Economic theory and philosophy Books

Book SynopsisThis book presents a radically different argument for what has caused, and likely will continue to cause, the collapse of emerging market economies. Pettis combines the insights of economic history, economic theory, and finance theory into a comprehensive model for understanding sovereign liability management and the causes of financial crises. He examines recent financial crises in emerging market countries along with the history of international lending since the 1820s to argue that the process of international lending is driven primarily by external events and not by local politics and/or economic policies. He draws out the corporate finance implications of this approach to argue that most of the current analyses of the recent financial crises suffered by Latin America, Asia, and Russia have largely missed the point. He then develops a sovereign finance model, analogous to corporate finance, to understand the capital structure needs of emerging market countries. Using this model, heTrade ReviewA source of new and enlightening perspectives for a wide range of the subjects of financial analysis and policy making for emerging financial markets. * The Financial Regulator *A cogent and compelling essay on the dynamics of emerging market crises ... Pettis's book offers invaluable insights into the dynamics of emerging market crises and provides important lessons for emerging market policy makers, investors, rating agencies, international institutions and anyone interested in emerging market finance. Moreover he has succeeded in delivering a punchy and highly readable volume * The Business Economist *The Volatility Machine provides a welcome departure from the sterile academic debate on the subject of financial crisis. Economists may quibble ... but would be wise not to ignore [Pettis's] insights into how they can exacerbate external risks. * Institutional Investor *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. The Structure of Financial Crises 1: Capital Structure and Policy Collapse: The Financial Crisis of the Late 1990s 2: Market Structure Issues Part II. Global Liquidity and Capital Flows 3: Why Does Ric-Country Capital Flow to Poor Countries? 4: 180 Years of Liquidity Expansion and International Lending 5: The Contraction of International Lending Part III. The Corporate Finance of Crises 6: The Theory of Capital Structure and Financial Risk 7: The Capital Structure Trap 8: Toward a Theory of Sovereign Capital Structure Management 9: Debt Restructurings within a Corporate Finance Framework Part IV. Conclusion 10: Conclusion: The New Financial Architecture Appendix: The Option Characteristics of Sovereign Debt Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis''Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.''In The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen sets out ''to discuss the place and value of the leisure class as an economic factor in modern life''. In so doing he produced a landmark study of affluent American society that exposes, with brilliant ruthlessness, the habits of production and waste that link invidious business tactics and barbaric social behaviour. Veblen''s analysis of the evolutionary process sees greed as the overriding motive in the modern economy; with an impartial gaze he examines the human cost paid when social institutions exploit the consumption of unessential goods for the sake of personal profit. Fashion, beauty, animals, sports, the home, the clergy, scholars - all are assessed for their true usefulness and found wanting. The targets of Veblen''s coruscating satire are as evident today as they were a century ago, and his book still has the power to shock Table of ContentsIntroductory ; Pecuniary Emulation ; Conspicuous Leisure ; Conspicuous Consumption ; The Pecuniary Standard of Living ; Pecuniary Canons of Taste ; Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture ; Industrial Exemption and Conservatism ; The Conservation of Archaic Traits ; Modern Survivals of Prowess ; The Belief in Luck ; Devout Observances ; Survivals of the Non-Invidious Interest ; The Higher Learning as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture

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Book SynopsisWritten during the winter of 1857-8, the Grundrisse was considered by Marx to be the first scientific elaboration of communist theory. A collection of seven notebooks on capital and money, it both develops the arguments outlined in the Communist Manifesto (1848) and explores the themes and theses that were to dominate his great later work Capital. Here, for the first time, Marx set out his own version of Hegel''s dialectics and developed his mature views on labour, surplus value and profit, offering many fresh insights into alienation, automation and the dangers of capitalist society. Yet while the theories in Grundrisse make it a vital precursor to Capital, it also provides invaluable descriptions of Marx''s wider-ranging philosophy, making it a unique insight into his beliefs and hopes for the foundation of a communist state.Table of ContentsIntroduction (Notebook M)1. Production in general2. General relation between