A Coincidence of Wants

A Coincidence of Wants

Author: Charles Lewis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-07-16

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1135705259

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This interdisciplinary study examines four major British and American novels in view of key concepts from the mainstream tradition of neoclassical economics. Studies of the novel widely address its connections to capitalism, yet literary critics and theorists rarely make reference to neoclassical perspectives, which have held a key position in the formal analysis of the marketplace for over a century. Lewis argues that this overlooked area of economic thought, with its emphasis on subjective value, individual agency, and utility maximization, points to a previously unrecognized and important coincidence of wants between economic and novelistic discourse. In each of the four readings, Lewis uses a single economic problem from neoclassical theory as a model for interpreting novelistic form and content as economic configurations. Topics include narrative deferral, detour, and return as a performance of capital formation and economic development in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe; the emergence of the creative, risk-taking entrepreneur in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; the representation of money in the romantic realization of trade in Herman Melville's Moby Dick; and a consumer utility theory of naturalist desire and indifference in Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Underscoring how neoclassical theory variously elaborates on and departs from other economic approaches and periods, the author also addresses the limitations of, and the possibilities of profitable exchange with, other critical frameworks for understanding literal and symbolic economies in narrative fiction more broadly.


A Coincidence of Wants

A Coincidence of Wants

Author: Charles R. Lewis

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 9780815336488

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A coincidence of wants, explains Lewis (Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri) is a technical economic term for when each of two parties happens to have what the other wants, so they can barter directly rather than use a medium of exchange. He uses it as a model for exploring the relationship between literary criticism and the mainstream of traditional neoclassical economic analysis. In particular he offers economic readings of Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Moby Dick, and Sister Carrie. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


The Improbability Principle

The Improbability Principle

Author: David J. Hand

Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2014-02-11

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0374711399

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In The Improbability Principle, the renowned statistician David J. Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they're commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month. But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of "miracle" is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lottery twice, or is destined to be hit by lightning three times and still survive. All we need, Hand argues, is a firm grounding in a powerful set of laws: the laws of inevitability, of truly large numbers, of selection, of the probability lever, and of near enough. Together, these constitute Hand's groundbreaking Improbability Principle. And together, they explain why we should not be so surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, or to come across the same unfamiliar word four times in one day. Hand wrestles with seemingly less explicable questions as well: what the Bible and Shakespeare have in common, why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and the same person) twice. Along the way, he teaches us how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives—including how to cash in at a casino and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective. An irresistible adventure into the laws behind "chance" moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it's in the world of business and finance or you're merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land.


Empires

Empires

Author: Nick Earls

Publisher: Random House Australia

Published: 2021-08-03

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1760898724

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Alaska, 2018, and Mike is a long way from home, nursing a wrecked knee and an unspoken grief, striking out into real estate and parenting his partner’s son. London, 1978, and Simon is an Australian fish out of water navigating adolescence during the Winter of Discontent, and drawn to an eccentric impresario next door. Washington, DC, 1928, and a retired US senator is interviewed about his time in Russia in 1916, and his mission to save a young heir to an empire. Vienna, 1809, and an Irish teenager on the run from the law takes refuge among composers as Napoleon besieges and shells the city. Hong Kong, 2019, and estranged brothers Mike and Simon reunite in midlife to face the secrets of the past, and reconnect in more ways than one. Empires rise and fall, human lives play out, encounters, collisions and connections occur more than we can ever know – and yet, the unexpected can still happen. Endlessly compelling and inventive, Empires is a masterful novel in five parts with boys and men at its heart. Spanning centuries and crossing continents, it explores the empires we build, the way we see ourselves, the narratives we construct and the interconnectedness of all things. This is Nick Earls at his finest.


The Divine Language of Coincidence

The Divine Language of Coincidence

Author: Sophie Demas

Publisher: Mascot Books

Published: 2021-03-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9781645432111

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Sophia Demas did not want to get married, have children, or write a book; the Universe, however, had other plans. In this penetrating memoir, Sophia examines the events in her life that at first seemed to be a series of coincidences, but upon further consideration were building blocks of the miraculous. The Divine Language of Coincidence chronicles the extraordinary events experienced by an ordinary woman, asserting that miracles are not only possible, but far more common than we may realize.


It's Money

It's Money

Author: Charles Moore

Publisher: charles

Published: 2020-11-01

Total Pages: 1311

ISBN-13:

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Because most people and their countries seek wealth and power, and because money and credit are the biggest single influence on how wealth and power rise and decline, if one does not seek knowledge of how money works, one cannot understand the biggest driver of politics within and between countries; hence one cannot understand how the world order works. If one doesn’t understand how the world order works, one can’t understand the post-pandemic debt tsunami that’s coming. I believe that the times ahead will be radically different from the times we have experienced so far in our lifetimes. It is indeed quite astonishing that money, ever-present in our lives, is so poorly understood; even by many economic experts themselves. This incomprehension stems from the deliberate efforts of the financial sector to “obscure its activities” in order to maintain its omnipotence. This book seeks to address this “crisis of ignorance” by providing an easily understood and comprehensive understanding of money in the hope of empowering people against finance’s grip over their lives and those of their society. The digital revolution post-pandemic, will lead to a radical departure from the traditional model of monetary exchange. The creation of a Digital Financial Market Infrastructure will underpin the unbundling and re-bundling of the functions of money within society. Although digital money itself is not new to modern economies, digital legal tender (DLT), which exists without any Ledger or Central Bank, will facilitate instantaneous peer-to-peer transfers of value in a way that today is impossible. The importance of digital connectedness, will often supersede the importance of macroeconomic links, and lead to the establishment of “Digital Financial Markets” linking the currency to membership of a particular financial market rather than to a specific country. Capitalism underpins wealth generation and hence the existence of a free digital financial market. This book seeks to transform Money into a digital currency, which supports a more equitable access to capital, and ensure its convertibility into a universal World Currency Unit as digital legal tender. Digital currencies without borders may also cause an upheaval of the international monetary system: countries that are socially or digitally integrated with their neighbours may face digital dollarization, and the prevalence of systemically important platforms could lead to the emergence of digital currency areas that transcend national borders. Digital legal tender, within a multiplicity of currencies, ensures that money as a public good, remains a relevant medium of exchange which achieves payment finality to all transactions. Additionally, the universal supranational-currency, the World Currency Unit is defined to support the global transfer of value between any two people on the planet today, without the need for any treaties, or financial service intermediaries. Universal access to capital which is readily convertible to globally trusted units of account combined with a censorship-resistant means of payment underpins global trade, will improve market access for holders of low per-unit value, producers, and consumers in developing and developed countries. The Vision is a Borderless Global Market, underpinning universal wealth creation, which never closes… This book defines the Universe of Discourse(domain) and hence creates a shared conceptual schema (or language) within which to communicate and deploy a Digital Currency, to achieve universal legal finality to all financial transactions.