In recent years there has been increasing discontent with the abstract nature of mainstream economics. Not only does this make the subject less relevant to real issues, it drives a wedge between economics and other disciplines ostensibly addressing the same issues. Borderlands of Economics explores the ways in which economics might be reconnected, both with the real world and with other disciplines.

In recent years there has been increasing discontent with the abstract nature of mainstream economics. Not only does this make the subject less relevant to real issues, it drives a wedge between economics and other disciplines ostensibly addressing the same issues. This text explores the ways in which economics might be reconnected, both with the real world and with other disciplines. Daniel R. Fusfeld - Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - is renowned for his passion in extending the borderlines of economics - both to better the discipline itself and in the interests of the welfare of his fellow human beings. In this volume friends, former students and colleagues all recognize his role as an educator, scholar and social activist. As the title of the volume suggests, most of the essays, (although they vary widely in focus, content, and worldview), share Fusfeld's vision; they assume a critical standpoint towards orthodox economics, economic theory, or political economy.

The world economy is going through a period of radical change. This is self-evident in post-Socialist Europe with the disappearance of centrally planned economies. However, policies of liberalization and privatization are also sweeping the less developed world. While traditional theory predicts beneficial results from these changes, the practical outcome is less certain. Whatever the overall effect, it is clear that some citizens will pay a higher price than others. This book deals with the impact of structural change on women. Each chapter summarizes the changes that have taken place in a particular economy. This is developed further by an empirical analysis of the effect on women. The authors discuss the evidence of gender bias and reach some telling, if unsurprising, conclusions. It seems that regardless of the type of change involved, women suffer more in the transformation process. The authors conclude that this result is unlikely to be random. Rather, it reflects the social and political condition of women. Addressing these issues is thus essential if the burden of economic transformation is to be distributed fairly.

The world economy is going through a period of radical change. This is self-evident in post-Socialist Europe with the disappearance of centrally planned economies. However, policies of liberalization and privatization are also sweeping the less developed world. While traditional theory predicts beneficial results from these changes, the practical outcome is less certain. Whatever the overall effect, it is clear that some citizens will pay a higher price than others. This book deals with the impact of structural change on women. Each chapter summarizes the changes that have taken place in a particular economy. This is developed further by an empirical analysis of the effect on women. The authors discuss the evidence of gender bias and reach some telling, if unsurprising, conclusions. It seems that regardless of the type of change involved, women suffer more in the transformation process. The authors conclude that this result is unlikely to be random. Rather, it reflects the social and political condition of women. Addressing these issues is thus essential if the burden of economic transformation is to be distributed fairly.

The British economist Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877-59) reconceptualized economics as a theory of economic welfare and a logic of policy analysis. Misconceptions of his work abound. This book, an essay in demystification and the first reading of the entire Pigouvian oeuvre, stresses his pragmatic and historicist premises.

One of the most original and prolific economists of the twentieth century, Joan Robinson (1903-83) is widely regarded as the most important woman in the history of economic thought. Robinson studied economics at Cambridge University, where she made a career that lasted some fifty years. She was an unlikely candidate for success at Cambridge. A young woman in 1930 in a university dominated by men, she succeeded despite not having a remarkable academic record, a college fellowship, significant publications, or a powerful patron. In "The Provocative Joan Robinson," Nahid Aslanbeigui and Guy Oakes trace the strategies and tactics Robinson used to create her professional identity as a Cambridge economist in the 1930s, examining how she recruited mentors and advocates, carefully defined her objectives, and deftly pursued and exploited opportunities.

Aslanbeigui and Oakes demonstrate that Robinson's professional identity was thoroughly embedded in a local scientific culture in which the Cambridge economists A. C. Pigou, John Maynard Keynes, Dennis Robertson, Piero Sraffa, Richard Kahn (Robinson's closest friend on the Cambridge faculty), and her husband Austin Robinson were important figures. Although the economists Joan Robinson most admired--Pigou, Keynes, and their mentor Alfred Marshall--had discovered ideas of singular greatness, she was convinced that each had failed to grasp the essential theoretical significance of his own work. She made it her mission to recast their work both to illuminate their major contributions and to redefine a Cambridge tradition of economic thought. Based on the extensive correspondence of Robinson and her colleagues, "The Provocative Joan Robinson" is the story of a remarkable woman, the intellectual and social world of a legendary group of economists, and the interplay between ideas, ambitions, and disciplinary communities.