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Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Economic systems > General
George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis triggered abolitionist shockwaves. Calls to defund the police found receptive ears around the world. Shortly after, Sarah Everard's murder by a serving police officer sparked a national abolitionist movement in Britain. But to abolish the police, prisons and borders, we must confront the legacy of Empire. Abolition Revolution is a guide to abolitionist politics in Britain, drawing out rich histories of resistance from rebellion in the colonies to grassroots responses to carceral systems today. The authors argue that abolition is key to reconceptualising revolution for our times - linking it with materialist feminisms, anti-capitalist class struggle, internationalist solidarity and anti-colonialism. Perfect for reading groups and activist meetings, this is an invaluable book for those new to abolitionist politics - whilst simultaneously telling a passionate and authoritative story about the need for abolition and revolution in Britain and globally.
The US is facing enormous challenges as it enters the second decade of the twenty-first century. Some of these major issues are environmentalism and its claim of global warming; the danger from terrorism generated by Islamic fundamentalism; and affordable, quality health care. Additionally, education in America remains an unresolved dilemma contributing to America's lack of economic competitiveness. Andrew Bernstein argues that the US government is pushing the nation toward socialism in its attempt to resolve America's problems. The government's increasing control of the banking industry, its massive bailouts of auto makers, and its proposal of emissions legislation are also examples of the expansion of government's power. Bernstein argues that whatever the intentions of the government, or its illusions about the workability of its proposals, morally upright and practical solutions can only come from moving to the opposite end of the political-economic spectrum: the establishment of laissez-faire capitalism. In Atlas Shrugged, and in her non-fiction works, Ayn Rand developed a systematic body of thought, a comprehensive philosophy she dubbed "Objectivism." This philosophy has been neglected by most professional intellectuals, but it is now beginning to be seriously studied in academic philosophy departments. Objectivism provides the moral and philosophic validation of the political-economic principles of individual rights and free markets. Analysis of today's gravest social and political issues within this philosophic framework, as undertaken by Bernstein in this volume, constitutes a unique way of identifying rational solutions to these pressing issues.
This book will let the reader into the world of migrant workers and how they have used their culture and heritage to reimagine and create a new socio-economic order through the production of cultural goods and services. This is the story of Kwa Mai Mai; an economic trade zone that has captured the imagination of people who dared to dream. Kwa Mai Mai is the beginning of everything Johannesburg is meant to be, the City of Gold, a place where dreams deferred become true. The book tells a story of a people’s culture, wrapped in beautiful memories of life in villages left behind but collectively remembered by those who refuse to forget, lest they lose themselves in the concrete jungle that knows no mercy. This is a story of how cultural memory, sacredly preserved and transported to new geographies, can serve both as cultural weapon that can be used to resist subjugation, while unleashing it as an economic weapon to turn those priceless traditions into tradeable commodities. The book narrates a story of how those who are the keepers of cultural memory can wield it as a weapon of survival and use its power to petition the entrepreneurial and creative spirits buried deep down in the souls of their true being. The book raises an argument built on an assumption that if cultural memory can be stored and retrieved through artefacts, sites, ceremonies, myths and rituals, including texts, then Kwa Mai Mai assembles and converges these into one place and space of worship and celebration. This is a place where the hypervisibility of its bearers is always in a constant fight against being eclipsed by those who would rather pretend it did not exist – the City that created it. The book combines both the author’s observation and interpretation gathered from ethnographic work of over four years, as well as the voices of those who reluctantly remained in this City when no other alternative presented itself, short of returning to the villages in absolute defeat.
This volume is a collection of chapters covering the latest developments in applications of financial mathematics and statistics to topics in energy, commodity financial markets and environmental economics. The research presented is based on the presentations and discussions that took place during the Fields Institute Focus Program on Commodities, Energy and Environmental Finance in August 2013. The authors include applied mathematicians, economists and industry practitioners, providing for a multi-disciplinary spectrum of perspectives on the subject. The volume consists of four sections: Electricity Markets; Real Options; Trading in Commodity Markets; and Oligopolistic Models for Energy Production. Taken together, the chapters give a comprehensive summary of the current state of the art in quantitative analysis of commodities and energy finance. The topics covered include structural models of electricity markets, financialization of commodities, valuation of commodity real options, game-theory analysis of exhaustible resource management and analysis of commodity ETFs. The volume also includes two survey articles that provide a source for new researchers interested in getting into these topics.
