This collection of essays offers an extensive critical review of the major contributions of key figures in contemporary heterodox economics, including comprehensive bibliographies of their writings and lists of vital secondary material.
Analysis of Latin America's economy focusing on development, covering the colonial roots of inequality, boom and bust cycles, labor markets, and fiscal and monetary policy. Latin America is richly endowed with natural resources, fertile land, and vibrant cultures. Yet the region remains much poorer than its neighbors to the north. Most Latin American countries have not achieved standards of living and stable institutions comparable to those found in developed countries, have experienced repeated boom-bust cycles, and remain heavily reliant on primary commodities. This book studies the historical roots of Latin America's contemporary economic and social development, focusing on poverty and income inequality dating back to colonial times. It addresses today's legacies of the market-friendly reforms that took hold in the 1980s and 1990s by examining successful stabilizations and homemade monetary and fiscal institutional reforms. It offers a detailed analysis of trade and financial liberalization, twenty–first century-growth, and the decline in poverty and income inequality. Finally, the book offers an overall analysis of inclusive growth policies for development—including gender issues and the informal sector—and the challenges that lie ahead for the region, with special attention to pressing demands by the vibrant and vocal middle class, youth unemployment, and indigenous populations.
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In this work the author analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. He shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values if political action is not taken. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, the author says, and may do so again. This original work reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.
Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction is the first systematic textbook in the philosophy of economics. It introduces the epistemological, metaphysical and ethical problems that arise in economics, and presents detailed discussions of the solutions that have been offered. Throughout, philosophical issues are illustrated by and analysed in the context of concrete cases drawn from contemporary economics, the history of economic ideas, and actual economic events. This demonstrates the relevance of philosophy of economics both for the science of economics and for the economy. This text will provide an excellent introduction to the philosophy of economics for students and interested general readers alike.
Ronald Coase is one of the most important economists of the twentieth century. Amongst other great achievements, Coase taught us why firms exist and how we can better understand how to solve environmental problems. He also made a profound contribution to our understanding of the provision of so-called "public goods" and helped join the often distinct intellectual fields of law and economics. Coase coined the phrase "blackboard economics" to describe an approach to economics that involved ignoring what happens in practice and, instead, led the profession to obsess with theory. He once said: 'If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn't go and look at horses. They'd sit in their studies and say to themselves, "what would I do if I were a horse?"'There is much that students, teachers, policymakers and regulators can learn from the economics of Ronald Coase, and he will, no doubt, provide a rich seam of material for decades to come. The authors of this short book have taken up the challenge. They apply Coase's ideas to a number of different areas of economics and, in doing so, provide a practical and very readable introduction to a number of topics that have direct relevance for regulation and for public policy.
'Ronald Coase has been one of the most influential economists of his generation. Although his work deals with foundation concepts of the discipline, his ideas have been subject to a variety of usage, often in conjunction with ideological baggage. In this remarkable study of the man and his work, Steven Medema presents a careful, judicious, and nonideological examination of Coase's ideas, challenging their misleading common interpretation and revealing their true revolutionary potential. 'Professor W. J. Samuels, Michigan State University 'Steven Medema's achievement is remarkable: with great fairness he introduces us to Coase's way of thinking, and with great clarity helps us to see the continuity in Coase's work. Medema has written an excellent book about one of the great economists of this century.' Professor T. Eggertsson, University of Iceland and Indiana University. This book presents a systematic analysis of the contributions to economics made by Ronald Coase, the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in economics. Throughout his career, Coase has brought his own particular approach to the economic analysis of the firm, pricing and costs, externalities, the economic role of government and economic method. This book analyses Coase's seminal contributions to economics, as well as the challenge that his work poses to conventional economic analysis.
Economics is a science that can contribute substantial powerful and fresh insights! This book collects essays by leading academics that evaluate the scholarly importance of contemporary economic ideas and concepts, thus providing valuable knowledge about the present state of economics and its progress. This compilation of short essays helps readers interested in economics to identify 21st century economic ideas that should be read and remembered. The authors state their personal opinion on what matters most in contemporary economics and reveal its fascinating and creative sides.
The spread of market-oriented reforms has been one of the major political and economic trends of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Governments have, to varying degrees, adopted policies that have led to deregulation: the liberalization of trade; the privatization of state entities; and low-rate, broad-base taxes. Yet some countries embraced these policies more than others. Johan Christensen examines one major contributor to this disparity: the entrenchment of U.S.-trained, neoclassical economists in political institutions the world over. While previous studies have highlighted the role of political parties and production regimes, Christensen uses comparative case studies of New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, and Denmark to show how the influence of economists affected the extent to which each nation adopted market-oriented tax policies. He finds that, in countries where economic experts held powerful positions, neoclassical economics broke through with greater force. Drawing on revealing interviews with 80 policy elites, he examines the specific ways in which economists shaped reforms, relying on an activist approach to policymaking and the perceived utility of their science to drive change.