty-seven contributions from the most significant early developers of monetary economics. Starting with Aristotle, the collection tracks the development of the modern theory of money through the ages by thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, Martin de Azpilcueta, John Locke, Richard Cantillon, David Hume, and A.R.J Turgot. Also included are the first translations of Jean Buridan's writings on money and of Albert the Great's writings on money from Latin. A Source Book on Early Monetary Theory will be of interest to bankers, historians, and macroeconomists and can be used as a supplementary text on courses in macroeconomics, money and banking, and the history of economic thought.

This accessible and comprehensive textbook explores the role of advertising in the marketplace. It investigates how firms' advertising strategies are informative, persuasive or add value to the product advertised. The book explains in detail empirical methodologies used to identify the impact of advertising on consumer demand and on market structure, and reviews some recent empirical findings. It concludes with an in-depth exploration of digital advertising and auctions along with a framework for current antitrust investigations into two-sided platforms (Google, Facebook) that are funded by advertising revenues. How advertising works in the marketplace, and whether it works well, is a complex question to address because there are three sets of players involved-the firms that advertise their products, the potential consumers who view the ads and the platform or medium that intermediates between them. Understanding how these three sets of players interact is the key to understanding the role of advertising in a market economy. The book begins by looking at the rise of advertising in market economies, a phenomenon not accounted for in standard textbook microeconomic models and carefully explains why. This is followed by an examination, both theoretical and empirical, of how firms strategically use advertising to reach consumers and expand the demand for their products. There are also chapters focused on the challenges of deceptive advertising and regulation. The final chapters investigate how two-sided platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are sustained by advertising revenues, and include a review of auction theory and the structure of advertising auction exchanges. These chapters also provide a detailed analysis of public policy issues, including media bias and antitrust concerns. While designed for use by students in any course that covers the economics of advertising, this book is also an excellent resource for any reader interested in a deeper understanding of this important topic.

Countering the claims that competition contradicts and undermines ethical thought processes and actions, Christoph Lutge successfully argues that competition and ethics do not necessarily have to oppose one another. He highlights how intensified competition can in fact work in favour of ethical goals, and that many criticisms of competition stem from an out-dated understanding of how modern societies and economies function. Illustrating this view with examples from ecology, healthcare and education, the author calls for a more entrepreneurial spirit in analysing the relationship between competition and ethics. This book delivers important arguments for the ethics of innovation, using a combination of theoretical and practical evidence to support it. Researchers and scholars of economics, business, philosophy and politics will greatly benefit from the fresh interdisciplinary perspectives and thorough exploration of the complex relationship between modern competition and ethics.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. The intellectual origins of the area are explicated, and the current state of the subfield outlined. Specific topics covered include conflict over terminology, pedagogy, and content in the field of economics, measurement of the unmeasured economy, the role of caring labor in the economy, heteronormativity in economics, feminist approaches to economic development, multiple approaches to empiricism, modeling of intrahousehold relationships, consideration of the role of property rights in reifying gender roles, differential effects of international trade and finance by gender, and feminist approaches to public finance and social welfare.

Economic theory reached its highest level of analytical power and depth in the middle of the nineteenth century among John Stuart Mill and his contemporaries. This book explains classical economics when it was at its height, followed by an analysis of what took place as a result of the ensuing Marginal and Keynesian Revolutions that have left economists less able to understand how economies operate. Chapters explore the false mythology that has obscured the arguments of classical economists, clouding to the point of near invisibility the theories they had developed. Steven Kates offers a thorough understanding of the operation of an economy within a classical framework, providing a new perspective for viewing modern economic theory from the outside. This provocative book not only explains the meaning of Say's Law in an accessible way, but also the origins of the Keynesian revolution and Keynes's pathway in writing The General Theory. It provides a new look at the classical theory of value at its height that was not based, as so many now wrongly believe, on the labour theory of value. A crucial read for economic policy-makers seeking to understand the operation of a market economy, this book should also be of keen interest to economists generally as well as scholars in the history of economic thought.

As Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward argued in the early seventies, in a capitalist economy, social welfare policies alternatingly serve political and economic ends as circumstances dictate. In moments of political stability, governments emphasize a capitalistic work ethic (even if it means working a job that will leave one impoverished); when times are less politically stable, states liberalize welfare policies to recreate the conditions for political acquiescence. Sanford Schram argues in this new book that each shift produces its own path dependency even as it represents yet another iteration of what he (somewhat ironically) calls "ordinary capitalism," where the changes in market logic inevitably produce changes in the structure of the state. In today's ordinary capitalism, neoliberalism is the prevailing political-economic logic that has contributed significantly to unprecedented levels of inequality in an already unequal society. As the new normal, neoliberalism has marketization of the state as a core feature, heightening the role of economic actors, especially financiers, in shaping public policy. The results include increased economic precarity among the general population, giving rise to dramatic political responses on both the Left and the Right (Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party in particular). Schram examines neoliberalism's constraints on politics as well as social and economic policy and gives special attention to the role protest politics plays in keeping alive the possibilities for ordinary people to exercise political agency. The Return of Ordinary Capitalism concludes with political strategies for working through-rather than around-neoliberalism via a radical, rather than status-quo-reinforcing, incrementalism.

Post-Keynesian Monetary Theory recaps Marc Lavoie's views on monetary theory over a 35-year period, seen from a post-Keynesian perspective. The book contains a collection of twenty previously published papers, as well as an introduction which explains how these papers came about and how they were received. All of the selected articles avoid mathematical formalism. Readers will find analyses of the earlier advocates of endogenous money such as Nicholas Kaldor and Jacques Le Bourva. They will discover how the arguments in support of the post-Keynesian theory of endogenous money and the credit view of banking have evolved through this 35-year period, and how they have been related to the new procedures pursued by central banks. All these essays show the relevance of the realistic post-Keynesian monetary theory in understanding the subprime and euro crises, quantitative easing and the distributional role of interest rates. Within these pages Marc Lavoie provides an overview of what has happened in post-Keynesian monetary economics over the last three and a half decades for students and scholars with interest in monetary economics, the horizontalist-structuralist debates and the recent history of economic thought.

Persuasiveness. Influence. A certain ‘something’ that makes it impossible for people to say no. Call it what you will, some people have it. DJ Sbu certainly does - it’s the quality that has helped him evolve from an ambitious boy growing up on Tembisa’s rough streets to a DJ, an entrepreneur, an author, a philanthropist and a speaker who graces stages around the world. In this book Sbu shares the secrets to cultivating this irresistible quality. Using events that have shaped his own life, he reveals how a positive outlook, resilience, hard work and determination can help you win in every sphere.

This inspiring read also acts as a practical handbook, showing you how to apply The Art Of Hustling to become a winning salesperson. It is DJ Sbu’s firm belief that, if you know how to sell, you will never go hungry. He also believes that this simple skill holds the key to solving Africa’s considerable unemployment problem.

His passion for youth development comes through loud and clear in this easy-to-read, easy-to-use handbook. Full of practical examples, sound advice and no-nonsense insights, it’s a must-have for every person who wishes to further their lives and their careers, whether in the corporate world or starting out on an entrepreneurial journey.

DJ Sbu’s career is testimony to his strength, resilience and spirit of innovation; the very qualities needed to get ahead in today’s rapidly evolving business environment. In sharing his story, he hopes to ignite others’ success.