The emergence of China since 1979 has been a hallmark in the global economy, not only in the past but also in this century. This comprehensive book provides an analytical view of the remarkable economic development of the most exciting economy in the world. China's impressive economic growth has propelled it from being one of the poorest countries in the world to becoming its third largest economy. It is a complex economy with a mix of characteristics resulting from being both a transition economy and a developing country, which also points to the challenges that it still faces. This book explains China's remarkable transformation from a centrally planned to a more market-oriented economy through examination of the institutional reforms necessary to support such marketisation and eventual global integration. Although no book will be able to be completely comprehensive given the scale of the economy and the remarkable pace of transformation over three decades, this study highlights the key areas giving an overview of the major developments in China's economy, enabling its prospects of continuing growth to be assessed. With topical discussion incorporating recent data and developments, this book will be a stimulating read for academic researchers, postgraduate students in economics, international business, Chinese and area studies, as well as anyone interested in understanding the Chinese economy.
The rapidly increasing importance of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan both in Asia and in the world economy, represents a trend that is set to continue into the 21st century. This book provides an authoritative assessment of the 20th century performance of these countries, and in particular the factors contributing to the acceleration of Asian growth in the latter part of the century. The contributors look at Asia within a global perspective and detailed comparisons are drawn with Australia and the USA. Contributions from leading experts offer a comprehensive review of the procedures necessary to establish valid international comparisons for countries with very different economic histories and levels of development. These include methods of growth performance measurement and techniques of growth accounting. The Asian Economies in the Twentieth Century will be an indispensable new tool for policy analysts, international agencies and academic researchers.
This book offers a fresh perspective on the recent Eurozone "double crisis" and its related economic policies. The authors present empirical evidence which sheds new light on the growing economic and political debate on the future of the Euro, the Eurozone and the EU. The book investigates and assesses the impact of the crisis with particular reference to monetary and fiscal policy, whose protracted austerity approach has dampened economic growth. In their discussion of the long-run European integration process, the authors emphasize the original weaknesses in the construction of the European Monetary Union and examine its failure to respond to the recent crisis. The concluding chapter focuses on the need for crucial reform in European governance and discusses the impact of the UK's recent EU membership referendum. Scholars, students and members of the general public with an interest in the future of the Eurozone will find this work thought-provoking, instructive and highly informative.
Originally published in 1977. This book provides the first concise non-technical account of what the main kinds of regional problems are, how they arise, and the kinds of policy which have been used to tackle them in the UK, USA and Western Europe. The book starts with a discussion of why "regional problems" really are situations which call for special action, followed by a short preliminary classification of problem regions (including those in the less developed countries), then on to a more detailed survey of the origins and experience of selected problem regions in the more developed market economies. The authors focus on four broad kinds of problem region; agricultural regions, coal mining regions, old textile regions, and so-called "congested" regions. They conclude with a selective survey of regional policies in these more advanced economies, distinguishing and comparing the main trends and the different national styles.
