This book is about economics and its application to the welfare state. Its core argument is that the welfare state exists for reasons additional to poverty relief, reasons arising out of pervasive problems of imperfect information, risk, and uncertainty. Barr focuses on the efficiency argument, indicating that the welfare state is here to stay, and discusses the ways in which it can and will adapt to economic and social change.

Once in a while the world astonishes itself. Anxious incredulity replaces intellectual torpor and a puzzled public strains its antennae in every possible direction, desperately seeking explanations for the causes and nature of what just hit it. 2008 was such a moment. Not only did the financial system collapse, and send the real economy into a tailspin, but it also revealed the great gulf separating economics from a very real capitalism. Modern Political Economics has a single aim: To help readers make sense of how 2008 came about and what the post-2008 world has in store. The book is divided into two parts. The first part delves into every major economic theory, from Aristotle to the present, with a determination to discover clues of what went wrong in 2008. The main finding is that all economic theory is inherently flawed. Any system of ideas whose purpose is to describe capitalism in mathematical or engineering terms leads to inevitable logical inconsistency; an inherent error that stands between us and a decent grasp of capitalist reality. The only scientific truth about capitalism is its radical indeterminacy, a condition which makes it impossible to use science's tools (e.g. calculus and statistics) to second-guess it. The second part casts an attentive eye on the post-war era; on the breeding ground of the Crash of 2008. It distinguishes between two major post-war phases: The Global Plan (1947-1971) and the Global Minotaur (1971-2008). This dynamic new book delves into every major economic theory and maps out meticulously the trajectory that global capitalism followed from post-war almost centrally planned stability, to designed disintegration in the 1970s, to an intentional magnification of unsustainable imbalances in the 1980s and, finally, to the most spectacular privatisation of money in the 1990s and beyond. Modern Political Economics is essential reading for Economics students and anyone seeking a better understanding of the 2008 economic crash.

The recent financial crisis has troubled the US, Europe, and beyond, and is indicative of the integrated world in which we live. Today, transactions take place with the use of foreign currencies, and their values affect the nations' economies and their citizens' welfare. Exchange Rates and International Financial Economics provides readers with the historic, theoretical, and practical knowledge of these relative prices among currencies. While much of the previous work on the topic has been simply descriptive or theoretical, Kallianiotis gives a unique and intimate understanding of international exchange rates and their place in an increasingly globalized world.

Although China's economy has grown very rapidly in recent decades, there are still very large differences between the economy of mainland China and the economies of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. For example, per capita income in Hong Kong is many, many times higher than per capita income in mainland China. This book considers the degree to which economic convergence between mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan has occurred, and the prospects for increased convergence in the future. It considers economic integration between China and its two Special Administrative Regions (SARS), emphasising the large volume of capital flows and exports, especially from Hong Kong into China, and showing that the economies are highly integrated, despites their differences. It examines income convergence, and changes in productivity, using the same measures for both China and the two SARS, unlike most existing studies. It explores how economic reforms have been crucial to increasing convergence so far, and will continue to be in the future, and concludes by discussing the implications for policy of encouraging increased convergence.

This groundbreaking principles of economics text is devoted to explaining basic economics with an issues and policy focus to undergraduates in survey and other introductory economics courses. It offers the optimal blend of theory, issues, and policy analysis, and covers micro-, macro, and international aspects of America's economy.

In this book, Dr. Jun Zhang rebuts the widely-held view that Chinese economic growth is unsustainable due to low consumption and a reliance on exports and enormous fixed-asset investments. Though many believe this "structural imbalance" of the Chinese economy will become a serious problem in the long run, Zhang holds a bullish long-term outlook owing to China's long-term economic development. For Zhang, China's structural problems are greatly exaggerated and certain structures, such as regional governing entities, ensure that China will not face the same economic issues that Japan encountered. Through regional competition, regional governments will persevere; Zhang predicts that China will overtake the US as a superpower. Zhang concludes by acknowledging the real dangers facing China's economy, and offering advice on the reforms needed to ensure continued growth.

First published in 1991, this book consists of twelve papers, all specifically written for this volume, and an Introduction which maps out some of the key conceptual and theoretical issues raised by the phenomenon. The first group of papers draws upon and analyses the political claims made on behalf of enterprise culture. The papers in the second section explore the international dimension of enterprise culture. The final section is devoted to a consideration of the role of consumers in an enterprise culture.

A myth-dispelling, comprehensive guide to the Chinese economy and its path to ascendancy.

China's economy has been booming for decades now. A formidable and emerging power on the world stage, the China that most Americans picture is only a rough sketch, based on American news coverage, policy, and ways of understanding.

