The rapid collapse of socialism has raised new economic policy questions and revived old theoretical issues. In this book, Joseph Stiglitz explains how the neoclassical, or Walrasian model (the formal articulation of Adam Smith's invisible hand), which has dominated economic thought over the past half century, may have wrongly encouraged the belief that market socialism could work. Stiglitz proposes an alternative model, based on the economics of information, that provides greater theoretical insight into the workings of a market economy and clearer guidance for the setting of policy in transitional economies. Stiglitz sees the critical failing in the standard neoclassical model underlying market socialism to be its assumptions concerning information, particularly its failure to consider the problems that arise from lack of perfect information and from the costs of acquiring information. He also identifies problems arising from its assumptions concerning completeness of markets, competitiveness of markets, and the absence of innovation. Stiglitz argues that not only did the existing paradigm fail to provide much guidance on the vital question of the choice of economic systems, the advice it did provide was often misleading.
From one of our most gifted writers and thinkers about death and the meaning of living comes a collection of writings about what comes next. Thomas Lynch, funeral director, poet, and author of the National Book Award finalist The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade, has an uncanny knack for writing about death in ways that are never morbid, always thoughtful, often humorous, and quite moving. From his account of riding in the hearse at the funeral of poet laureate Seamus Heaney, to his recounting of the funeral for a young child in the 1800s, to his compelling essay about his own mortality, Lynch always finds ways to make sense of senseless things, as he ponders what will come next.
This book is the first to clarify the essential meaning and serious impact of globalization at the most abstract level from the point of view of Polanyi's three socioeconomic principles of exchange, reciprocity and redistribution. It also provides a theoretically coherent explanation of the evolution of the market and capitalist economies with respect to the advancement of commodification through Marx's internalization of the market into the community and state. Globalization is the long-term tendency of the market to extensively expand and deepen, and of the community and state to contract and become shallower. The ultimate goal of globalization is free investment capitalism for all people – not only capitalists and speculators, but workers, students, and housewives as well. The book also examines Hayek's criticism of a centrally planned economy and Lange's proposal of market socialism in the “Socialist Calculation” debate, which has been ongoing since the 1920s, and acknowledges Hayek's vision of a distributed market with local and tacit knowledge to explain why socialism is infeasible and capitalism is robust. The outcomes of globalization are disastrous in socioeconomic, cultural and ecological realms. As such, it argues that in the twenty-first century, a post-capitalist, cooperative market economy mediated by new forms of money as communication media must be achieved. These new media will include community currencies and local exchange trading systems (LETS) that can maintain the merits of money and the market and can overcome the defects of free investment capitalism. Lastly, this English version of the book includes a postscript explaining the significance and prospects of the socioeconomic changes around the globe since the publication of Japanese version in 2011.
Whither Thou Goest captures the reader within its pages of history, danger, conspiracy, pilgrimage, theology, scenery, dialogue, and inspiration. – Dr. Christopher Moody, Assistant Professor of Systemic Theology, Instructional Mentor, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary Whither Thou Goest, Book 2 of the Arimathea Series, is an exciting Biblical and historically accurate fiction which continues the birth and creation of Christianity and its spread beyond Judea. Travelers in England and those studying historical geography will recognize Glastonbury Tor (cover art) rising above Avalon’s forests as it has for thousands of years. The Tor holds keys to the past, the present, and the future.... Jews of Israel begin their persecutions of Christ-followers in Judea. A vastly wealthy Pharisee, Joseph of Arimathea, turns from his homeland and his commercial empire to answer Christ’s call to evangelism and takes the Messiah’s cup, the Holy Grail, to the northern isle of Britannia. He abandons a life of privilege and wealth to establish the first Christ-follower church in Britannia on Glastonbury Tor, spreading the good news of the resurrected Jesus and salvation. Followed by the once crippled Ruben, who was healed by the blood of Jesus on the road to Calvary, they encounter suspicion and resistance from the Briton Tribes. Discovering new allies in an Arch Druid and Celtic prophetess, they must fight for their very lives against hostile tribesmen who oppose them. Their fate hangs in the balance. Added to these dangers, could a Forest Demon with shining swords, who haunts the Ancient Wood surrounding Avalon, become their worst enemy?
Analyses various aspects of economic cooperation among 18 Pacific-Rim countries, members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Covers trends in the 1990s and gives projections to 2020.
Penned by leading historians, the specially-commissioned essays of Whither the Early Republic represent the most stimulating and innovative work being done on imperialism, environmental history, slavery, economic history, politics, and culture in the early Republic. The past fifteen years have seen a dramatic expansion in the scope of scholarship on the history of the early American republic. Whither the Early Republic consists of innovative essays on all aspects of the culture and society of this period, including Indians and empire, the economy and the environment, slavery and culture, and gender and urban life. Penned by leading historians, the essays are arranged thematically to reflect areas of change and growth in the field. Throughout the book, preeminent scholars act as guides for students to their areas of expertise. Contributors include Pulitzer Prize-winner Alan Taylor, Bancroft Prize-winner James Brooks, Christopher Clark, Ted Steinberg, Walter Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, David Waldstreicher, and more. These essays, all originally commissioned to appear in a special issue of the Journal of the Early Republic, explore a diverse array of subjects: the struggles for control of North America; the economic culture of the early Republic; the interactions of humans with plants, climate, animals, and germs; the commodification of people; and the complex intersections of politics and culture. Whither the Early Republic offers a wealth of tools for introducing a new generation of historians to the nature of the field and also to the wide array of possibilities that lie in the future for scholars of this fascinating period.
Climate change in the Arctic Ocean has stirred a remarkable surge of interest and concern. Study after study has revealed the astonishing speed of physical, chemical, ecological, and economic change throughout the expanse of the Arctic. What is more, the consequences of the changing Arctic are not restricted to the Arctic itself, but affect everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, ranging as they do from extreme weather to resource availability and food security, with implications for politics, economics, and sociology. The challenge is to comprehend the full extent and variety of these consequences, and meeting this challenge will demand a multi- and transdisciplinary understanding. Only by this means can we hope to map out a knowledge-based ecosystem and move toward knowledge-based resource management—the essential precondition for any sustainable future. In this book, leading international experts, from many felds of science and across the entire pan-Arctic region, give their specifc takes on where the Arctic Ocean is heading. All have taken care in their writing not to exclude non-experts, in the conviction that multi- and transdisciplinarity can only be achieved when communication and outreach are not tribal in nature. The recurrent guiding theme throughout these pages is “Whith -er the Arctic Ocean?” Taken in concert, the essays synthesize the current state of scientifc knowledge to project how climate change may impact on the Arctic Ocean and the continents around it. How can and how should we prepare for the imminent future that is already lapping at the threshold of the commons? What readers will hopefully take from this multi- and transdisciplinary endeavor is not the individual perspective of each contribution, but the picture that emerges across the entire suite of essays. As we move into a near future that will encompass both the probable and surprises, this book attempts to conjure the multi-dimensional space in which a sustainable future must be brought into being.