This new text deals with topics that are at the core of microeconomic theory - the economics of uncertainty and the economics of games and decisions. It contains a chapter on non-expected utility theory and very up to date coverage of such topics as risk aversion, stochastic dominance and mean-variance utility theory as well as a number of chapters that discuss and illustrate the use of game theory in making decisions under uncertainty.

In 2020 the world found itself in a state of flux. A global pandemic disrupted the world order while the digital transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), with its challenges and huge potential benefits, presented a fundamental paradigm shift. How are Africa’s leaders to respond, today?

In a crisis, decisive leadership is imperative for the public good, but as we move beyond the pandemic and confront the changes of the 4IR, we must determine how we will adapt. What is clear is that leadership will have to be grounded in scientific and mathematical thinking and in good governance. It follows, then, that for South Africa to succeed as a nation in the 21st century we must be able to provide our people with an all-embracing education – not just science and technology but human and social sciences as well.

Leading in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive overview of how the world is changing and lessons we can draw from leaders, particularly in the African context. From Charlotte Maxeke and the Rain Queen Modjadji, to Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, Eric Molobi and Richard Maponya, there is much to learn from great leaders. The challenges of the 21st century are immense – from climate change to social media and the digital divide that deepens our understanding of inequality, particularly in the ‘new normal’. South Africa faces not only a shifting global context but a fraught local context of stagnant growth, rising unemployment and deep-seated inequality, worsened in 2020 by the national lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. The 4IR offers solutions to many of our most pressing problems and we cannot afford to be left behind.

The certainty is that the 4IR has arrived. The debates lie in how we respond to it. Tshilidzi Marwala deciphers it all, while providing a framework for navigating these shifts.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business 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. Offering an engaging overview of the concepts of bounded rationality and their applications, this stimulating Advanced Introduction engages with the topic in a constructively critical manner to introduce new ideas. Chapters cover key topics including: optimally imperfect decisions; ecological rationality; the role of bounded rationality in evolutionary economics; satisficing as a response to bounded rationality; desirable types of economic decisions; the relational exercise of foresight; and the impact of bounded rationality on the efficiency of organizations. Key Features: Demonstrates the progress made in the field over the last century Presents a unique, succinct and useful coverage of the core issues in the topic Outlines different concepts of rationality and specifies factors that result in limited rationality Postgraduate and advanced undergraduate economics and business management students will find this a stimulating read. The easy-to-follow exposition of the topic and careful use of diagrams will also make this an interesting book for decision makers, business managers and policy makers who have studied economics or business administration.

Presenting an in-depth overview of the foundations and developments of post-Keynesian macroeconomics since Kalecki and Keynes, this timely book develops a comprehensive post-Keynesian macroeconomic model with the respective macroeconomic policy mix for achieving non-inflationary full employment. The different versions of the model for closed and open economies are concerned with the key areas of macroeconomics, such as full employment, constant inflation and external balance. Eckhard Hein expertly illustrates how to embed these post-Keynesian macroeconomics and macroeconomic policies into the post-Keynesian research programme more generally, whilst also providing a review of its methods and historical roots. Furthermore, the book links post-Keynesian short-run macroeconomics to long-run distribution and growth theories. Finally, it applies these theoretical approaches to the current research on macroeconomic regimes and regime changes within finance-dominated capitalism and on the macroeconomic challenges of the ecological crisis and of the required socio-ecological transformation. This book will be a crucial read for academics and graduate students interested in post-Keynesian macroeconomics. Providing a thought-provoking alternative to orthodox economic policies, this will also be of interest to policy advisers and politicians.

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.

