Economic history Books

Book SynopsisAn acerbic graphic takedown of capitalism. In Hyper-Capitalism, cartoonist Larry Gonick and psychologist Tim Kasser offer a vivid and an accessible new way to understand how global, privatising, market-worshipping hyper-capitalism is threatening human wellbeing, social justice, and the planet. Drawing from contemporary research, they describe and illustrate concepts (such as corporate power, free trade, privatisation, and deregulation) that are critical for understanding the world we live in, and movements (such as voluntary simplicity, sharing, alternatives to GDP, and protests) that have developed in response to the system. Gonick and Kasser’s pointed and profound cartoon narratives provide a deep exploration of the global economy and the movements seeking to change it, all rendered in clear, graphic — and sometimes hilarious — terms. In the process, they point the way to a healthier future for all of us.Trade Review‘A truly unique, page-turning graphical account … Gonick and Kasser pull off the monumental feat of rendering an otherwise dry and complex social-economic topic as clear, entertaining, informative, and even hilarious in spots. Hyper-Capitalism is a remarkable, essential and hopeful book for our times. To embrace and act upon its message is to live better.’ -- Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents’ Bankers and It Takes a Pillage‘Like fish who don’t know they live in polluted water (because it’s everywhere), many people don’t know they live in economically, socially, and politically polluted societies. Hyper-Capitalism, in lucid prose and delightful graphics, pulls back the curtain with crystal clarity. I can’t think of a better book for young people to read as they chart their futures.’ -- Barry Schwartz, author of The Costs of Living, The Paradox of Choice, and Why We Work‘This book explains much about how the world works, and why it increasingly doesn’t. Read it soon, before we lose any more ice caps.’ -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy‘A clear and concise description of how the market economy functions, why it encourages the worst aspects of human nature, and how we can cope in an age of excess.’ -- John Gowdy, Professor of Economics and Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute‘A great introduction to the current state of the economy and what can be done about it, and a solid addition for Gonick’s many fans.’ * Library Journal *‘A timely counter to those who celebrate predatory economics as the best of all possible financial worlds.’ * Kirkus Reviews *Praise for Larry Gonick ‘Larry Gonick should get an Oscar for humour and a Pulitzer for history.’ -- Richard Saul Wurman, author and creator of the TED conference‘Hyper-Capitalism is very funny.’ -- Erin Britton * Nudge Books *

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Book SynopsisThis Palgrave Pivot revisits the topic of how British colonialism moulded work and life in India and what kind of legacy it left behind. Did British rule lead to India’s impoverishment, economic disruption and famine? Under British rule, evidence suggests there were beneficial improvements, with an eventual rise in life expectancy and an increase in wealth for some sectors of the population and economy, notably for much business and industry. Yet many poor people suffered badly, with agricultural stagnation and an underfunded government who were too small to effect general improvements. In this book Roy explains the paradoxical combination of wealth and poverty, looking at both sides of nineteenth century capitalism. Between 1850 and 1930, India was engaged in a globalization process not unlike the one it has seen since the 1990s. The difference between these two times is that much of the region was under British colonial rule during the first episode, while it was an independent nation state during the second. Roy's narrative has a contemporary relevance for emerging economies, where again globalization has unleashed extraordinary levels of capitalistic energy while leaving many livelihoods poor, stagnant, and discontented. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The making of British India.- Chapter 3: The business of the cities.- Chapter 4: Unyielding land.- Chapter 5: A poor state.- Chapter 6: End of famine.- Chapter 7: A different story? The princely states.