In this critical account of New Labour's economic and welfare policies in their first two terms in office, John Grieve Smith suggests that, far from pursuing any radical new agenda, they have been actively consolidating the Thatcherite Revolution. If Labour is to offer a genuine alternative to the Tories, and achieve its long standing objective of a fairer society, radical developments in policy are needed. John Grieve Smith discusses the policies needed to ensure expansion and full employment here and in the rest of the European Union. He examines the whittling away of pensions and other social security benefits, and the growing reliance on means testing, together with the need for higher and more progressive taxation if the quality of health and education services is to be improved. The greatest challenge of coming decades is to develop more effective global and regional international institutions in the economic and other fields. Here the author puts forward a programme of major reforms of the global financial system to make both developing and industrialized countries less vulnerable to the instability of financial markets. This new and updated edition of John Grieve Smith's lively and controversial book is a timely contribution to current political debate.

This volume examines the problems besetting the world economy in the era of globalization and outlines possible solutions. The contributors reject the current orthodoxy in mainstream economics, challenging the fatalistic belief that the new globalized economy resists any change of course. The contributors demonstrate how contemporary forms of instability, from speculative capital movements to debt crises, can be offset by a more effective global financial regime. Issues covered include: international economic institutions and contemporary problems; the Asian crises of 1997-8 and their implications; and the economic consequences of globalization. "Global Instability" collects the reflections of leading economic thinkers, including Philip Arestis, Gerald Epstein, Ilene Grabel, Malcolm Sawyer, Ajit Singh and John Smithin.

This book is about the processes of innovation at the global, national, and corporate levels. It explores the contexts, complexities, and contradictions of these processes from a range of disciplinary perspectives and is divided into three main sections: Globalization and Technology; Innovation and Growth; Governance, Business Performance, and Public Policy. Interdisciplinary and international in its scope this book provides important evidence and arguments on the processes of innovation, and in so doing addresses real challenges for policy-makers, managers, and academics alike.

With the end of the post-war boom in the early 1970s, the world economy has experienced large scale unemployment. From an assumption that the unemployment problem had been solved, and that full employment could be maintained through demand management techniques, we now live in an entirely different world. Any suggestion of a return to full employment is met with questions of whether such a thing is possible, whether it would not lead to inflation or to excessive trade union power, or in the case of individual economies to unsustainable balance of payment deficits. The contributors to this volume ask whether full employment policies would be affordable. Would they lead to yawning fiscal deficits which would in the end require a U-turn in policy with unemployment reappearing? This contribution to current policy debate faces up to these questions and considers what would be involved in a move to much lower levels of unemployment.

This book examines current issues in the world economic order - employment and international labour markets, volatility in foreign exchange markets, deregulation of financial markets - and asks whether we need new policies and institutions to manage the global economy. Writing from a predominately Keynesian perspective the contributors suggest a range of policy options.

The demise of the post-war era of full employment has been followed by more than 20 years of global instability. The world economy enters the 21st century with the industrial world divided between the European Union, the North American Free Trade Area, and the Pacific Rim countries. This tripolar division could either form the basis for negotiation and co-operation, or else the sort of instability witnessed in the prelude to the two world wars.
Managing the Global Economy describes the key trends in the world economy, and indicates what new institutional arrangements might be appropriate - but stresses that action will not be taken until the prevailing fatalistic economic ideology is discarded. It demonstrates that the global financial markets were created by financial institutions as governments freed finaincial markets from their control. It documents how far international co-operation has freed the markets and limited the power of governments, and indicates how these priorities could be reversed.
18 leading economists, economic commentators, proactitionaers, and policy-makers contribute to a book which will make a major impact on policy debates.