Formalising employment is a desirable policy goal, but how it is done matters greatly, especially for women workers. Indeed, formalisation policies that do not recognise gendered realities and prevailing socio-economic conditions may be less effective and even counterproductive. This book examines the varying trajectories of formalisation and their impact on women workers in five developing countries in Asia and Africa: India, Thailand, South Africa, Ghana and Morocco. They range from low- to middle-income countries, which are integrated into global financial and goods markets to differing degrees and have varying labour market and macroeconomic conditions. The case studies, using macro and survey data as well as in-depth analysis of particular sectors, provide interesting and sometimes surprising insights. Despite some limited successes in providing social protection benefits to some informal workers, most formalisation policies have not really improved the working conditions of women workers. In many cases, that is because the policies are gender-blind and insensitive to the specific needs of women workers. The impact of formalisation policies on women in developing countries is relatively under-researched. This book provides new evidence that will be applicable across a wide range of developing country contexts and will be of interest to policymakers, feminist economists and students of economics, labour, gender and development studies, public policy, politics and sociology.

The economic operating system keeps crashing. It's time to upgrade to a new one. Five decades ago, The Limits to Growth shocked the world by showing that population and industrial growth were pushing humanity towards a cliff. Today the world recognizes that we are now at the cliff edge: Earth has crossed multiple planetary boundaries while widespread inequality is causing deep instabilities in societies. There seems to be no way out. Earth For All is both an antidote to despair and a road map to a better future. Using powerful state-of-the-art computer modeling to explore policies likely to deliver the most good for the majority of people, a leading group of scientists and economists from around the world present five extraordinary turnarounds to achieve prosperity for all within planetary limits in a single generation. Coverage includes: Results of new global modeling that indicates falling well-being and rising social tensions heighten risk of regional societal collapses Two alternative scenarios - Too-Little-Too-Late vs The Giant Leap - and what they mean for our collective future Five system-shifting steps that can upend poverty and inequality, lift up marginalized people, and transform our food and energy systems by 2050 A clear pathway to reboot our global economic system so it works for all people and the planet. Written in an open, accessible, and inspirational style using clear language and high impact visuals, Earth For All is a profound vision for uncertain times and a map to a better future. This survival guide for humanity is required reading for everyone concerned about living well on a fragile planet.

On the night of 8 November 2016, at 8:15 pm, India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced in a televised broadcast to the nation that with effect from midnight, currency notes of denominations Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would no longer be legal tender. In one stroke, this involved the de-recognition of over 86 per cent of the value of Indian currency in circulation with only four hours' notice. This important book provides a quick and concise explanation of the goals, implications, initial effects and the political economy of this major demonetisation move by the Government of India. It clarifies key concepts and offers astute economic analysis to guide the reader through the various claims, arguments and critiques that have been made; highlights the complexities of the processes that have been unleashed; and examines the likely outcomes in the long term as well as those that are immediately evident. Timely and lucid, this book will interest students and researchers in the fields of economics, finance, management, law, politics and governance as well as policy makers, legislators, civil society activists and the media.

This book provides new perspectives on recent Asian dynamism which go beyond the mainstream views, by attempting to situate the recent economic expansion within a broader analysis of capitalist accumulation and the various processes that it generates both within and across economies. The contributions in the book include analyses of recent growth patterns in both China and India; assessments of the sustainability of such growth and potential constraints and pitfalls; the role of international finance in affecting both national and international growth and employment patterns; the factors determining particular accumulation strategies and the results of these strategies. These forces within the two economies of China and India are situated within a broader assessment of the impacts on the world economy, by identifying long run tendencies in international capitalism and changing patterns of uneven development. Specific issues emerging within the Asian region are identified, including not just the relations between the three large Asian economies, but also the wider geopolitical implications as well as the political economy of these changes. This book therefore provides a more comprehensive examination of the longer run dynamics of the global capitalist system in which these economies are necessarily destined to play more significant roles in future.

The Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development explores the theories and approaches which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today?s mainstream and neo-classical tenets. With a total of 40 specially commissioned chapters, written by the foremost authorities in their respective fields, this volume represents a landmark in the field of economic development. It elucidates the richness of the alternative and sometimes misunderstood ideas which, in different historical contexts, have proved to be vital to the improvement of the human condition. The subject matter is approached from several complementary perspectives. From a historical angle, the Handbook charts the mercantilist and cameralist theories that emerged from the Renaissance and developed further during the Enlightenment. From a geographical angle, it includes chapters on African, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim approaches to economic development. Different schools are also explored and discussed including nineteenth century US development theory, Marxist, Schumpeterian, Latin American structuralism, regulation theory and world systems theories of development. In addition, the Handbook has chapters on important events and institutions including The League of Nations, The Havana Charter, and UNCTAD, as well as on particularly influential development economists. Contemporary topics such as the role of finance, feminism, the agrarian issue, and ecology and the environment are also covered in depth. This comprehensive Handbook offers an unrivalled review and analysis of alternative and heterodox theories of economic development. It should be read by all serious scholars, teachers and students of development studies, and indeed anyone interested in alternatives to development orthodoxy. Contributors: M. Alacevich, R. Arocena, J.G. Backhaus, E.B. Barbier, R. Bielschowsky, C.N. Biltoft, R. Boyer, L. Burlamaqui, C.P. Chandrasekhar, M. Cimoli, A.M. Daastol, G. Derluguian, W. Drechsler, S. Endresen, M.S. Erkek, M.S. Floro, J. Ghosh, J.-C. Graz, J.P. Hochard, I. Ianos, P. Jha, A. Kadri, R. Kattel, J.A. Kregel, B.-A. Lundvall, A.C. Macedo e Silva, J.A. Mathews, L. Mjoset, S. Moyo, R.R. Nelson, G. Omkarnath, E. OEzveren, J.G. Palma, P. Patnaik, G. Porcile, E.S. Reinert, S.A. Reinert, P.R. Roessner, A. Saltelli, M. Shafaeddin, A. Singh, I.G. Shivji, J. Sutz, Y. Tandon, E. Thurbon, F. Tregenna, H.S. UEnal, L. Weiss, T. Xu, P. Yeros, X. Zhao

This book provides new perspectives on recent Asian dynamism which go beyond the mainstream views, by attempting to situate the recent economic expansion within a broader analysis of capitalist accumulation and the various processes that it generates both within and across economies. The contributions in the book include analyses of recent growth patterns in both China and India; assessments of the sustainability of such growth and potential constraints and pitfalls; the role of international finance in affecting both national and international growth and employment patterns; the factors determining particular accumulation strategies and the results of these strategies. These forces within the two economies of China and India are situated within a broader assessment of the impacts on the world economy, by identifying long run tendencies in international capitalism and changing patterns of uneven development. Specific issues emerging within the Asian region are identified, including not just the relations between the three large Asian economies, but also the wider geopolitical implications as well as the political economy of these changes. This book therefore provides a more comprehensive examination of the longer run dynamics of the global capitalist system in which these economies are necessarily destined to play more significant roles in future.

On the night of 8 November 2016, at 8:15 pm, India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced in a televised broadcast to the nation that with effect from midnight, currency notes of denominations Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would no longer be legal tender. In one stroke, this involved the de-recognition of over 86 per cent of the value of Indian currency in circulation with only four hours' notice. This important book provides a quick and concise explanation of the goals, implications, initial effects and the political economy of this major demonetisation move by the Government of India. It clarifies key concepts and offers astute economic analysis to guide the reader through the various claims, arguments and critiques that have been made; highlights the complexities of the processes that have been unleashed; and examines the likely outcomes in the long term as well as those that are immediately evident. Timely and lucid, this book will interest students and researchers in the fields of economics, finance, management, law, politics and governance as well as policy makers, legislators, civil society activists and the media.

Formalising employment is a desirable policy goal, but how it is done matters greatly, especially for women workers. Indeed, formalisation policies that do not recognise gendered realities and prevailing socio-economic conditions may be less effective and even counterproductive. This book examines the varying trajectories of formalisation and their impact on women workers in five developing countries in Asia and Africa: India, Thailand, South Africa, Ghana and Morocco. They range from low- to middle-income countries, which are integrated into global financial and goods markets to differing degrees and have varying labour market and macroeconomic conditions. The case studies, using macro and survey data as well as in-depth analysis of particular sectors, provide interesting and sometimes surprising insights. Despite some limited successes in providing social protection benefits to some informal workers, most formalisation policies have not really improved the working conditions of women workers. In many cases, that is because the policies are gender-blind and insensitive to the specific needs of women workers. The impact of formalisation policies on women in developing countries is relatively under-researched. This book provides new evidence that will be applicable across a wide range of developing country contexts and will be of interest to policymakers, feminist economists and students of economics, labour, gender and development studies, public policy, politics and sociology.

The COVID-9 pandemic has generated human suffering and economic devastation across the world - but these reflect not just the impact of the disease but the policy failures of governments. Further, the trajectory of the disease and the human and economic outcomes has varied greatly, again because of how governments have responded and the institutional context. This volume brings together analyses of the public policy responses from many different countries, to evaluate what has worked and what hasn't, what has been done and what could have been done - and the potential directions for the future.