Enter Keyu Jin: a world-renowned economist who was born in China, educated in the U.S., and is now a tenured professor at the London School of Economics. A person fluent in both Eastern and Western cultures, and a voice of the new generation of Chinese who represent a radical break from the past, Jin is uniquely poised to explain how China became the most successful economic story of our time, as it has shifted from primarily state-owned enterprise to an economy that is thriving in entrepreneurship, and participation in the global economy.

China’s economic realm is colorful and lively, filled with paradoxes and conundrums, and Jin believes that by understanding the Chinese model, the people, the culture and history in its true perspective, one can reconcile what may appear to be contradictions to the Western eye.

What follows is an illuminating account of a burgeoning world power, its past, and its potential future.

Henry A. Abbati was not an economist by profession. After retiring from business, in 1924 he published his first book, The Unclaimed Wealth: How Money Stops Production in which he expounded his theory of 'effective demand' (terminology of his own) and its differences with respect to current theories on economic fluctuations. He was advocating public intervention in the economy in the crisis. His second book, The Final Buyer marshalled his criticisms of current theories and further clarified salient aspects of his theory, such as 'saving' and its various definitions, the working of the banking system, the interest rate and the role of public works as a means of reducing unemployment. Later work in the 30s and 40s looked at full employment, reflections on the economic crisis and further analysis of the concept of unclaimed wealth. In many ways Abbati's work in the twenties was an important precursor to Keynes' Treatise on Money, though despite being admired by Robertson and indeed Keynes, his work is today largely unknown and entirely ignored by the numerous authors who have examined the debate of the twenties and thirties on the crises and business cycles and by academic opinion in general. In this book, Di Gaspare restores Abbati's position as a pioneer in macroeconomic theory with a selection of his writings and a far reaching introduction to his contribution to the history of economic thought.

This book brings together and analyzes the role that emotion plays in the way companies connect with customers, develop new products, improve their strategic positioning, and increase their brand recognition.

In this book Brown argues that workers in East and Southeast Asia are significant actors in political change. Critically examining the themes of labour weakness, political exclusion and insignificance of 'class factors' he aims to bring workers back from the margins, demonstrating that both in the present and past the state has been entangled in processes that determine the forms of their struggles. This book presents new empirical data, important historical material and an innovative approach to workers and politics.

The authors analyse aspects of today's China, including economic changes, the search for a social compact in urban China, the identification of new social conflicts that coexist with the dialectics of control & cohesion, & the problem of nation building and collective identities.

Despite the common held belief that Asian nations have displayed anti-market tendencies of under-consumption and export-oriented trade since the Asian financial crisis, in the 10 years since the crisis, South Korea has bucked this trend accruing a higher debt rate than the US. This groundbreaking collection of essays addresses questions such as how did the open market policies and restructuring processes implemented during the Asian financial crisis magnify the consumption and debt level in South Korea to such an extent? What is the impact of these financial changes on the daily lives of people in different cultural and socio-economic groups? In examining these questions the authors provide valuable insight into the rise of financial capitalism, transnational mobility and the implications of neoliberal governing tactics following the Asian Financial Crisis. Examining South Korea's transformation during the early years of the 21st century, New Millenium South Korea will be of interest to anthropologists, economists and sociologists, as well as students and scholars of Korean Studies.

This book explores the pivotal role of think tanks in the democratization and economic reform movements by evaluating their overall effect on the transformation process in developing and transitional countries around the world.

James G. McGann assesses twenty-three think tanks, located in nine countries and four regions of the world: Chile, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Botswana, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, that have most impacted political and economic transitions in their respective countries. The author examines the role they played in the process of democratization and market reform during the late 80s and 90s and identifies the importance of think tanks in these processes by evaluating their overall effect on the policymaking process. He argues in the early stages of a transition from an authoritarian regime to an open and democratic society the activities of think tanks are especially critical, and they have provided a civil society safety net to support these fragile democracies.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, democratization, development, economic development and civil society.

Inefficient ports can stall a country's trade growth and also increase the costs of transportation. Rising inefficiencies in ports have therefore forced the governments all over the world to deregulate the port system. The port sector in several developing countries has been undergoing revolutionary transformation from a subsistence infrastructure resource into a more capital intensive, commercially oriented facility during the last two decades. In India, awareness towards the impact of port infrastructure on economic development in general and international trade in particular has increased in recent years partly as a result of rising trade transportation costs. One of the objectives of this book is therefore to understand the role the port plays in India's economic development. The book tries to quantitatively evaluate the structural metamorphosis in Indian port sector. The main emphasis of the book is on performance evaluation, technological change, total factor productivity growth, market concentration, and competitiveness of Indian ports for the last two and a half decades. This book deals with these vital issues and questions through a detailed analytical framework. Above all, one protracted objective of this book is to create a ground for discussion on various aspects of port development and the resultant policy action.