- Chapter 8: Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that inequality is not just about numbers, but is also about lived, historical experience. It supplements economic research and offers a comprehensive stocktaking of existing thinking on global inequality and its historical development. The book is interdisciplinary, drawing upon regional and national perspectives from around the world while seeking to capture the multidimensionality and multi-causality of global inequalities. Grappling with what economics offers – as well as its blind spots – the study focuses on some of today’s most relevant and pressing themes: discrimination and human rights, defences and critiques of inequality in history, decolonization, international organizations, gender theory, the history of quantification of inequality and the history of economic thought. The historical case studies featured respond to the need for wider historical research and to calls to examine global inequality in a more holistic manner.The Introduction 'Chapter 1 Histories of Global Inequality: Introduction' is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com. Trade Review“Thirteen papers offer a historical approach to global inequalities that supplements the existing economic research literature, focusing on themes such as decolonization, international organizations, gender theory, discrimination and human rights, the history of measurement of inequality, and the history of economic thought.” (Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 59 (2), June, 2021)Table of ContentsChapter 1 Histories of Global Inequality: Introduction, Christian Olaf Christiansen & Steven L. B. Jensen.- Inequality in the History of Economic and Political Thought.- Chapter 2 Historicizing Piketty: The Fall and Rise of Inequality Economics, Eli Cook.- Chapter 3 The Demise of the Radical Critique of Economic Inequality in Western Political Thought, Michael J. Thompson.- Chapter 4 Products before People - How Inequality was Sidelined by Gross National Product, Philipp Lepenies.- Chapter 5 Inequality by Numbers: The Making of a Global Political Issue, Pedro Ramos Pinto.- Inequality, Discrimination and Human Rights.- Chapter 6 Inequality and Post-war International Organisation: Discrimination, the World Social Situation and the United Nations, 1948-1957, Steven L. B. Jensen.- Chapter 7: “A pragmatic compromise between the ideal and the realistic”: Debates over human rights, global distributive justice and minimum core obligations in the 1980s, Julia Dehm.- Chapter 8 Inequality in Global Disability Policies since the 1970s, Paul van Trigt.- Chapter 9 Protection and Abuse: The Conundrum of Global Gender Inequality, Sally L. Kitch.- Inequality in an Age of Global Capitalism.- Chapter 10 Brewing Inequalities: Kenya’s Smallholder Tea Farmers and the Developmentalist State in the Late-Colonial and Early-Independence Era, Muey Saeteurn.- Chapter 11 Challenging Global Inequality in Streets and Supermarkets: Fair trade Activism since the 1960s, Peter van Dam.- Chapter 12 Partnerships Against Global Poverty: When ’Inclusive Capitalism’ Entered the United Nations, Christian Olaf Christiansen.- Chapter 13 Third World Inc.: Notes from the Frontiers of Global Capital, Ravinder Kaur.-

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Book SynopsisStandard histories of European integration emphasize the immediate aftermath of World War II as the moment when the seeds of the European Union were first sown. However, the interwar years witnessed a flurry of concern with the reconstruction of the world order, generating arguments that cut across the different social sciences, then plunged in a period of disciplinary soul-searching and feverish activism. Economics was no exception: several of the most prominent interwar economists, such as F. A. Hayek, Jan Tinbergen, Lionel Robbins, François Perroux, J. M. Keynes and Robert Triffin, contributed directly to larger public discussions on peace, order and stability. This edited volume combines these different strands of historical narrative into a unified framework, showing how political economy was integral to the interwar literature on international relations and, conversely, how economists were eager to incorporate international politics into their own concerns. The book brings together a group of scholars with varied disciplinary backgrounds, whose combined perspectives allow us to explore three analytical layers. The first part studies how different forms of economic knowledge, from economic programming to international finance, were used in the quest for a stable European order. The second part focuses on the existence of conflicting expectations about the role of social scientific knowledge, either as a source of technical solutions or as an input for enlightened public discussion. The third part illustrates how certain ideas and beliefs found concrete expression in