Originally published in 2005. In the past three centuries Britain, Continental Europe and the United States have all experienced remarkable continuity in terms of the character and nature of the relations between the State and the economy. In a fascinating and eminently readable account, this book examines the significance of ideology in the formation of economic policy in the two groups of countries, comparing and contrasting the minimalist state-ownership societies of Britain and the United States with the interventionist states of Continental Europe. The book uncovers a continued contrast between the economic and social individualism of Britain and the United States, and the reliance on the State typical of nations in Continental Europe. The readership will benefit from a clearer understanding of the varying degrees of intervention in both the domestic and international economic policies employed, and the illuminating comparisons between the Continentals and the more market orientated nations of Britain and the United States.
David Hamilton is a leader in the American institutionalist school of heterodox economics that emerged after WWII. This volume includes 25 articles written by Hamilton over a period of nearly half a century. In these articles he examines the philosophical foundations and practical problems of economics. The result of this is a unique institutionalist view of how economies evolve and how economics itself has evolved with them. Hamilton applies insight gained from his study of culture to send the message that human actions situated in culture determine our economic situation. David Hamilton has advanced heterodox economics by replacing intellectual concepts from orthodox economics that hinder us with concepts that help us. In particular, Hamilton has helped replace equilibrium with evolution, make-believe with reality, ideological distortion of government with practical use of government, the economy as a product of natural law with the economy as a product of human law and, last, he has helped us replace the entrepreneur as a hero with the entrepreneur as a real person. These articles provide an alternative to the self-adjusting market. They provide an explanation of how the interaction of cultural patterns and technology determine the evolutionary path of the economic development of a nation. This is not a simple materialist depiction of economic history as some Marxists have advocated, instead Hamilton treats technology and culture as endogenous forces, embedded and inseparable from each other and therefore, economic development. This volume will be of most interest and value to professional economists and graduate students who are looking for an in-depth explanation of the origins and significance of institutional economics.
Economic, technological, and sociopolitical changes have been transforming the cultures of advanced industrial societies in profoundly important ways during the past few decades. This ambitious work examines changes in religious beliefs, in motives for work, in the issues that give rise to political conflict, in the importance people attach to having children and families, and in attitudes toward divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. Ronald Inglehart's earlier book, The Silent Revolution (Princeton, 1977), broke new ground by discovering a major intergenerational shift in the values of the populations of advanced industrial societies. This new volume demonstrates that this value shift is part of a much broader process of cultural change that is gradually transforming political, economic, and social life in these societies. Inglehart uses a massive body of time-series survey data from twenty-six nations, gathered from 1970 through 1988, to analyze the cultural changes that are occurring as younger generations gradually replace older ones in the adult population. These changes have far-reaching political implications, and they seem to be transforming the economic growth rates of societies and the kind of economic development that is pursued.
This work analyzes the impact of national culture on the way the employment relationship is organized, using case studies from the US and the Netherlands. Evidence from these countries suggests that nations respond to globalization in line with their cultural values.
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
Cultural economics is the application of economic analysis to the creative and performing arts, the heritage and cultural industries, in both the public and private sectors. It is concerned with the economic organisation of the cultural sector and with the behaviour of producers, consumers and governments in that sector. The subject includes a range of approaches, mainstream and radical, neoclassical, welfare economics, public policy and institutional economics and it also espouses interdisciplinary analysis connected to these topics. There have been an increasing number of studies concerned with culture and its relationship to economic growth. Culture affects economic activity through the choices that people make about how to allocate scarce resources. In other terms, while culture may be a fundamental determinant of economic activity, it acts through proximate factors like the accumulation of capital, the adoption of technology, or labour market participation decisions. The decisions regarding saving, technology adoption and labour market participation are similar in that they involve some sort of constrained optimization problem. That is, there is some budget constraint and some utility function, and people do the best they can to maximize utility while keeping within that budget. So if culture is going to influence economic activity, it has to influence those constrained optimization problems. And there are really only two options then. Either culture influences budget constraints, or it influences utility functions. This Book, Advanced Introduction to Cultural Economics, deals with the theoretical development of cultural economics as a subject, the application of economic analysis and econometrics to the field of culture, and with the economic aspects of cultural policy. Contributions by specialist reflect changes in the field of cultural economics over the last years. It applies economic analysis to all of the creative and performing arts and the heritage and cultural industries, whether publicly or privately funded. Additionally, the book explores the economic organisation of the cultural sector and the behaviour of producers, consumers, and governments within the cultural sector. Readers will find original researches dealing with the theoretical development of cultural economics as a subject, the application of economic analysis and econometrics to the field of culture, and the economic aspects of cultural policy.
"This book examines current theories of institutional change. The chapters highlight the limitations of these theories. Instead a model emerges of contemporary political economies developing in incremental but cumulatively transformative processes"--Provided by publisher.
