It now seems to be a given that the principles that presided over the birth of liberalism and capitalism are no longer relevant. To understand the evolution of this ideology and economic system, Liberalism and Capitalism Today examines the work of the two authors who have contributed the most to the analysis of the conditions that lead to the emergence of these types of organization: Alexis de Tocqueville of France and Max Weber of Germany. This book thus analyzes how the evolution of the general environment of a civilization leads to the emergence of new ways of approaching economic life, and then to its development, thanks to innovations in many fields. This historical perspective makes it possible to understand the transformations that liberalism and capitalism could offer. It suggests a potential path that does not involve simply returning to a way of life that has been totally altered by the evolution of civilizations and the economy, but instead leads to a more peaceful way of living in most countries of the world.

Explores capitalism’s role in creating the current state of climate emergency Over the last 11,700 years, during which human civilization developed, the earth has existed within what geologists refer to as the Holocene Epoch. Now science is telling us that the Holocene Epoch in the geological time scale ended, replaced by a new more dangerous Anthropocene Epoch, which began around 1950. The Anthropocene Epoch is characterized by an “anthropogenic rift” in the biological cycles of the Earth System, marking a changed reality in which human activities are now the main geological force impacting the earth as a whole, generating at the same time an existential crisis for the world’s population. What caused this massive shift in the history of the earth? In this comprehensive study, John Bellamy Foster tells us that a globalized system of capital accumulation has induced humanity to foul its own nest. The result is a planetary emergency that threatens all present and future generations, throwing into question the continuation of civilization and ultimately the very survival of humanity itself. Only by addressing the social aspects of the current planetary emergency, exploring the theoretical, historical, and practical dimensions of the capitalism’s alteration of the planetary environment, is it possible to develop the ecological and social resources for a new journey of hope.

Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why does a farmer in Sweden have a higher standard of living than a farmer in South Africa? Why does a schoolteacher in Switzerland earn more than one in Chicago? According to leading economic theorist John Kay, economic markets are key to the wealth or poverty of the world's nations. In Culture and Prosperity, Kay explores why market economies outperform socialist or centrally directed markets -- and why the imposition of market institutions often fails. His search for the truth about markets takes him from the shores of Lake Zurich to the streets of Mumbai, through theories of evolutionary psychology and moral philosophy to the flower market at San Remo and Christie's salesroom in New York.

Witty, engaging, and grounded in cutting-edge economic theory, Culture and Prosperity is essential for understanding the state of the world today.

In The Fiat Standard, world-renowned economist Saifedean Ammous applies his unique analytical lens to the fiat monetary system, explaining it as a feat of engineering and technology just as he did for bitcoin in his global bestseller The Bitcoin Standard.

This time, Ammous delves into the world's earlier shift from the gold standard to today's system of government-backed fiat money—outlining the fiat standard's purposes and failures; deriving the wider economic, political, and social implications of its use; and examining how bitcoin will affect it over time.

With penetrating insight, Ammous analyzes global political currencies by analogy to bitcoin: how they're "mined" whenever government-guaranteed entities create loans, their lack of inherent restraints on inflation, and the rampant government intervention that has resulted in heavy, devastating, and persistent distortions to global markets for food, fuel, science, and education.

Through these comparisons, Ammous demonstrates that bitcoin could be our next step forward—providing high salability across space, just like the fiat system, but without the unchecked fiat-denominated debt. Rather than a messy hyperinflationary collapse, the rise of bitcoin could look like a debt jubilee and an orderly upgrade to the world's monetary operating system, revolutionizing global capital and energy markets.

Networking Games: Network Forming Games and Games on Networks applies game theory methods to network analyses. Its concentration on rigorous mathematical techniques distinguishes it from other books on game theory. Developed by a mathematician and game theorist with extensive contributions to applied mathematics, game and probability theory, and written for graduate students and professionals, the book's illuminations on network games can be applied to problems in economics (in industrial organization, regulation and competition policy, for instance) and operations research.

The EU has experienced serious economic and political crises such as the sovereign debt crisis and Brexit in the past few years. However, despite these issues, the EU has implemented considerable institutional, fiscal, and collective improvements during the unification process to continue as a significant actor in the global economy. The Handbook of Research on Social and Economic Development in the European Union provides a multidisciplinary evaluation of the institutional, economic, and social development of the European Union and makes inferences for the future dynamics and collaborations of the EU, the global economy, and other countries. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as energy security, gender discrimination, and global economics, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, world leaders, politicians, diplomats, international relations officers, economists, business professionals, historians, market analysts, academicians, researchers, and students concerned about the multifaceted integration processes surrounding the EU.

From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers, this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada - an era in which the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy. It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion - on force and on fear - to secure that subordination. From Consent to Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing socialist politics - of thinking ambitiously and meeting new challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy.

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.

Co-operativism and Local Development in Cuba consists of a series of pathbreaking essays on the role of co-operativism, and the new co-operatives, in the democratic transformation of Cuba and the government's plan to update the model in the current context. The contributors are well-known specialists on Cuba, co-operativism and local development. With a shared concern for how an increased focus on co-operativism and local development can contribute to the updating of the Cuban model and the advance of socialism, the contributors to the book have placed an analysis of the issues involved in the broader context of the international co-operative movement and the ongoing capitalist development process in Latin America. Contributors include: Milford Bateman, Al Campbell, Grizel Donestevez Sanchez, Cliff DuRand, Olga Fernandez Rios, Julio C. Gambina, Camila Pineiro Harnecker, Sonja Novkovic, Dayrelis Ojeda Suris, Gabriela Roffinelli, Frederick. S. Royce, Dean Sinkovic, Henry Veltmeyer, Marcelo Vieta.

This book presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker's key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker's own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.

The global health crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak, has challenged all sectors of society, including health, economics, finance, and social inequality. The threats and complexities from the COVID-19 pandemic shock are the core subject of this latest volume in the Contributions to Economic Analysis series. The Economics of COVID-19 contains selected contributions analysing the effects of this pandemic, covering macroeconomics, computable general equilibrium models, financial markets, the reduction in seismic noise due to the slowdown in traffic and economic activities caused by the spread of the virus, the rapid surge in the digital transformation of production and consumption. Also included are health studies proposing to improve the traditional epidemic models, the effects of the pandemic on mental health, Minority Ethnic Groups in the UK, as well as the Lombardy region in Italy. The aim of this collection is to spur much needed research into the effects of COVID on the global economy, the health, and financial sectors, as well as its effects on development and growth and economic inequality.