Today there is widespread recognition that capitalism is the socioeconomic system of choice. This volume, perhaps the best single-volume assessment of this economic model and how it emerged, contributes to the understanding of the historic role of capitalism. After reviewing the gestation of the system, it explains the emergence of full-blown capitalism in the eighteenth century, taking it into the nineteenth and its link to the industrial revolution. The primary focus, however, is on the twentieth century, in which capitalism faced and met challenges due to world wars and depression with the aid of interventionist policies, notably Keynesian economics and the welfare state. But the failure of the postwar policy consensus to cope with the twin problems of inflation and slow economic growth led to a resurgence of greater reliance on unalloyed capitalism.

Capitalist values so permeate modern culture in America that to question them seems like heresy. In 1989, the economist Robert L. Heilbroner, who had been a perceptive student of capitalism and socialism for decades, proclaimed "The Triumph of Capitalism," arguing that the contest of economic systems was over and the victory of capitalism was unambiguous. Fifteen years later, C. Fred Bergsten, Director of the Institute for International Economics, reinforced this view: "The U.S. model of capitalism and globalization dominates thinking around the world." Writer Russell Baker, dismayed by perceived degrading effects of market-obsessed management on journalism, observed that "belief in the virtue of maximized profits has acquired something like sanctity in American life."

An appreciation of economic and social history, and the accompanying clash of ideas, is helpful in providing a context in which ongoing challenges may be evaluated. It is important to know that what is understood to be capitalism has changed significantly over time. The purpose of this book is to provide such context. Written by an economist, but accessible to a general public, this book is a wide-ranging assessment of today's dominant economic system and its historical development.

This groundbreaking collection surveys current research on Marx and Marxism from a variety of perspectives. Setting forward an unconventional range of questions for discussion, the book develops key ideas, such as the theory of history, controversies about justice and the latest textual scholarship on The German Ideology. Written by Japanese scholars, the volume affords western readers a glimpse for the first time, of the results of many years' debates and discussion.
Following the long tradition of Japanese interest in Marx, the book draws on the relationship between that and radical changes in local political context, as well as the economic and political development represented by Japan. Over the course of the chapters, Marx is rescued from 'orientalism', evaluated as a socialist thinker, revisited as a theorist of capitalist development and heralded as a necessary corrective to modern economics. Of particular interest are the major scholarly revisions to the 'standard' historical accounts of Marx's work on the Communist Manifesto, his relationship to the contemporary theories of Louis Blanc and P.J. Proudhon, and new information about how he and Engels worked together.
This landmark work opens up a world of Japanese critical engagement and lively scholarship that will appeal to anyone interested in Marx and Marxism.

Throughout the world, there has been a growing wave of interest in global corporate power and the rise of a transnational capitalist class, triggered by economic and political transformations that have blurred national borders and disembedded corporate business from national domiciles. Using social network analysis, William Carroll maps the changing field of power generated by elite relations among the world's largest corporations and related political organizations. Carroll provides an in-depth analysis that spans the three decades of the late 20th and early 21st century, when capitalist globalization attained unprecedented momentum, propelled both by the transnationalization of accumulation and by the political paradigm of transnational neoliberalism. This has been an era in which national governments have deregulated capital, international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum have gained prominence, and production and finance have become more fully transnational, increasing the structural power of capital over communities and workers. Within this context of transformation, this book charts the making of a transnational capitalist class, reaching beyond national forms of capitalist class organization into a global field, but facing spirited opposition from below in an ongoing struggle that is also a struggle over alternative global futures.

"Brick by Brick" takes you inside the LEGO you've never seen. By following the teams that are inventing some of the world's best-loved toys, it spotlights the company's disciplined approach to harnessing creativity and recounts one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent memory.
"Brick by Brick" reveals how LEGO failed to keep pace with the revolutionary changes in kids' lives and began sliding into irrelevance. When the company's leaders implemented some of the business world's most widely espoused prescriptions for boosting innovation, they ironically pushed the iconic toymaker to the brink of bankruptcy. The company's near-collapse shows that what works in theory can fail spectacularly in the brutally competitive global economy.
It took a new LEGO management team - faced with the growing rage for electronic toys, few barriers to entry, and ultra-demanding consumers (ten-year old boys) - to reinvent the innovation rule book and transform LEGO into one of the world's most profitable, fastest-growing companies.
Along the way, "Brick by Brick" reveals how LEGO:
- Became truly customer-driven by co-creating with kids as well as its passionate adult fans
- Looked beyond products and learned to leverage a full-spectrum approach to innovation
- Opened its innovation process by using both the "wisdom of crowds" and the expertise of elite cliques
- Discovered uncontested, "blue ocean" markets, even as it thrived in brutally competitive red oceans
- Gave its world-class design teams enough space to create and direction to deliver
built a culture where "profitable" innovation flourishes
Sometimes radical yet always applicable, "Brick by Brick" abounds with real-world lessons for unleashing breakthrough innovation in your organization, just like LEGO. Whether you're a senior executive looking to make your company grow, an entrepreneur building a startup from scratch, or a fan who wants to instill some of that LEGO magic in your career, you'll learn how to build your own innovation advantage, brick by brick.