production, distribution, exchange and consumption3. The method of political economy4. Means (forces) of production and relations of production, relations of production and relations of circulationThe Chapter on Money (Notebooks I and II, pp. 1-7)Darimon's theory of crisesGold export and crisesConvertibility and note circulationValue and priceTransformation of the commodity into exchange value; moneyContradictions in the money relation:(1) Contradiction between commodity as product and commodity as exchange value(2) Contradiction between purchase and sale(3) Contradiction between exchange for the sake of exchange and exchange for the sake of commodities(4) Contradiction between money as particular commodity and money as general commodity (The Economist and the Morning Star on money)Attempts to overcome the contradictions by the issue of time-chitsExchange value as mediation of private interestsExchange value (money) as social bondSocial relations which create an undeveloped system of exchangeThe product becomes a commodity; the commodity becomes exchange value; the exchange value of the commodity becomes moneyMoney as measureMoney as objectification of general labour time (Incidental remark on gold and silver)Distinction between particular labor time and general labour timeDistinction between planned distribution of labour time and measurement of exchange values by labour time (Strabo on money among the Albanians)The precious metals as subjects of the money relation:(a) Gold and silver in relation to the other metals(b) Fluctuations in the value-relations between the different metals(c) and (d) (headings only): Sources of gold and silver; money as coinCirculation of money and opposite circulation of commoditiesGeneral concept of circulation:(a) Circulation circulates exchange values in the form of prices (Distinction between real money and accounting money)(b) Money as the medium of exchange (What determines the quantity of money required for circulation) (Comment on (a))Commodity circulation requires appropriation through alienationCirculation as an endlessly repeated processThe price as external to and independent of the commodity: Creation of general medium of exchange; exchange as a special businessDouble motion of circulation: C-M; M-C, and M-C; C-MThree contradictory functions of money:(1) Money as general material of contracts, as measuring unit of exchange values(2) Money as medium of exchange and realizer of prices(Money, as representative of price, allows commodities to be exchanged at equivalent prices)(An example of confusion between the contradictory functions of money)(Money as particular commodity and money as general commodity)(3) Money as money: as material representative of wealth (accumulation of money)(Dissolution of ancient communities through money)(Money, unlike coin, has a universal character)(Money in its third function is the negation #negative unity# of its character as medium of circulation and measure)(Money in its metallic being; accumulation of gold and silver)(Headings on money, to be elaborated later)The Chapter on Capital (Notebooks II pp. 8-28, III, IV, V, VI and VII)The Chapter on Money as Capital:Difficulty in grasping money in its fully developed character as moneySimple exchange: relations between the exchangers (Critique of socialists and harmonizers: Bastiat, Proudhon)Section One: The Production Process of CapitalNothing is expressed when capital is characterized merely as a sum of valuesLanded property and capitalCapital comes from circulation; its content is exchange value; merchant capital, money capital, and money interestCirculation presupposes another process; motion between presupposed extremesTransition from circulation to capitalist production "Capital is accumulated labour (etc.)""Capital is a sum of values used for the production of values"Circulation, and exchange value deriving from circulation, the presupposition of capitalExchange value emerging from circulation, a presupposition of ciruclation, preserving and multiplying itself in it by means of labourProduct and capital. Value and capital. ProudhonCapital and labour. Exchange value and use value for exchange valueMoney and its use value (labour) in this relation capital: Self-multiplication of value is its only movementCapital, as regards substance, objectified labour. Its antithesis, living, productive labourProductive labour and labour as performance of a serviceProductive and unproductive labour. A. Smith etc.The two different processes in the exchange of capital with labourCapital and modern landed propertyThe marketExchange between capital and labour. Piecework wagesValue of labour powerShare of the wage labourer in general wealth determined only quantitativelyMoney is the worker's equivalent; he thus confronts capital as an equalBut the aim of his exchange is satisfaction of his need. Money for him is only medium of circulationSavings, self-denial as means of the worker's enrichmentValuelessness and devaluation of the worker a condition of capital(Labour power as capital!)Wages not productiveThe exchange between capital and labour belongs within simple circulation, does not enrich the workerSeparation of labour and property the