Students in economics are ever more distressed by the disconnect between mainstream economics and the real world. This book shows how post-Keynesian economics constitutes a coherent heterodox alternative, based on realistic assumptions and the integration of the financial and real sides of the economy, with an emphasis on the many paradoxes that arise in a truly macroeconomic analysis. The book is a considerably revised and updated version of the widely used and frequently cited 2014 edition. It provides a comprehensive account of post-Keynesian theory and policy. Topics covered include its methodological foundations, consumer theory and choice under fundamental uncertainty, firms and pricing, money and credit, effective demand and employment, growth theory, open-economy issues, inflation theory. It also links with ecological economics. Scholars of economics, particularly post-Keynesian and heterodox economists, will find this comprehensive look at the field a necessary addition to their libraries, while students and instructors will find it a perfect text for any class on post-Keynesian economics.

Freedom Mazwi examines patterns of agricultural finance in Zimbabwe since the radical Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme (FTLRP) was implemented in 2000-and, especially, the varying impact that the FTLRP reforms have had not only on land use, but also on the well-being of farmers.Focusing on contract farming in the tobacco and sugarcane sectors, Mazwi offers penetrating insights into social contradictions and power relations in Zimbabwe's rural areas. He also assesses the institutional finance mechanisms that have emerged in response to the radical land reforms and reflects on the related political and economic isolation of the country since 2000. Not least, he suggests how agrarian policy could be restructured to better benefit small-scale farmers.

This book is about science. Specifically building a science of economics, grounded in understanding of what is beneath the surface of economics using business activities and figures as a case. Economics should be, as a science, concerned with formulating theories of ideas and reality that produce descriptions of how to understand phenomenon and create experiences, hypotheses generation and data which need to be proven or dis-proven through testing and further analyses.

Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is author of one of the most important standard macroeconomics textbooks, which is used throughout the world. Endorsed by Blanchard himself, Anti-Blanchard Macroeconomics critically analyzes prevailing economic theory and policy in comparison with alternative approaches. This thoroughly revised edition represents a field of research that has developed through intense theoretical debates, continual empirical testing and the resultant disputes about economic policy. Emiliano Brancaccio and Andrea Califano succinctly explore the relationship between theoretical models and economic policies, providing readers with examples and empirical exercises, and showing how the conclusions of different theories can be empirically tested. This updated second edition examines the links between the issues at the core of macroeconomic debate, including economic growth, economic crises, labour market reforms, government debt sustainability, the behaviour of central banks and the stock market, among many others. Key features: Contains an analysis of the economic policies, consequences and theories surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic Examines the connection between contemporary issues in world politics, economic theory and policymaking It overcomes the typical contradiction between the opportunity to offer students a preliminary mainstream education and the need to nurture rather than crush their critical spirit It helps students to understand that economics is not a discipline that changes in a smooth, linear manner but, on the contrary, represents a dynamic field of research that develops through intense theoretical debate and continual empirical testing, and is shaped by the resultant disputes concerning economic policy Includes the typescript of a lively and informative debate between Emiliano Brancaccio and Olivier Blanchard, together with comparative economic policy examples.

While the depth and sophistication of South Africa’s financial and capital markets are lauded by indices the world over, South Africa is also considered to be the most unequal society in the world. The Economy On Your Doorstep probes the reasons for this tragic paradox of South African life and tries to go through and beyond the graphs, margin calls, trading updates, indices and earnings reports to explain how economic ‘actions’ frame the lives of South Africans in a transitional society faced with the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

The economy is and always has been primarily about ‘people’. How they live, what they produce, under what conditions and what social, political and environmental factors influence decisions of consumption, investment and distribution – and how they act under conditions of uncertainty, scarcity, need and crisis. After all, economies are about people coming together to produce, exchange, distribute and consume goods and services that emerge from their communities and those of others. How and under what conditions can we ensure the expansion of our productive forces, while expanding access to the base of assets, services and support that allow for the social reproduction of our entire society and workforce?

Ayabonga Cawe outlines some key areas that can and should define a policy agenda towards a ‘people’s economy’ in South Africa and the long-term objectives of such a policy programme, and engages with the political economy of 21st century South Africa through an analysis of a few selected areas of the economy and the implications of this for policy action. This is what this book is about – an exposition of what we see around us and an explanation and discussion of possible ways beyond it.

