This book looks at what is going to happen to U.S. enterprises, markets, and the government sector in the coming decades. The discussion draws on economic factors such as the declining growth rate that will accompany the aging of the population. The author also considers a series of critical social, cultural, and political trends that will affect the way economic activities will be structured. He focuses particular attention on the increasing share of markets that will be held by the largest firms, and the changing roles of government in the economy. This book tells us not only what will happen in the future, but also provides perspective on what is happening to U.S. capitalism today.

Frederic L. Pryor uses the concept of structural complexity to show how changes in the population, the labor force, the structure of industry, the financial system, foreign and domestic trade, and the government sector are related to the same general trend in the U.S. economic system over the past forty years and in the coming twenty years. He also investigates the impact of these changes on the functioning of the system, exploring such matters as the long-term rising unemployment rate, the alleged increasing volatility of the economy, the changing degree of competition, and the evolving role of the government. The discussion is aimed at those who wish to view the economy as a whole and who are concerned with problems of understanding an economy that is becoming increasingly complex along many different dimensions. For specialists a number of appendices discuss a variety of technical issues.

Capitalism Reassessed provides a broad view of different types of advanced capitalist economic systems and is based on an empirical analysis of twenty-one OECD nations. The book looks at why capitalism developed in Western Europe rather than elsewhere. It shows the close influences of the cultural system on the economic system. The analysis compares the economic and social performance of the capitalist economic systems along a variety of economic and social criteria. It also analyzes how capitalism will change in the twenty-first century.

Drawing upon the disciplines of economics, anthropology, statistics, and history, and employing a new and unified analytic approach, Frederic L. Pryor reformulates in this book the entire field of comparative economic systems. He examines large samples of foraging (hunting, gathering and fishing), agricultural, and industrial economies to explore four key questions: What are the distinct economic systems found in each group? Why do certain societies or nations have one economic system rather than another? What impact do economic systems have on the performance of the economy? How do these economic systems develop and change? The results provide a context that allows us to move beyond the chaos of case studies and ideological assertions to gain an overview of the development of economic systems over the millennia. It also raises a series of new analytic and empirical issues that have not hitherto been systematically explored.

Presenting an alternative view of the operations of the labour market, Professors Frederic Pryor and David Schaffer explain the growing inequality in wages over the last quarter-century and how those with the least education are being squeezed out of the labour market. Why have wages in those jobs requiring extra-high cognitive skills risen while all other wages have stagnated or fallen? And why are more university graduates taking high-school jobs? The authors of this volume present data revealing that jobs which require a high educational level are increasing more slowly than those with somewhat lower requirements. However such jobs are increasing faster than those requiring still less formal education. Professors Pryor and Schaffer also show how women are replacing men in jobs which require higher levels of education and moreover, how those with high cognitive skills are replacing those with lower cognitive skills.

In this book, Frederic L. Pryor uses the concept of structural complexity to show how changes in the population, the labour force, the structure of industry, the financial system, foreign and domestic trade, and the government sector are related to the same general trend in the US economic system. He also investigates the impact of these changes on the functioning of the system, exploring such matters as the long-term rising unemployment rate, the allegedly increasing volatility of the economy, the changing degree of competition, and the evolving economic role of the government. The discussion is aimed at those who wish to view the economy as a whole and who are concerned with problems of understanding an economy that is becoming increasingly complex along many different dimensions. For specialists a number of appendices discuss a variety of technical issues.

Capitalism Reassessed provides a broad view of different types of advanced capitalist economic systems and is based on an empirical analysis of twenty-one OECD nations. The book looks at why capitalism developed in Western Europe rather than elsewhere. It shows the close influences of the cultural system on the economic system. The analysis compares the economic and social performance of the capitalist economic systems along a variety of economic and social criteria. It also analyzes how capitalism will change in the twenty-first century.