Prabhat Patnaik's academic insights and strong political commitment have stimulated intellectual activity and inspired personal regard across a multitude of people from all walks of life. This volume brings together contributions from some who have benefited from interaction with him over decades, in a tribute and continuing conversation. Patnaik, born 19 September 1945 in Odisha, India, is one of the outstanding economists of his generation and a leading Marxist theoretician in the world today. Versatile in his knowledge and mastery of different schools of thought but unflinching in his commitment to the use and extension of a Marxist approach, he has influenced several generations of social scientists through his extensive writing, his contributions to academic discourse, and his life as a tireless public intellectual. Born to parents who were deeply committed to the communist cause and were members of the Communist Party of India, Patnaik grew up in a commune in his early years, an experience that Ashok Mitra (his friend and comrade) believes deeply influenced who he became. His brilliance at all stages of his career is legendary. After studying at St Stephens' College and the Delhi School of Economics in Delhi University, he received a Ph.D. in Economics from Oxford University. He taught at the University of Cambridge, England, where he held a tenured position, which he chose to give up to return to India to join the founding faculty of the Centre for Economic Studies in the School of Social Sciences of Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he taught for around four decades. He is currently professor emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Through his work as an academic, as editor of the journal Social Scientist and as a columnist in People's Democracy, Patnaik has contributed immensely to developing a theoretical understanding of India's economy and society, and the tactics and strategy needed to change it in a socialist direction. His work has been recognized widely and he has been awarded several academic honors, including the V.K.R.V. Rao Prize in Social Science Research in 1986 and an honorary doctorate by the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London in 2012. But he is better known as a leading theoretician of the Left who has kept alive the need for advancing theory to support the struggle for an alternative society. He put into practice his ideas as a heterodox economist when he successfully served as Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board under the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala from June 2006 to July 2011.

Born in 1945 in Odisha, India, to parents who were deeply committed to the Communist cause as members of the Communist Party of India, Patnaik is one of the most outstanding economists of his generation and a leading Marxist theoretician in the world today. Through his work as an academic, he has contributed immensely to developing a theoretical understanding of India's economy and society, and the tactics and strategy needed to change it in a socialist direction. Patnaik is better known as a leading theoretician of the Left who has kept alive the need for advancing theory to support the struggle for an alternative society. He put into practice his ideas as a heterodox economist when he successfully served as Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board under the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala from June 2006 to July 2011. Prabhat Patnaik's academic insights and strong political commitment have stimulated intellectual activity and inspired personal regard across a multitude of people from all walks of life. Versatile in his knowledge and mastery of different schools of thought but unflinching in his commitment to the use and extension of a Marxist approach, he has influenced several generations of social scientists through his extensive writing, his contributions to academic discourse, and his life as a tireless public intellectual. This volume brings together contributions from some who have benefited from interaction with him over decades, in a tribute and continuing conversation.

The Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development explores the theories and approaches which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today?s mainstream and neo-classical tenets. With a total of 40 specially commissioned chapters, written by the foremost authorities in their respective fields, this volume represents a landmark in the field of economic development. It elucidates the richness of the alternative and sometimes misunderstood ideas which, in different historical contexts, have proved to be vital to the improvement of the human condition. The subject matter is approached from several complementary perspectives. From a historical angle, the Handbook charts the mercantilist and cameralist theories that emerged from the Renaissance and developed further during the Enlightenment. From a geographical angle, it includes chapters on African, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim approaches to economic development. Different schools are also explored and discussed including nineteenth century US development theory, Marxist, Schumpeterian, Latin American structuralism, regulation theory and world systems theories of development. In addition, the Handbook has chapters on important events and institutions including The League of Nations, The Havana Charter, and UNCTAD, as well as on particularly influential development economists. Contemporary topics such as the role of finance, feminism, the agrarian issue, and ecology and the environment are also covered in depth. This comprehensive Handbook offers an unrivalled review and analysis of alternative and heterodox theories of economic development. It should be read by all serious scholars, teachers and students of development studies, and indeed anyone interested in alternatives to development orthodoxy. Contributors: M. Alacevich, R. Arocena, J.G. Backhaus, E.B. Barbier, R. Bielschowsky, C.N. Biltoft, R. Boyer, L. Burlamaqui, C.P. Chandrasekhar, M. Cimoli, A.M. Daastol, G. Derluguian, W. Drechsler, S. Endresen, M.S. Erkek, M.S. Floro, J. Ghosh, J.-C. Graz, J.P. Hochard, I. Ianos, P. Jha, A. Kadri, R. Kattel, J.A. Kregel, B.-A. Lundvall, A.C. Macedo e Silva, J.A. Mathews, L. Mjoset, S. Moyo, R.R. Nelson, G. Omkarnath, E. OEzveren, J.G. Palma, P. Patnaik, G. Porcile, E.S. Reinert, S.A. Reinert, P.R. Roessner, A. Saltelli, M. Shafaeddin, A. Singh, I.G. Shivji, J. Sutz, Y. Tandon, E. Thurbon, F. Tregenna, H.S. UEnal, L. Weiss, T. Xu, P. Yeros, X. Zhao

