The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought

The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought

Author: Robert L. Heilbroner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-01-26

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780521497145

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A deep and widespread crisis affects modern economic theory, a crisis that derives from the absence of a "vision"--a set of widely shared political and social preconceptions--on which all economics ultimately depends. This absence, in turn, reflects the collapse of the Keynesian view that provided such a foundation from 1940 through the early 1970s, comparable to earlier visions provided by Smith, Ricardo, Mill, and Marshall. The "unraveling" of Keynesianism has been followed by a division into discordant and ineffective camps whose common denominator seems to be their shared analytical refinement and lack of practical applicability. This provocative analysis attempts both to describe this state of affairs, and to suggest the direction in which economic thinking must move if it is to regain the relevance and remedial power it now pointedly lacks.


Outsourcing Economics

Outsourcing Economics

Author: William Milberg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-04-29

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1107355222

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Outsourcing Economics has a double meaning. First, it is a book about the economics of outsourcing. Second, it examines the way that economists have understood globalization as a pure market phenomenon, and as a result have 'outsourced' the explanation of world economic forces to other disciplines. Markets are embedded in a set of institutions - labor, government, corporate, civil society, and household - that mold the power asymmetries that influence the distribution of the gains from globalization. In this book, William Milberg and Deborah Winkler propose an institutional theory of trade and development starting with the growth of global value chains - international networks of production that have restructured the global economy and its governance over the past twenty-five years. They find that offshoring leads to greater economic insecurity in industrialized countries that lack institutions supporting workers. They also find that offshoring allows firms to reduce domestic investment and focus on finance and short-run stock movements.


Economics in the Twenty-First Century

Economics in the Twenty-First Century

Author: Robert Chernomas

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2016-06-16

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1442620188

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Economics has always been nicknamed the “dismal science,” but today the field seems a little more dismal than usual as governments, social movements, and even students complain that the discipline is failing to make sense of the major economic problems of the day. In Economics in the Twenty-First Century, Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson demonstrate how today’s top young economists continue to lead the field in the wrong direction. The recent winners of the John Bates Clark medal, economics’s “baby Nobel,” have won that award for studying important issues such as economic development, income inequality, crime, and health. Examining their research, Chernomas and Hudson show that this work focuses on individual choice, ignores the systematic role of power in the economic system, and leads to solutions that are of limited effectiveness at best and harmful at worst. An accessible summary of the latest debates in economics, Economics in the Twenty-First Century takes on what is missing from mainstream economics, why it matters, and how the discipline can better address the key concerns of our era.


The Deficit Myth

The Deficit Myth

Author: Stephanie Kelton

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1541736206

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A New York Times Bestseller The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary theory -- the freshest and most important idea about economics in decades -- delivers a radically different, bold, new understanding for how to build a just and prosperous society. Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis. MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.


Contemporary Economic Theory

Contemporary Economic Theory

Author: Andriana Vlachou

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-07-27

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1349277142

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Leading international scholars challenge neoliberalism on its assumptions, way of reasoning and empirical evidence. In particular, they discuss critically, from the standpoint of radical perspectives, the issues of limiting the state and privatization, inflation and unemployment, and the possibility of a socialist society. They also discuss the current project for the monetary and economic union (EMU) of Europe, considered as an application of neoliberalism. They assess and question the internal market, the common currency and central bank independence; and investigate alternatives to the EMU project and the marketization agenda.


The Purpose of Life in Economics

The Purpose of Life in Economics

Author: Lall Ramrattan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-10-19

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 3031170652

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This book is a compilation of economic views on the purpose of life. It follows a unique approach, starting with propositions from diverse fields that act as governing laws of the purpose of life in economics, then guiding the reader through the physical, philosophical, and psychological views of the purpose of life, as economics and economic theories can find their roots in all these areas. The book concludes with the purpose of life presented through economic doctrines (from the pre-classical, to classical, to neo-classical schools of economic thought), through the lens of economic development, and from the perspective of several religious doctrines.


The Making of Economics: The radical assault

The Making of Economics: The radical assault

Author: E. Ray Canterbery

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9812837744

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This book is the first in the field to cover exclusively the modern radical economists. Science has always had its radicals; economics is unexceptional in this regard. The book begins with the persona of Karl Marx and his soulmate Friedrich Engels, the most radical of all, continuing with the central ideas of Marx, including his theory of capitalism and an understanding of why, in Marx's view, capitalism is doomed. Thereafter, Thorstein Veblen fills the role as the USA radical who founded the only uniquely American school of economics - the institutionalist school. This is followed by Joseph Schumpeter and his theory of capitalist motion. According to Schumpeter, the demise of capitalism is self-inflicted through creative destruction. The bestselling authors, Robert Heilbroner and John Kenneth Galbraith, straddle both the insitutionalist and Post Keynesian schools. The new left radicals emanated from Galbraith's Harvard University and are still around today. The heyday of the new right came during the administration of Ronald Reagan and was led by the neo-Austrians. Finally, the book concludes by analyzing the Post Keynesians' claim to be the legitimate heirs to Keynesianism. Thus far, they fall into the radical camp.This book is also available as a set with Volume I: The Foundation and Volume II: The Modern Superstructure.


Economics and the Left

Economics and the Left

Author: C.J. Polychroniou

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2022-03-08

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1839763817

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Twenty-four economists discuss how they promote egalitarianism, democracy and ecological sanity through research, activism, and policy engagement Economics and the Left presents interviews with twenty-four leading progressive economists. All of these practitioners of the “dismal science” are dedicated to both interpreting the world and changing it for the better. The result is a combustible brew of ideas and reflections on major historical events, including the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy. Interviewed are: Michael Ash, Nelson Henrique Barbosa Filho, James K. Boyce, Ha-Joon Chang, Jane D’Arista, Diane Elson, Gerald Epstein, Nancy Folbre, James K. Galbraith, Teresa Ghilarducci, Jayati Ghosh, Ilene Grabel, Costas Lapavitsas, Zhongjin Li, William Milberg, Léonce Ndikumana, Ozlem Onaran, Robert Pollin, Malcolm Sawyer, Juliet Schor, Anwar Shaikh, William Spriggs, Fiona Tregenna and Thomas Weisskopf.