Reorganizing the agricultural sector into large-scale state and collective farms was the most radical transformation of economic institutions implemented by Marxist governments. Frederic Pryor provides perspective on this unique experiment by comparing in a systematic and original fashion the changes in the organization of agriculture in all of the world's Marxist nations. This approach allows not only a clearer understanding of the major lines of agricultural policy and organization in these nations but also a keener insight into the reasons underlying the variations among them. What have been the doctrinal elements that have led to collectivization? Why has the process of collectivization been so different in various nations? How have the farms been organized, both internally and within the larger economy? How has the performance of agriculture differed between the various Marxist nations and comparable capitalist nations? And what are the difficulties in reversing collectivization and moving back toward private agriculture? In answering these questions, The Red and the Green draws on a vast number of primary and secondary sources from many nations, as well as from extensive interviews with farmers, agricultural officials, and specialists in more than a dozen Marxist nations. Among books dealing with problems of communist economy, this study is unrivaled in its broad scope, combined with careful institutional and statistical analysis. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This multidisciplinary book looks at the long-term forces that are shaping the most important economic institutions in the US in the coming decades. The style is lively and clear, with a series of appendices focusing on technical issues of interest to specialists. The author foresees a declining rate of growth, a widening of the inequalities of income, and an increasing share of individual markets taken by a small number of large corporations. Combined with declining social solidarity and trust in government, he foresees an ever harder edge to the way in which capitalism will function in the future. The economic role of government will decline in the fields of stabilization and regulation, but government expenditures will become higher due to the aging of the population. This provocative book looks at the US from a novel viewpoint and shows how many commonly accepted views of the US economy need to be revised.

Reorganizing the agricultural sector into large-scale state and collective farms was the most radical transformation of economic institutions implemented by Marxist governments. Frederic Pryor provides perspective on this unique experiment by comparing in a systematic and original fashion the changes in the organization of agriculture in all of the world's Marxist nations. This approach allows not only a clearer understanding of the major lines of agricultural policy and organization in these nations but also a keener insight into the reasons underlying the variations among them. What have been the doctrinal elements that have led to collectivization? Why has the process of collectivization been so different in various nations? How have the farms been organized, both internally and within the larger economy? How has the performance of agriculture differed between the various Marxist nations and comparable capitalist nations? And what are the difficulties in reversing collectivization and moving back toward private agriculture? In answering these questions, The Red and the Green draws on a vast number of primary and secondary sources from many nations, as well as from extensive interviews with farmers, agricultural officials, and specialists in more than a dozen Marxist nations. Among books dealing with problems of communist economy, this study is unrivaled in its broad scope, combined with careful institutional and statistical analysis.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Drawing upon the disciplines of economics, anthropology, statistics, and history, and employing a new and unified analytic approach, Frederic L. Pryor reformulates in this book the entire field of comparative economic systems. He examines large samples of foraging (hunting, gathering and fishing), agricultural, and industrial economies to explore four key questions: What are the distinct economic systems found in each group? Why do certain societies or nations have one economic system rather than another? What impact do economic systems have on the performance of the economy? How do these economic systems develop and change? The results provide a context that allows us to move beyond the chaos of case studies and ideological assertions to gain an overview of the development of economic systems over the millennia. It also raises a series of new analytic and empirical issues that have not hitherto been systematically explored.

Presenting an alternative view of the operations of the labour market, Professors Frederic Pryor and David Schaffer explain the growing inequality in wages over the last quarter of the 20th century and how those with the least education are being squeezed out of the labour market. Why have wages in those jobs requiring extra-high cognitive skills risen while all other wages have stagnated or fallen? And why are more university graduates taking high-school jobs? The authors of this volume present data revealing that jobs which require a high educational level are increasing more slowly than those with somewhat lower requirements. However such jobs are increasing faster than those requiring still less formal education. Professors Pryor and Schaffer also show how women are replacing men in jobs which require higher levels of education and moreover, how those with high cognitive skills are replacing those with lower cognitive skills.