The global financial crisis that exploded around September 2008 was just one more in a series of crises that have affected more than sixty countries in the era of financial liberalization. Of course the latest crisis is particularly significant in a number of ways: it originated in the core of capitalism, in the United States; it has spread dramatically across the world, even to countries that earlier seemed to be relatively secure; it calls into question many of the mainstream economic dogmas that have dominated economic policy-making for more than two decades. Yet, in some other ways, the current crisis is not very different from those that have preceded it in the recent past. July 2007 marked a decade since the onset of financial crisis in several East and Southeast Asian countries. The crisis of 1997 focused attention on the dangers associated with a world dominated by fluid finance. It brought home the fact that financial liberalization can result in crises even in so-called 'miracle economies'. Prior to the crisis, the pace and pattern of growth in many countries in that region were challenging the dominance of the original capitalist powers over the global economy. The 1997 crisis set back that process, and even after a decade many of these countries have not been able to recover their pre-crisis dynamism. In hindsight, it is clear that currency and financial crises have devastating effects on the real economy. The ensuing liquidity crunch and wave of bankruptcies result in sever deflation, with attendant consequences for employment and the standard of living. The adoption, post-crisis, of conventional IMF stabilization strategies tends to worsen the situation: governments become so sensitive to the possibility of future crises that they continue to adopt very restrictive macro-economic policies and restrain public expenditure even in crucial social sectors. Finally, asset-price deflation and devaluation pave the way for foreign capital inflows that finance a transfer of ownership of assets from domestic to foreign investors, thereby enabling a conquest by international capital of important domestic assets and resources. This book delineates the alternative trajectories of post-crisis development in different economies, the lessons they offer and the implications they have for alternative policies. It is important to take stock of these processes not only for understanding the experience of the 'crisis economies' of East and Southeast Asia, but also because it is becoming evident that the international financial system has still not evolved effective ways of preventing such crises among emerging economies and of reducing their damaging effects. Indeed, an examination of the post-crisis experience of countries outside East Asia reveals important similarities (as well as some differences) that have implications for all developing countries that have undergone a significant degree of global economic integration. This book therefore has a wider focus than the East Asian 'crisis economies' alone: it tries to situate post-crisis developments in a broader analysis of the recent political economy of international capitalism, in particular the role of mobile finance. It also offers comparative perspectives on post-crisis restructuring in other developing countries that have experienced crisis; as well as on the experience of other Asian countries that were affected by, but did not experience financial crisis. While the essays in this book were originally written in 2007, they still remain extraordinarily relevant to the present times, not least because they anticipate the processes that led to the global financial meltdown in 2008. A key insight of much of the analysis in this book is how market-oriented strategies to cope with the crisis created further financial fragility in many post-crisis economies. To that extent many of these papers effectively predict the severe impact the current global crisis is having on both financial variables and the real economy, in developing countries in particular.

There's really no escaping it: if you want to understand capitalism, you simply have to read Karl Marx's "Capital". But this is easier said than done. "Capital" is Marx's magnum opus - consisting of more than 2,000 pages, over three volumes. It is a masterpiece of analysis, of relentlessly methodical and logical reasoning. So is "Capital" only for the expert? No. "Capital" can be read - and understood - by beginners as well, provided they are guided into it. Which is exactly what this volume does. Seven leading Marxist scholars lay out the conceptual framework of "Capital" as well as investigate its various themes in essays written specially for this Reader. Moreover, each of the authors has taken care to not limit him/herself to only preliminary explication of concepts, and has also gone into matters of advanced theory. The volume as a whole also has a broadly similar trajectory - the first couple of essays lay the foundation, the middle four essays graduate from basic concepts to theoretical discussion and debates, and the last essay does not go into basic concepts at all, but applies the method of "Capital" to theorise about contemporary capitalism. This introductory Reader, then, does two things: it equips new readers with the basic conceptual keys that could unlock the vast treasure trove of Marx's analysis and insights, as well as offering fresh insights into Marx's magnificent work to the initiated.