specific institutional settings, which amplified their political leverage. The three parts are enclosed by an introductory essay, laying out the broad topics explored in the volume, and a substantial postscript tying all the historical threads together.Trade Review“This book brings interesting perspectives on the interwar period, showing also the link with the process of European integration in the postwar period.” (Ivo Maes and Robert Triffin Chair, History of Political Economy, Vol. 55 (2), April, 2023)Table of Contents Introduction Eucken’s Competition with Keynes: Beyond the Ordoliberal Allergy to the Keynesian Medicine Third-Way Perspectives on Order in Interwar France: Personalism and the Political Economy of François Perroux Corporatism and Planning in Monnet’s Idea of Europe The Construction of an International Order in the Work of Jan Tinbergen At the Origins of European Monetary Cooperation: Triffin, Bretton Woods, and the European Payments Union Technocracy, Corporatism, and the Development of 'Economic Parliaments' in Interwar Europe Pluralism, Tripartism and the Foundation of the International Labour Organization Pluralism and Political Economy in Interwar Britain: G.D.H. Cole on Economic Planning Ordoliberalism and the Rethinking of Liberal Rationality Classical Liberalism, Non-Interventionism and the Origins of European Integration: Luigi Einaudi, Friedrich A. von Hayek, Wilhelm Röpke Staving off the Protectionist Slide: Snowden and the Struggle to Keep Britain Open The Formation of Research Institutes on Business Cycles in Europe in the Interwar Period: The ‘Kiel School’ and (In)voluntary Internationalization Divided by an Uncommon Language? The Oxford Institute of Statistics and British Academia (1935-1944) The Intellectual Origins of European Integration

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Book SynopsisThis book is a critical interpretation of a seminal and protracted debate in comparative global economic history. Since its emergence, in now classic publications in economic history between 1997-2000, debate on the divergent economic development that has marked the long-term economic growth of China and Western Europe has generated a vast collection of books and articles, conferences, networks, and new journals as well as intense interest from the media and educated public. O’Brien provides an historiographical survey and critique of Western views on the long-run economic development of the Imperial Economy of China – a field of commentary that stretches back to the Enlightenment. The book’s structure and core argument is concentrated upon an elaboration of, and critical engagement with, the major themes of recent academic debate on the “Great Divergence” and it will be of enormous interest to academics and students of economic history, political economy, the economics of growth and development, state formation, statistical measurements, environmental history, and the histories of science and globalization.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Historiographical Context and Bibliographical Guide.- Chapter 2: Statistical Bases for a Chronology of Economic Divergence Between Imperial China and Western Europe, 1636-1839.- Chapter 3: Environments and Natural Resources.- Chapter 4: The Ming and Qing Imperial States and their Agrarian Economies.- Chapter 5: Sino-Centred Reciprocal Comparisons of Europe’s and China’s Economic Growth 1650-1850.- Chapter 6: Cosmographies for the Discovery, Development and Diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge in Europe and China.- Chapter 7: Debatable Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisDieses Buch erzählt die Geschichte der Eurokrise aus der Perspektive des damaligen Vize-Präsidenten der Europäischen Kommission. Olli Rehn war als EU-Kommissar für Wirtschaft und Währung einer der wichtigsten Entscheidungsträger zur Zeit der Währungskrise und gibt einen offenen und ungeschönten Einblick in Ereignisse und Entscheidungen in Brüssel, Frankfurt und den EU-Mitgliedsländern sowie in entscheidende Meetings. Seine Analyse reicht vom Start und den ersten Reaktionen auf die Krise 2009-2012 über die Wirkung der Maßnahmen 2013-2014 und schließt mit den zukünftigen Lehren aus der Krise und dem Reformprogramm der Eurozone in 2020. Dieses unterhaltsam und spannend geschriebene Buch richtet sich an Politikerinnen und Politiker, Mitarbeitende und Kommentatoren der Eurozone sowie Studierende, aber auch an alle, die verstehen möchten, wie der Euro tatsächlich gerettet wurde. Table of ContentsDie Ausgangslage.- Bewältigung der Krise.- Die Wende zum Besseren.- Was wir aus der Krise lernen können.