In this well-researched book, Ayabonga Cawe, a development economist, columnist and broadcaster, makes sense of the post-apartheid political economy through the lives of the many people who live and survive in it every day.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world'AEos 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. New institutional economics (NIE) is a powerful tool for understanding real world phenomena. This Advanced Introduction explores NIE'AEos answers to fundamental questions about the organization, growth and development of economies, such as why are some countries rich and others poor? Why are activities organized as firms or markets or through alternative organizational solutions? When are shared resources overexploited? Key Features: Elucidates the essence of NIE'AEos main branches, focusing on the governance of transactions and organizations (identified with Oliver Williamson), the fundamental institutional environment (Douglass North), and the role of communal institutions and collective action (Elinor Ostrom) Explores how NIE has transformed perspectives on collective action, state and legal institutions, public policy and regulation, and economic growth Extensive references to allow interested readers to dive deeper into specific topics Authored by scholars associated early on with leading figures in NIE and the development of NIE'AEos research agenda. This Advanced Introduction is an ideal read for advanced students of economics, political science, management, law and sociology interested in learning about new institutional economics. Policy makers, especially those responsible for business and utility regulation and development policy and assistance, will also benefit from this concise yet detailed book.

Human Action - a treatise on laissez-faire capitalism by Ludwig von Mises is a historically important and classic publication on economics, and yet it can be an intimidating work due to its length and formal style. Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action, however, skillfully relays the main insights from Human Action in a style that will resonate with modern readers. The book assumes no prior knowledge in economics or other fields, and, when necessary, it provides the historical and scholarly context necessary to explain the contribution Mises makes on a particular issue. To faithfully reproduce the material in Human Action, this work mirrors its basic structure, providing readers with an enjoyable and educational introduction to the lifes work of one of history's most important economists.

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. This Advanced Introduction presents a focused narrative about political decision-making based on the work that has defined public choice as a discipline. Randall G. Holcombe emphasizes the theoretical foundations of Public Choice, examining the way that voter preferences are aggregated through democratic decision-making, the way that political exchange leads to the production of public policy, and the way that the constitutional framework within which political activity takes place is designed. He provides a concise discussion of the main models of Public Choice in an engaging manner, giving readers a foundation for understanding the theoretical and empirical work in the field. Each chapter ends with a Notes section that discusses the research on which the chapter is based, with an emphasis on the pioneering work that has shaped the development of Public Choice. Undergraduate and graduate level students in economics, political science and public administration will find this introduction an essential resource for understanding political decision making. Instructors in those fields will find this book a useful and affordable text and an indispensable resource for teaching Public Choice.

This Encyclopedia is an invaluable reference book for post-Keynesian and heterodox economics. It consists of 300 entries, written by 180 different authors. The volume includes entries on key concepts of interest to post-Keynesians as well as descriptions of some of the seminal books in the post-Keynesian tradition. It will interest both students and scholars of heterodox economics, as well as policy makers around the world looking for a better alternative to mainstream economic policies at national and international levels in the aftermath of the global financial crisis that burst in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that began in 2020. Key Features: Offers a non-conventional understanding of economic analysis on a number of key economic topics Provides a deep and convincing criticism of orthodox thinking Explains how money, banking and finance are crucial elements of economics today Addresses the roots of the 2008 global financial crisis Points out the importance of sound economic policies Presents the essence of the subject matter concisely This comprehensive reference work will be a key tool to students, scholars, policy makers and anyone else seeking to understand the world economy through the important lens of post-Keynesian thought.