This book builds on the Marx-Keynes-Schumpeter (MKS) approach to understanding the evolution of capitalism. It does so by focusing on current frameworks that study macro-dynamical systems in the tradition of the Classical, the Neoclassical and the Keynesian interpretation of the working of modern capitalist economies, and of the societies that are built upon them. The distinguished authors concentrate on different paradigms of economic conjecture in terms of their applicability to labor market problems and their implications for growing capitalist economies. They present material clearly related to current macroeconomic research which goes beyond the New Consensus macroeconomics, and which can also be related to the discussion between practitioners and politicians on the reform of both financial and labor markets. A Future for Capitalism will prove a challenging and thought provoking read for heterodox economists and broad-minded mainstream macroeconomists with a special interest in alternatives to general equilibrium macroeconomics. Contents: Introduction Part I: Stabilizing an Unstable Economy: The Challenge in Place 1. Real Financial Market Interactions and the Choice of Policy Measures Part II: Classical Unbalanced Growth and Social Evolution 2. Income Security within the Bounds of the Reserve Army Mechanism 3. Segmented Labor Markets and Low Income Work 4. Atypical Employment and Smooth Factor Substitution Part III: Unemployment and Welfare Issues in Models of Endogenous Growth 5. Economic Growth with an Employer of Last Resort: A Simple Model of Flexicurity Capitalism 6. Economic Policy in a Growth Model with Human Capital, Heterogenous Agents and Unemployment 7. Public Debt, Public Expenditures and Endogenous Growth with Real Wage Rigidities Part IV: The Road to Full-Employment Capitalism 8. Flexicurity: A Baseline Supply Side Model 9. Factor Substitution, Okun s Law and Gradual Wage Adjustments 10. Skill Formation, Heterogeneous Labor and Investment-driven Business Fluctuations 11. Leashing Capitalism: Monetary Fiscal Policy Measures and Labor Market Reforms Some Useful Stability Theorems References Index
How populism is fueled by the demise of the industrial order and the emergence of a new digital society ruled by algorithms In the revolutionary excitement of the 1960s, young people around the world called for a radical shift away from the old industrial order, imagining a future of technological liberation and unfettered prosperity. Industrial society did collapse, and a digital economy has risen to take its place, yet many have been left feeling marginalized and deprived of the possibility of a better life. The Inglorious Years explores the many ways we have been let down by the rising tide of technology, showing how our new interconnectivity is not fulfilling its promise. In this revelatory book, economist Daniel Cohen describes how today's postindustrial society is transforming us all into sequences of data that can be manipulated by algorithms from anywhere on the planet. As yesterday's assembly line was replaced by working online, the leftist protests of the 1960s have given way to angry protests by the populist right. Cohen demonstrates how the digital economy creates the same mix of promises and disappointments as the old industrial order, and how it revives questions about society that are as relevant to us today as they were to the ancients. Brilliant and provocative, The Inglorious Years discusses what the new digital society holds in store for us, and reveals how can we once again regain control of our lives.
This book contributes to the microeconomics of growth among SMEs in less-developed countries. It begins with an overview of the Kosovo economy, and takes the case of Kosovo to explore the dynamics and determinants of firm growth. The author does this by exploring dynamics of firms' creation; survival and exit; organisational capabilities of firms; and looks at how external (environmental) factors affect firms' growth. The author pays special attention to innovation capabilities. This study makes a major contribution to European Studies by dealing for the first time with economic development in Kosovo. This book will be of relevance to development specialists including policy makers, researchers, consultants, students, and field staff of donor organisations active in Kosovo, the wider Balkan region and other low-income countries. It will also be of value to policy makers working in fields of economic development, entrepreneurship, industrial policy and innovation policy, and European and EU studies.
The book examines why and how global capitalism has entered a phase of unsustainable crises of accumulation and legitimacy, and looks at various solutions to such crises, from mild reform to radical overhaul. The book then examines the various scenarios from a Latin American perspective, arguing that different countries follow diverse paths in adapting to the crisis - with significantly different outcomes. Their common challenge is how to achieve economic growth with social inclusion.
This book provides the analysis on capital markets in China, focusing attention upon (1) the bubble phenomena (whether or not a Chinese bubble really exists and might burst), (2) foreign direct investment and (3) integration, through all of which we could recognize the current situation and the future prospects of Chinese marketization. As regards to the bubble phenomena, particularly 'early warning indicator' of the bubble, this book attempts to utilize the Grubbs-Smirnov Test to discover the 'abnormal value' in several asset markets. Investigations of this book suggest that the distinctive features of the Chinese market have been significantly different from the markets of capitalist countries such as the United States and Japan. As far as Japan's foreign direct investments in China are concerned, this book tries to reveal the Chinese characteristics on FDI phenomena with FDI-trade ratio. The analysis of this book suggests that Chinese FDI from Japan has undoubtedly revealed the distortions caused by non-economic factors, which also mean that the distinctive features of the Chinese market have been different from the markets of the United States and Japan etc. Regarding integration, this book provides the analysis on the 'G2' system between the United States and China (cooperation or conflict between them). The considerations of this book conclude that it might be difficult to have good cooperation between them because of significant differences between the Chinese system and the US system.