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Book SynopsisThis book is the culmination of and a collection of distinguished scholar Lawrence Officer’s principal research over 50 years of scholarly activity. The collection consists primarily of three topics on which the author has spent the major part of his research: purchasing power parity, standard of living, and monetary standards. There is also a unique chapter on economics and economic history in science fiction. This volume is ideal for academics, graduate and undergraduate students, and practitioners.Trade Review“Throughout the book, Officer is a happy warrior whose enthusiasm for history and economics is infectious. … it should be read by anybody interested in PPP or in U.S and British monetary history. Most certainly, it should be read by those who use the long-run data series he creates. Outside of these areas it can be read with pleasure by those of us who enjoy seeing a master craftsman at work.” (John Devereux, EH Net, eh.net, July, 2023)Table of ContentsPart 1: Purchasing Power Parity: Origin and Use.- Chapter 1: Salamancans and Gerard Malynes.- Chapter 2: Gustav Cassel.- Chapter 3: Purchasing Power Parity in Economic History.- Chapter 4: Afterword to Part I.- Part 2: Purchasing Power Parity: Empirical Studies.- Chapter 5: Absolute and Relative Purchasing Power Parity.- Chapter 6: Law of One Price.- Chapter 7: National Price Level.- Chapter 8: Afterword to Part II.- Part 3: Standard of Living.- Chapter 9: Value of Consumer Bundle.- Chapter 10: Consumer Price Index.- Chapter 11: Compensation of Manufacturing Workers.- Chapter 12: Afterword to Part III.- Part 4: Fixed-Rate Monetary Standards.- Chapter 13: Metallic Standards.- Chapter 14: Classical Gold Standard.- Chapter 15: Bretton Woods System.- Chapter 16: Afterword to Part IV.- Part 5: Anglo-American Monetary Standards.- Chapter 17: American Monetary Standard.- Chapter 18: British Monetary Standard.- Chapter 19: Afterword to Part V.- Part 6: Monetary-Standard Behavior.- Chapter 20: Bullionist Periods.- Chapter 21: Dollar-Sterling Exchange Market.- Chapter 22: U.S. Specie Standard.- Chapter 23: Afterword to Part VI.- Part 7: Economics in Alternative Scenarios.- Chapter 24: Economics and Economic History in Science Fiction.

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Book SynopsisChapter 1. Introduction: The Main Political Economy Features of the Weimar Republic.- Chapter 2. The Inflation of the Early Years of the Weimar Republic.- Chapter 3. The Inertial Inflation of the Early Twenties.- Chapter 4. Was There a Sudden Stop at the Root of German Hyperinflation?.- Chapter 5. The End of Inflation.- Chapter 6. Foreign Capital Inflows and Economic Stagnation in Weimar Germany.- Chapter 7. The Crisis of 1931 and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic.- Chapter 8. Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisChapter 1.  Introduction.- Chapter 2.  The Earliest Americans.- Chapter 3.  The Development of European Colonies.- Chapter 4.  The Revolution.- Chapter 5.  Focus on Economists:  Adam Smith, Ricardo, von Thünen, and Dupuit.- Chapter 6.  The Third Founding Document and the Land Deals That Created the United States.- Chapter 7.  The Nation Under the Constitution: Creation of a Financial System.- Chapter 8.  Land Policy and Land Acquisition.- Chapter 9.  Overview of U.S. Economic Growth, 1790 – 1860.- Chapter 10.  The Transportation and Communication Revolution, Business Cycles, and Urbanization.- Chapter 11.  Focus on an Economist:  Karl Marx.- Chapter 12.  Slavery and the Path to War.- Chapter 13.  The Civil War.- Chapter 14.  Post Civil War America.- Chapter 15.  The American Economy, 1865-1914.- Chapter 16.  Nobel Prize for Economic Historians.- Chapter 17.  The Marginal Revolution in the United States.- Chapter 18.  The U.S. at the End of the Nineteenth Century.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe economy of Antwerp in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had a very special dynamism. It underwent the processes of rise, expansion, maturity and decadence with peculiar intensity. It gave an impressive stimulus to the commercial currents, maritime and contin­ ental, which converged on the town. It inspired the appearance and growth of new institutions and intensified changes in the social and economic structure. It was the heart of commerce, industry and agricul­ ture for a large area and particularly of Brabant, Flanders and Zeeland. Moreover Antwerp's economy was an important, and sometimes even the principal, artery of the whole European economy. Antwerp's dynamism was not purely irrational : numerous factors, which a detailed analysis allowed us to ascertain, forced its economic development. The first