precondition of this exchangeLabour as object absolute poverty, labour as subject general possibility of wealthLabour without particular specificity confronts capitalLabour process absorbed into capital(Capital and capitalist)Production process as content of capitalThe worker relates to his labour as exchange value, the capitalist as use valueThe worker divests himself of labour as the wealth-producing power; capital appropriates it as suchTranformation of labour into capitalRealization process(Costs of production)Mere self-preservation, non-multiplication of value contradicts the essence of capitalCapital enters the cost of production as capital. Interest bearing capital (Parentheses on: original accumulation of capital, historic presuppositions of capital, production in general)Surplus value. Surplus labour timeValue of labour. How it is determinedConditions for the self-realization of capitalCapital is productive as creator of surplus labourBut this is only a historical and transitory phenomenonTheories of surplus value (Ricardo; the Physiocrats; Adam Smith; Ricardo again)Surplus value and productive force. Relation when these increaseResult: in proportion as necessary labour is already diminished, the realization of capital becomes more difficultConcerning increases in the value of capitalLabour does not reproduce the value of material and instrument, but rather preserves it by relating to them in the labour process as to their objective conditionsAbsolute surplus labour time. RelativeIt is not the quantity of living labour, but rather its quality as labour which preserves the labour time already contained in the materialThe change of form and substance in the direct production processIt is inherent in the simple production process that the previous stage of production is preserved through the subsequent onePreservation of the old use value by new labourThe quantity of objectified labour is preserved because contact with living labour preserves its quality as use value for new labourIn the real production process, the separation of labour from its objective moments of existence is suspended. But in this process labour is already incorporated in capitalThe capitalist obtains surplus labour free of charge together with the maintenance of the value of material and instrumentThrough the appropriation of present labour, capital already possesses a claim to the appropriation of future labourConfusion of profit and surplus value. Carey's erroneous calculationThe capitalist, who does not pay the worker for the preservation of the old value, then demands remuneration for giving the worker permission to preserve the old capitalSurplus Value and ProfitDifference between consumption of the instrument and of wages. The former consumed in the production process, the latter outside itIncrease of surplus value and decrease in rate of profitMultiplication of simultaneous working daysMachineryGrowth of the constant part of capital in relation to the variable part spent on wages=growth of the productivity of labourProportion in which capital has to increase in order to employ the same number of workers if productivity risesPercentage of total capital can express very different relationsCapital (like property in general) rests on the productivity of labourIncrease of surplus labour time. Increase of simultaneous working days. (Population)(Population can increase in proportion as necessary labour time becomes smaller)Transition from the process of the production of capital into the process of circulationSection Two: The Circulation Process of CapitalDevaluation of capital itself owing to increase of productive forces(Competition)Capital as unity and contradiction of the production process and the realization processCapital as limit to production. OverproductionDemand by the workers themselvesBarriers to capitalist productionOVerproduction; ProudhonPrice of the commodity and labour timeThe capitalist does not sell too dear; but still above what the thing costs himPrice can fall below value without damage to capitalNumber and unit (measure) important in the multiplication of pricesSpecific accumulation of capital. (Transformation of surplus labour into capital)The determination of value and of pricesThe general rate of profitIf the capitalist merely sells at his own cost of production, then it is a transfer to another capitalist. The worker gains almost nothing therebyBarrier of capitalist production. Relation of surplus labour to necessary labour. Proportion of the surplus consumed by capital to that transformed into capitalDevaluation during crisesCapital coming out of the production process becomes money again(Parenthesis on capital in general)Surplus Labour or Surplus Value Becomes Surplus CapitalAll the determinants of capitalist production now appear as the result of (wage) labour itselfThe realization process of labour at the same time its de-realization processFormation of surplus capital ISurplus capital IIInversion of the law of appropriationChief result of the production and realization processOriginal accumulation of capitalOnce developed historically, capital itself creates the conditions of its existence(Performance of personal services, as opposed