Capitalist growth is widely heralded as the only answer to the crisis still sweeping the global economy. Yet the era of corporate globalisation has been defined by unprecedented levels of inequality and environmental degradation. A return to capitalist growth threatens to exacerbate these problems, not solve them. In The Poverty of Capitalism, John Hilary reveals the true face of transnational capital in its insatiable drive for expansion and accumulation. He exposes the myth of 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR), and highlights key areas of conflict over natural resources, labour rights and food sovereignty. Hilary also describes the growing popular resistance to corporate power, as well as the new social movements seeking to develop alternatives to capitalism itself. This book will be essential reading for all those concerned with global justice, human rights and equity in the world order.
This book presents startling evidence that state monopolies can produce better outcomes than the free market. It provides an empirical comparison of the property insurance market in five European countries: Britain, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Germany. The market and cost structures of insurers in each country are described, and particular features of each market and the outcomes for customers examined. The regulatory frameworks vary widely from country to country and so do the market outcomes, both in terms of premium level and in terms of available insurance cover. In view of the increase in major floods and other forms of natural damage (such as subsidence) over the last decades, the non-availability of insurance cover in many competitive insurance systems is likely to become a major political issue. This book shows that state monopoly is an adequate policy response. Competitive insurance systems are shown to provide incomplete cover at a substantially higher cost. In mixed systems, where the private sector can obtain reinsurance from the state (such a system is being tried in France) the state tends to end up paying most of the costs (it reinsures most of the bad risks) while the private insurance companies keep most of the premium income. The book will be of interest to academic economists interested in privatization, regulation, the theory of the firm, and insurance; Policy-makers concerned with regulation and privatization; Insurance companies, regulators, and analysts.
Although the new small and medium enterprises (SME) sector is emerging as one of the driving forces in transition economies, little is known about the conditions behind its successful development or about policies that could facilitate its expansion. This unique book explores the complex relationship between the growth of the SME sector and the current policies and institutional, historical and cultural forces that shape its fate.
Since 1986 Laos has been engaged in radical reform designed to transform its repressed socialist economy into a market economy open to international trade and investment. The Economics of Transition in Laos analyses the successes and failures of economic transition in the context of the institutional and political constraints faced by the reform process. It focuses on the change from a socialist economic system to a market-orientated system, and the transfer from subsistence to market agriculture. Special attention is given to the integration of Laos into the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The author shows that this integration into ASEAN is likely to be an important determining factor in the transformation of Laos into a successful market economy. This authoritative book, the first of its kind, will prove essential reading to social scientists concerned with Southeast Asia, transition or development issues, and to all those interested in contemporary Indochina.
Peter Hall and David Soskice's Varieties of Capitalism has become a
seminal text and reference point across the social sciences,
generating debate and research around political-economic models.
Here, Bob Hancke presents the key readings on 'Varieties of
Capitalism', including the original Hall and Soskice introduction,
which encompass the key issues in the study of capitalism and
capitalist diversity, its origins, and the debates that followed
it. Beginning with the broad theoretical arguments around the idea
of 'Varieties of Capitalism', the book then goes on to focus on
specific empirical controversies, before finally considering recent
attempts at rethinking this influential framework.
Powerful financial forces have supported the neoliberal project since the 1980s to advance their interests; but there are now signs that these forces have a new face and a new strategy. The majority of the British finance sector threw its support behind Britain leaving the European Union, a flagship institution of neoliberalism. Beyond this counterintuitive move, what was really happening and why? Alt-Finance examines a new authoritarian turn in financialised democracies, focusing on the City of London, revealing a dangerous alternative political project in the making. In a clash with traditional finance, the new behemoths of financial capital - hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate funds - have started to cohere around a set of political beliefs, promoting libertarian, authoritarian, climate-denying and Eurosceptic views. Protecting investments, supressing social dissent and reducing state interference are at the core of their mission for a new world order. By following the money, the authors provide indisputable evidence of these worrying developments. Through a clear analysis of the international dealings of this new authoritarian-libertarian regime, not just in Britain but in the US and Brazil, we can understand how our world is being shaped against our will by struggles between dominant groups.