was le recitatif du cycle to use Braudel's termino­ logy t. This was however no mere histoire evenementielle. We closely followed the rhythm and even crises of Antwerp's economy, but all these quantitative and qualitative data allowed a comprehensive insight into the interdecennial waves. This permitted a reasonably distant view of the data which made it more possible to observe a logical dynamic. Thus it was not in the first place our purpose to present in this first part a purely documentary report of historical facts. We were rather concerned with the analysis of the factors which determined or influenced the dynamics of the Antwerp market and the economy of the Low Countries.Table of ContentsI. The interdecennial fluctuations of the Antwerp economy and their impact on Brabant and Flanders (1356–1619).- I: The real significance of the dominance of Flanders and the difficulties of monetary recovery (1356–1405).- II: The last flowering of the medieval economy (1406–1437).- III: The failure of the medieval economy and the slow emergence of modern conditions (1438–1477).- IV: Political chaos (1477–1492).- V: Antwerp’s emergence as the metropolis of Western Europe (c. 1493–1520).- VI: The decisive years (1521–c. 1550).- VII: The slowing down of commercial expansion offset by industrial growth (c. 1551–1572).- VIII: Crisis in the Netherlands and the final phase of Antwerp’s decline (1572–1587).- Epilogue: The slow but courageous recovery (1588–1619).- II. Secular trends and structural changes.- I: Agricultural trends in Brabant.- II: Trends in the trade of the Southern Netherlands and Europe.- III: Trends in financial development.- IV: Tendencies in industrial and social structure.- V: Typology of the crises and secular expansion.- VI: The significance of the price trends.- Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisPreface.- List of Tables.- List of Figures.- 1. Introduction: Research Topics and Analytical Framework.- Part 1: Structure of Interlocking Directorates of Banks.-2. Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises in the Period of Establishment of the Monopolistic Capitalism.- 3. Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises during the Inflation Period after World War ?.- 4. Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises during National Socialism.- 5 Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises in the Postwar Period be- fore the Enactment of the 1965 Corporations Law.- 6. Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises in the Postwar Period after the Enactment of the 1965 Corporations Law.- 7. Interlocking Directorates of Bank's Supervisory Board and Managing Board Members in Other Enterprises in the Latter Half of the 2010s.- Part 2: Personnel Networks between Enterprises through Interlocking Directorates.- 8. Bank's Personnel Networks through Interlocking   Directorates of members of the Supervisory Board on such Top Management Organs of Other Enterprises before World War ?: Analysis of the Period of National Socialism.- 9. Bank's Personnel Networks through Interlocking Directorates of the members of the Supervisory Board on such Top Management Organs of Other Enterprises after World War ?: Analysis of Period after the Enactment of the 1965 Corporations Law.- 10. Bank's Personnel Networks through Interlocking Directorates of the members of the Supervisory Board on such Top Management Organs of Other Enterprises in the Latter Half of the 2010s: Cases of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.- Part 3: Functions of Interlocking Directorates between Enterprises.- 11. Functions of Interlocking Directorate before World War II: Roles of Direct Interlocking Directorate in Personnel Issues of Managing Board Members of Industrial Enterprises and Supervisory Board Members of Banks.- 12. Functions of Interlocking Directorate after World War ?: Roles of Direct Interlocking Directorate in Personnel Issues of Top Management Organs and Coordination between Enterprises.- Part 4: Structures and Functions of Personnel Connection among Enterprises through Advisory Council System of Bank.- 13. Personnel Connection among Enterprises through Advisory Council System of Bank before World War ?.- 14. Activities of Banks' Advisory Councils and Roles of Personnel Connections Based on Such Organizations before World War II.- 15. Personnel Connection among Enterprises through Advisory Council System of Bank after World War ?.- 16. Activities of Banks' Advisory Councils and Roles of Personnel Connections Based on Such Organizations after World War ?.- 17. Conclusion: Historical Changes in Personnel Connections and IndustryBank Relationships in Germany.- Archival sources.-Index.

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