to wage labour)(Parenthesis on inversion of the law of property, real alien relation of the worker to his product, division of labour, machinery)Forms which precede capitalist production. (Concerning the process which precedes the formation of the capital relation or of original accumulation)Exchange of labour for labour rests on the worker's propertylessnessCirculation of capital and circulation of moneyProduction process and circulation process moments of production. The productivity of the different capitals (branches of industry) determines that of the individual capitalCirculation period. Velocity of circulation substitutes for volume of capital. Mutual dependence of capitals in the velocity of their circulationThe four moments in the turnover of capitalMoment II to be considered here: transformation of the product into money; duration of this operation. Transport costs. Circulation costs. Means of communication and transportDivision of the branches of labourConcentration of many workers; productive force of this concentrationGeneral as distinct from particular conditions of productionTransport to market (spatial condition of circulation) belongs in the production processCredit, the temporal moment of circulationCapital is circulating capitalInfluence of circulation on the determination of value; circulation time=time of devaluationDifference between the capitalist mode of production and all earlier ones (universality, propagandistic nature)(Capital itself is the contradiction)Circulation and creation of valueCapital not a source of value-creationContinuity of production presupposes suspension of circulation timeTheories of Surplus ValueRamsay's view that capital is its own source of profitNo surplus value according to Ricardo's lawRicardo's theory of value. Wages and profitQuinceyRicardoWakefield. Conditions of capitalist production in coloniesSurplus value and profit. Example (Malthus)Difference between labour and labour capacityCarey's theory of the cheapening of capital for the workerCarey's theory of the decline of the rate of profitWakefield on the contradiction between Ricardo's theories of wage labour and of valueBailey on dormant capital and increase of production without previous increase of capitalWade's explanation of capital. Capital, collective force. Capital, civilization.Rossi. What is capital? Is raw material capital? Are wages necessary for it?Malthus. Theory of value and of wagesAim of capitalist production value (money), not commodity, use value etc. ChalmersDifference in return. Interruption of the production process. Total duration of the production process. Unequal periods of productionThe concept of the free labourer contains the pauper. Population and overpopulationNecessary labour. Surplus labour. Surplus population. Surplus capitalAdam Smith: work as sacrificeAdam Smith: the origin of profitSurplus labour. Profit. WagesImmovable capital. Return of capital. Fixed capital. John Stuart MillTurnover of capital. Circulation process. Production process. Circulation costs. Circulation timeCapital's change of form and of substance; different forms of capital; circulation capital as general character of capitalFixed (tied down) capital and circulating capitalConstant and variable capitalCompetitionSurplus value. Production time. Circulation time. Turnover timeCompetition (continued)Part of capital in production time, part in circulation timeSurplus value and production phase. Number of reproductions of capital = number of turnoversChange of form and of matter in the circulation of capital. C-M-C. M-C-MDifference between production time and labour timeFormation of a mercantile estate; creditSmall-scale circulation. The process of exchange between capital and labour capacity generallyThreefold character, or mode, of circulationFixed capital and circulating capitalInfluence of fixed capital on the total turnover time of capitalFixed capital. Means of labour. MachineTransposition of powers of labour into powers of capital both in fixed and in circulatin capitalTo what extent fixed capital (machine) creates valueFixed capital and continuity of the production process. Machinery and living labour.Contradiction between the foundation of bourgeois production (value as measure) and its developmentSignificance of the development of fixed capital (for the development of capital generally)The chief role of capital is to create disposable time; contradictory form of this in capitalDurability of fixed capitalReal saving (economy)=saving of labour time=development of productive forceTrue conception of the process of social productionOwen's historical conception of industrial (capitalist) productionCapital and value of natural agenciesScope of fixed capital indicates the level of capitalist productionIs money fixed capital or circulating capital?Turnover time of capital consisting of fixed capital and circulating capital. Reproduction time of fixed capitalThe same commodity sometimes circulating capital, sometimes fixed capitalEvery moment which is a presupposition of production is at the same time its result, in that it reproductes its own conditionsThe counter-value of circulating capital must be produced within the year. Not so