The purpose of this book is to reconsider economic liberalism from the viewpoint of political liberalism. The author argues that advocates of economic liberalism largely overlook empirical political preferences which, in many societies, go far beyond a limited role of the state. Recent difficulties of reforming the welfare state provide evidence that political preferences are at odds with liberal economic policy in numerous cases. This fact challenges a political conception which demands a limited state role but also claims that citizens' preferences 'as they are' should determine the content of policies. Using an evolutionary perspective on economic liberalism, the book develops new arguments about how economic liberalism can be brought into line with political liberalism. Drawing on an evolutionary theory of markets, Gerhard Wegner reinforces the claim that liberal economic policies are conducive to prosperity in society, but he argues that the liberal promise of prosperity does not translate into corresponding political preferences on the part of citizens. A tension between political and economic liberalism arises which lies at the centre of this book. Political Failure by Agreement will strongly appeal to postgraduate students and researchers of global governance, political theory, political economy and institutional economics.
This comprehensive and lucid study, first published in 1985, reconstructs the history of Western Marxist theories of the breakdown of capitalism. It provides a critical reading of theories of breakdown, with their conflicting interpretations of a single text, their invulnerability to empirical defeat, and their retreat from class analysis, as events in the history of ideas. This study traces the sources of theoretical conflict in a series of historical and epistemological issues that shift over time and generate new conditions for speculations concerning the fate of the system. In seeking to understand that durability of the concept of breakdown, the author raises important questions about the social conditions and consequences of theoretical work and the status of critical thought in society. This title will be of interest to students of history and economics.
'Capitalism is Change'. This famous expression of Joseph Schumpeter was not only characteristic of his time, but is certainly relevant as we enter the twenty-first century. The transition of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the Asian crisis and European integration all characterise the continuous change of capitalism. What is the role of entrepreneurs in capitalist society? How effective are technological policies in changing institutions? Are the economic systems of the United States, Europe and Asia converging? In answer to these questions distinguished contributors - including Paul Krugman - focus on the theoretical foundations of the evolution of capitalist institutions. They apply these theoretical insights to the firm, sectors and economic systems. The combination of recent developments in theory with empirical studies will ensure that this book is essential reading for all those interested in evolutionary and institutional economics, political economy, technology policy, innovation and knowledge.
An Economist Book of the Year A Financial Times Book of the Year A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year A Prospect Best Book of the Year A ProMarket Book of the Year An Omidyar Network "8 Storytellers Informing How We've been Reimagining Capitalism" Selection "Brilliant...Poses all the important questions about our future." -Gordon Brown "A scholar of inequality warns that while capitalism may have seen off rival economic systems, the survival of liberal democracies is anything but assured." -The Economist We are all capitalists now. For the first time in human history, the world is dominated by one economic system. At some level capitalism has triumphed because it works: it delivers prosperity and gratifies our desire for autonomy. But this comes at a moral price, pushing us to treat material success as the ultimate goal, and offers no guarantee of stability. While Western liberal capitalism creaks under the strains of inequality and excess, some are flaunting the virtues of political capitalism, exemplified by China, which may be more efficient, but is also vulnerable to corruption and social unrest. One of the outstanding economists of his generation, Branko Milanovic mines the data to tell his ambitious and compelling story. Capitalism gets a lot wrong, he argues, but also much right-and it isn't going away anytime soon. Our task is to improve it in the hopes that a more equitable capitalism can take hold. "Erudite, illuminating...Engaging to read...As a virtuoso economist, Milanovic is superb when he is compiling and assessing data." -Robert Kuttner, New York Review of Books "Leaves little doubt that the social contract no longer holds. Whether you live in Beijing or New York, the time for renegotiation is approaching." -Edward Luce, Financial Times
This volume brings together original and timely writings by internationally renowned scholars that reflect on the current trajectories of global capitalism and, in the light of these, consider likely, possible or desirable futures. It offers theory-informed writing that contextualizes empirical research on current world-historic events and trends with an eye towards realizing a future of human, social and economic betterment. |
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