A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime discusses the evolution of a field, whose growing relevance among scholars and policymakers is partly related to the persistence of crime and violence around the world and partly to the remarkable progress made in recent years in the economic analysis of individual and organised crime. Such progress is related to the so-called "credibility revolution" as well as to the cross-fertilization of economics and other social sciences such as criminology, sociology and political science. With contributions from some of the leading scholars in the economics of crime, the volume highlights a variety of topics, conceptual frameworks and empirical approaches, thus providing a comprehensive overview of the most recent developments of the field. Emphasising the importance of designing crime-reducing policies that are guided by rigorous empirical analyses, the contributions leverage the availability of novel and administrative micro-data, the use of research designs that unveil causal relationships, and the interdisciplinarity of approaches and theoretical frameworks. The Modern Guide moves through four parts: first investigating the role of the police and their effectiveness, then moving on to look at the distinct socio-economic factors that may induce individuals to commit crimes, followed by issues related to crime in specific groups including migrants, women and racial minorities, and finally turning from individual to organized crime. This Modern Guide will be an invigorating read for economics and criminology students and scholars looking at the relationship between the two fields. Policy makers will also benefit from the application of interdisciplinary theory to empirical research in the chapters.

Storable votes are a simple voting scheme that allows the minority to win occasionally, while treating every voter equally. Because the minority wins only when it cares strongly about a decision while the majority does not, minority victories occur without large costs and indeed typically with gains for the community as a whole.
The idea is simple: consider a group of voters faced with a series of proposals, each of which can either pass or fail. Decisions are taken according to the majority of votes cast, but each voter is endowed with a total budget of votes to spend freely over the multiple decisions. Because voters will choose to cast more votes on decisions that matter to them most, they reveal the intensity of their preferences, and increase their probability of winning exactly when it matters to them most. Thus storable votes elicit and reward voters' intensity of preferences without the need for any external knowledge of voters' preferences. By treating everyone equally and ruling out interpersonal vote trades, they are in line with common ethical priors and are robust to criticisms, both normative and positive, that affect vote markets. The book complements the theoretical discussion with several experiments, showing that the promise of the idea is borne out by the data: the outcomes of the experiments and the payoffs realized match very closely the predictions of the theory. Because the intuition behind the voting scheme is so simple: "vote more when you care more," the results are robust across different scenarios, even when more subtle strategic effects are not identified by the subjects, suggesting that the voting scheme may have real potential for practical applications.
Alessandra Casella has used the tools of economics to develop this idea both theoretically and experimentally in major economics journals, but this is the first book-length treatment of the subject.

Presenting a wide range of topics and written 150 years since Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics was published, this timely book reviews Menger’s life and theories and explains how his insights on the creation of money are still inspiring and relevant today.   Highlighting state-of-the-art results on Menger’s methodology and economic theory, the book expertly analyses key topics such as the debt theory of money, capital wealth and the gender wage gap. Chapters also cover up-to-date topics such as Bitcoin and technological progress reinvigorating the study of Menger’s philosophies and their application for future work in economics and the history of economic thought.   Comprehensive in its approach, this book will provide an excellent addition to the mainstream literature for scholars and students of economics, Austrian economics and the philosophy of economics. Researchers interested in economic development and other areas such as Bitcoin will find this an excellent resource for their research.

Taking an innovative look at the origins of economics, this forward-thinking book relocates economics from a materialistic general theory of rational action into an idealistic theory of social organization and individual action. Adding new insightful analytical methods such as complexity theory, graph theory and computational modelling to the original insights of the Scottish Enlightenment, Richard Wagner explores economics in an ever-changing society, looking at the key civilizing processes and the important social questions. Rethinking Economics as Social Theory moves away from the traditional review of analytical exercises and associated data and illustrates an enlightening scheme of thought where human societies are heterogeneous and not homogeneous and where change is continually in motion. Furthermore, Wagner theorises that economizing is a universal form of human action that plays out in numerous substantive directions and shows cooperation and conflict to have a yin-and-yang relationship. This illuminating book will prove an excellent resource for economists interested in working outside of comparative statics as well as social scientists looking for a broader vision of economics. Philosophers and those working in the field of biological sciences will also find this an informative read.