for fixed capital. It engages the production of subsequent yearsMaintanence costs of fixed capitalRevenue of fixed capital and circulating capitalFree labour=latent pauperism. EdenThe smaller the value of fixed capital in relation to its product, the more usefulMovable and immovable, fixed and circulatingConnection of circulation and reproductionSection Three: Capital as Fructiferous. Tranformation of Surplus Value into ProfitRate of profit. Fall of the rate of profitSurplus value as profit always expresses a lesser proportionWakefield, Carey and Bastiat on the rate of profitCapital and revenue (profit). Production and distribution. SismondiTransformation of surplus value into profitLaws of this and transformationSurplus value=relation of surplus labour to necessary labourValue of fixed capital and its productive powerMachinery and surplus labour. Recapitulation of the doctrine of surplus value generallyRelation between the objective conditions of production. Change in the proportion of the component parts of capitalMiscellaneousMoney and fixed capital: presupposes a certain amount of wealth. Relation of fixed capital and circulating capital (Economist)Slavery and wage labour; profit upon alienation (Steuart)Steuart, Montanari and Gouge on moneyThe wool industry in England since Elizabeth; silk-manufacture; iron; cottonOrigin of free wage labour. Vagabondage. (Tuckett)Blake on accumulation and rate of profit; dormant capitalDomestic agriculture at the beginning of the sixteenth century. (Tuckett)Profit. Interest. Influence of machinery on the wage fund. (Westminster Review)Money as measure of values and yardstick of prices. Critique of theories of the standard measure of moneyTransformation of the medium of circulation into money. Formation of treasures. Means of payment. Prices of commodities and quantity of circulating money. Value of moneyCapital, not labour, determines the value of money (Torrens)The minimum of wagesCotton machinery and working men in 1826. (Hodgskin)How the machine creates raw material. (Economist)Machinery and surplus labourCapital and profit. Relation of the worker to the conditions of labour in capitalist production. All parts of capital bring a profitTendency of the machine to prolong labourCotton factories in England. Example for machinery and surplus labourExamples from Glasgow for the rate of profitAlienation of the conditions of labour with the development of capital. InversionMerivale. Natural dependence of the worker in colonies to be replaced by artificial restrictionsHow the machine saves material. Bread. Dureau de la MalleDevelopment of money and interestProductive consumpion. Newman. Transformations of capital. Economic cycleDr. Price. Innate power of capitalProudhon. Capital and simple exchange. SurplusNecessity of the worker's propertylessnessGalianiTheory of savings. StorchMacCulloch. Surplus. ProfitArnd. Natural interestInterest and profit. CareyHow merchant takes the place of masterMerchant wealthCommerce with equivalents impossible. OpdykePrincipal and interestDouble standardOn moneyJames Mill's false theory of pricesRicardo on currencyOn moneyTheory of foreign trade. Two nations may exchange according to the law of profit in such a way that both gain, but one is always defraudedMoney in its third role, as money(I) Value (This section to be brought forward)Bastiat and CareyBastiat's economic harmoniesBastiat on wages

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Book SynopsisIn addressing the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, Adam Smith made one of the most potent contributions to subsequent ideological history. In the west since the early nineteenth century he has been the patron saint of homo economicus. More recently, successive British governments have invoked his policy recommendations of free trade and laissez-faire to aid their extension of privatization and market effectiveness into areas such as health and education. Smith, however, not only viewed merchants and manufacturers with deep suspicion, but also tempered his celebration of a self-regulating market with a darker vision of the dehumanizing potential of a profit-oriented society. He did not write an economics textbook, but rather a panoramic narrative about the struggle for individual liberty and general prosperity in history, a subject he shared with other writers of the Enlightenment.Trade Reviewthe selection of material is judicious and the commentary brilliant and entertaining * Mark Davis, Professor of Mathematics, Imperial College London *