This book analyzes the highly contentious payday lending industry, presenting valuable new data collected during Canada's recent regulatory reviews and demonstrating its relevance to payday lending conversations taking place worldwide. The authors treat the industry with a balanced hand by establishing its importance as an example of financialization and acknowledging the complex impact of payday lending services on low-income and credit-constrained clients. Up-to-date data from an interdisciplinary mix of financial, econometric, legal, behavioral economic, and socioeconomic sources-all in the context of an established Canadian industry-provide both proponents and opponents of payday lending with valuable evidence for their discussions of how much regulation is required to minimize harmful consequences. These insights from Canada expand a US-centric conversation and provide a key resource for the growing list of countries in which the industry is present, from the UK and Poland to South Africa and Australia.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, this comprehensive reference work covers the monetary systems of 203 countries and four confederations. It provides historical and orthographical information for all monetary systems according to country. Chronologies show the evolution of each monetary unit. Orthographies summarize the commonly accepted English spelling of the unit names (singular and plural) as well as known abbreviations and symbols. There is a glossary that lists all the monetary units alphabetically, identifies their countries, and reveals the etymologies of the unit names.

The fall of the Berlin Wall launched the transformation of government, economy and society across half of Europe and the former Soviet Union. This text deals with the process of change in former Communist bloc countries, ten of which have become new European Union (EU) democracies while Russia and her neighbours remain burdened by their Soviet legacy.

Drawing on more than a hundred public opinion surveys from the New Europe Barometer, the text compares how ordinary people have coped with the stresses and opportunities of transforming Communist societies into post-Communist societies and the resulting differences between peoples in the new EU member states and Russia.

Subjects covered by Understanding Post-Communist Transformation include:

• Stresses and opportunities of economic transformation
• Social capital and the development of civil society
• Elections and the complexities of party politics
• The challenges for the EU of raising standards of democratic governance
• Differences between Russia s and the West s interpretation of political life

Written by one of the world's most renowned authorities on this subject, this text is ideal for courses on transition, post-communism, democratization and Russian and Eastern European history and politics.

The fall of the Berlin Wall launched the transformation of government, economy and society across half of Europe and the former Soviet Union. This text deals with the process of change in former Communist bloc countries, ten of which have become new European Union (EU) democracies while Russia and her neighbours remain burdened by their Soviet legacy.

Drawing on more than a hundred public opinion surveys from the New Europe Barometer, the text compares how ordinary people have coped with the stresses and opportunities of transforming Communist societies into post-Communist societies and the resulting differences between peoples in the new EU member states and Russia.

Subjects covered by Understanding Post-Communist Transformation include:

• Stresses and opportunities of economic transformation
• Social capital and the development of civil society
• Elections and the complexities of party politics
• The challenges for the EU of raising standards of democratic governance
• Differences between Russia s and the West s interpretation of political life

Written by one of the world's most renowned authorities on this subject, this text is ideal for courses on transition, post-communism, democratization and Russian and Eastern European history and politics.

How we pay is so fundamental that it underpins everything – from trade to taxation, stocks and savings to salaries, pensions and pocket money. Rich or poor, criminal, communist or capitalist, we all rely on the same payments system, day in, day out. It sits between us and not just economic meltdown, but a total breakdown in law and order. Why then do we know so little about how that system really works?

Leibbrandt and de Terán shine a light on the hidden workings of the humble payment – and reveal both how our payment habits are determined by history as well as where we might go next. From national customs to warring nation states, geopolitics will shape the future of payments every bit as much as technology.

Challenging our understanding about where financial power really lies, The Pay Off shows us that the most important thing about money is the way we move it.

This book provides a timely warning of the dangers still present and building in the global economic system, whose frailty was exposed by the global financial crisis, and the Eurozone crisis it spawned. The contributors to this volume draw on SPERI's work on the political economy of growth, stagnation, austerity and crisis, and placing each in the context of the wider environmental crisis.