Synthesising Marx's, Keynes's and Schumpeter's theories on wage-price dynamics, effective demand, real innovations and financial markets into a coherent whole, this book goes significantly beyond a consideration of their work in isolation. It focuses on exploring and analysing Goodwin's integrated Marx-Keynes-Schumpeter system (MKS), approaching this from a historical perspective. Chapters start from Harrod's and Kaldor's work, reconsidering prominent demand- and supply-side approaches to Keynesian macro-dynamics, supplemented by Goodwin's distributive cycle. The book presents a baseline MKS-type model, considering the rigorous treatment of uncertainty, opinion dynamics, the movement from flexicurity to social capitalism and democracy, and a high-order MKS macro-model. The exploration of the MKS model from a historical basis will make this a useful book for macroeconomics and history of economics scholars and students. It will also be helpful for those looking at macrodynamics in more depth.

The aim of The Legal Foundations of Micro-Institutional Performance is to introduce the reader to a different way of thinking about economics that will allow them to both understand and apply legal concepts to economic analysis. To this end, it adopts and further develops Wesley Hohfeld's legal framework of jural (legal) relations as a tool of analysis. This analytical tool, as built into the Legal-Economic Performance framework, provides specific direction in identifying and describing interdependence among economic agents (including rights, duties, liberties and exposure to various acts). The framework adopted and developed in this book relies on the concept of interdependence--that all economic agents are tied together in a legal system given the inherent interdependent nature of transactions in a complex modern global economy. The authors start by developing this framework and then apply it to a variety of settings and empirical examples. Using this new method, economists will be able to reshape their analysis to account for how legal systems and specific legal rules impact economic performance and outcomes. This approach will be of great interest to graduate and advanced undergraduate social science scholars, faculty interested in the intersections of law and economics and the application of legal concepts to impact analysis, and practitioners in the fields of policy, law and economics.

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.

This comprehensive and stimulating Handbook examines the contribution of political economy to public policy. It provides an overview of several strands of critical political economy, supported by case studies from OECD countries, Latin America, South Africa, and South and East Asia. With discussions on key theories of political economy, the Handbook introduces cultural and feminist political economies, engaging critically with ordoliberalism and New Public Management. Chapters feature discussions on political economic approaches to the global division of labor, financialization and dispossession in Latin America, ecological perspectives on sustainability in China, global exploitation chains in agriculture, and postcolonial criticisms of economic development. The Handbook concludes with an exploration of the relationship between political economy and social policy, global health, and public policies. Providing a combination of critical engagement with the various theories of political economy and their application to key economic policies, this will be essential reading for students and academics in comparative politics, economics and finance, international relations, political economy, public policy, and political science. Policymakers interested in addressing socially and environmentally unsustainable practices will also find this an illuminating and informative resource.

This timely book critically examines the European Social Model as a contested concept and concrete set of European welfare and governance arrangements. It offers a theoretical and empirical analysis of new economic models and existing European investment strategies to address key issues within post-Covid-19 Europe. The authors explore the structural inequalities that have been shaped by strong imbalances in the relationship between public health, work, formal and informal care, inequality, poverty and the labour market across Europe. They then assess the potential of new economic models and measures, when combined with existing European governance and collaborative welfare arrangements, to repair the European Social Model. With a particular focus on policy measures that affect young and older people in Europe, chapters also provide a critical insight into the fragmented, multi-actor and multidimensional process of building a European social space that has led to the hybridization of welfare systems. Offering a firm theoretical foundation to the understanding of European welfare arrangements and the social open method of coordination, this book will be a valuable resource for academics and students of European social policy, comparative social policy and European governance. Its analysis of empirical evidence relating to the implementation of policy measures will also be beneficial for policymakers and practitioners working in health, social care and welfare fields.