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Book SynopsisThe economics profession has become a favourite punching bag in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Economists are widely reviled and their influence derided by the general public. Yet their services have never been in greater demand. To unravel the paradox, we need to understand both the strengths and weaknesses of economics. Dani Rodrik argues that the multiplicity of theoretical frameworks - what economists call ''models'' that exist side by side is economics'' great strength. Economists are trained to hold diverse, possibly contradictory models of the world in their minds. This is what allows them, when they do their job right, to comprehend the world, make useful suggestions for improving it, and to advance their stock of knowledge over time. In short, it is what makes economics a ''science'' a different kind of science from physics or some other natural sciences, but a science nonetheless. But syncretism is not a comfortable state of mind, and economists often jettison Trade ReviewDani Rodrik ... provides an edifying discussion of these basic tools, of the economist's trade [economic models] * Ben Chu, Books of the Year 2015, Independent *one of the world's most perceptive policy analysts * Martin Wolf, Books of the Year 2015: Best Books 2015 Economics, Financial Times *Rodriks central message is that economics is a collection of models with which to see the world ... The challenge is to choose which model applies to the situation at hand. This choice requires theoretical open-mindedness and empirical investigation and is, as Rodrik succinctly puts it, a craft not a science. That idea that good economics is about good craftsmanship as much as anything else is a hugely valuable contribution. Rodrik is well placed to make these arguments because he is himself a master craftsman. * Martin Sandbu, The Financial Times *I hope open-minded critics of economics will read Economics Rules to learn how the best of economists approach the subject, and how important their work is * The Enlightened Economist, Diane Coyle *terrific * The Enlightened Economist, Diane Coyle *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Use and Misuse of Economic Ideas 1: What Models Do 2: The Science of Economic Modeling 3: Navigating among Models 4: Models and Theories 5: When Economists Go Wrong 6: Economics and Its Critics Epilogue: The Twenty Commandments

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Book SynopsisWritten by one of the leading authorities in market microstructure research, this book provides a comprehensive guide to the theoretical work in this important area of finance.Table of ContentsAbout the Author v Foreword ix 1. Markets and Market-Making 1 2. Inventory Models 15 3. Information-Based Models 53 4. Strategic Trader Models I: Informed Traders 89 5. Strategic Trader Models II: Uninformed Traders 129 6. Information and the Price Process 153 7. Market Viability and Stability 179 8. Liquidity and the Relationships between Markets 215 9. Issues in Market Performance 251 References 273 Index 283

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Book SynopsisFor a century and a half artists and intellectuals of Europe have scorned the bourgeoisie. Applying a tradition of "virtue ethics" to our lives in modern economies, this title affirms American capitalism without ignoring its faults and celebrates the bourgeois lives we live, without supposing that they must be lives without ethical foundations.Trade Review"Deirdre McCloskey's unfashionable, contrarian, and compelling manifesto in favor of what she calls the bourgeois virtues starts with an uncompromising 'apology' for how private property, free labor, free trade, and prudent calculation are the font of most ethical good in modern society, not a moral threat to it....She writes with wonderful ease. Her style is conversational and lively, sometimes even cheeky, so that even the toughest concepts seem palatable." - Matt Ridley, Wall Street Journal "An impressive collection of intellectual riches." - Alan Ryan, New York Review of Books"

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Book SynopsisJohn Kenneth Galbraith''s international bestseller The Affluent Society is a witty, graceful and devastating attack on some of our most cherished economic myths. As relevant today as when it was first published over forty years ago, this newly updated edition of Galbraith''s classic text on the ''economics of abundance'', lays bare the hazards of individual and social complacency about economic inequality. Why worship work and productivity if many of the goods we produce are superfluous - artificial ''needs'' created by high-pressure advertising? Why begrudge expenditure on vital public works while ignoring waste and extravagance in the private sector of the economy? Classical economics was born in a harsh world of mass poverty, and has left us with a set of preconceptions ill-adapted to the realities of our own richer age. And so, too often, ''the bland lead the bland''. Our unfamiliar problems need a new approach, and the reception given to this famous book has shown the value of its fresh, lively ideas. ''A compelling challenge to conventional thought''  The New York Times ''He shows himself a truly sensitive and civilized man, whose ideas are grounded in the common culture of the two continents, and may serve as a link between them; his book is of foremost importance for them both''  The Times Literary Supplement John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) was a Canadian-American economist. A Keynesian and an institutionalist, Galbraith was a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and progressivism. Galbraith was the author of 30 books, including The Economics of Innocent Fraud, The Great Crash: 1929, and A History of Economics.

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Book SynopsisThe final revision of this classic bestseller, the 7th edition defines the common thread linking the world''s greatest economic thinkers and explores the philosophies that motivate them. Hailed by Galbraith as a brilliant achievement, The Worldly Philosophers with over 2 million copies sold worldwide, not only enables us to see more deeply into our history, but helps us to better understand our own times. Heilbroner provides the new theme that connects thinkers as different as Adam Smith andKarl Marx: the desire to understand how a capitalist society works. A new chapter conveys a concern that today''s increasingly scientific economics may overlook fundamental social and political issues that are central to economics.

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Book SynopsisThe author of the acclaimed Marx at the Margins analyses the late Marx on Indigenous communism, gender, and anti-colonialism.

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Book SynopsisFew social scientific concepts have gathered so much attention and so many followers in such a short period of time as the concept of social capital. The purpose of this authoritative volume is to review the foundations for this fast growing field.The selected articles embed the concept in core theoretical work in economics, political science, sociology, development theory, and philosophy. Topics include: contemporary conceptual and philosophical foundations; forms of social capital; and the relation of social capital to both development and democracy.This collection will provide an insightful reference source to students and researchers alike.Trade Review'Ostrom and Ahn do us the great service of bringing together a varied, rich array of central works on social capital, many of which have been relatively inaccessible. The idea of social capital is still very much a work in progress, as these contributions from a broad array of disciplines demonstrate. Having this collection available will help focus further development of that idea.' -- Russell Hardin, New York University and Stanford University, US'As theoretical paradigms develop, there comes a time when they need careful synthesis, deep reflection and wise criticism. It is now that time for the arguments regarding social capital. Political scientists are fortunate that a scholar as pre-eminent as Elinor Ostrom, and her able student T.K. Ahn, have taken the lead in undertaking this task. They have pulled together a fine collection of essays and added an insightful and pedagogically sound overview. The collection is likely to find its place in the book bags of all scholars concerned with the contributions of this literature to our discipline.' -- Joe Oppenheimer, University of Maryland, College Park, USTable of ContentsContents: Acknowledgements Introduction Elinor Ostrom and T.K. Ahn PART I FORERUNNERS 1. Alexis de Tocqueville ([1840] 1945), ‘Of the Use Which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life’, ‘Of the Relation between Public Associations and the Newspapers’, ‘Relation of Civil to Political Associations’, and ‘How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Principle of Self-Interest Rightly Understood’ 2. Lyda Judson Hanifan (1920), ‘Social Capital – Its Development and Use’ 3. Theodore W. Schultz (1961), ‘Investment in Human Capital’ 4. Jane Jacobs (1961), ‘The Uses of City Neighborhoods’ PART II CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS 5. Mark S. Granovetter (1973), ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’ 6. Mark Granovetter (1985), ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’ 7. James S. Coleman (1987), ‘Norms as Social Capital’ 8. James S. Coleman (1988), ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’ 9. Vincent Ostrom (1980), ‘Artisanship and Artifact’ PART III FORMS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL 10. Ronald S. Burt (1992), excerpt from ‘The Social Structure of Competition’ 11. Robert D. Putnam, Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti (1993), ‘Social Capital and Institutional Success’ 12. Elinor Ostrom (1992), ‘Institutions as Rules-in-Use’ 13. Diego Gambetta (2000), ‘Can We Trust Trust?’ 14. Francis Fukuyama (2000), Social Capital and Civil Society 15. Partha Dasgupta (2002), ‘Social Capital and Economic Performance: Analytics’ [Revised and abridged version of: Partha Dasgupta (2000), ‘Economic Progress and the Idea of Social Capital’ PART IV SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEVELOPMENT 16. Michael Woolcock (1998), ‘Social Capital and Economic Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework’ 17. Francis Fukuyama (1995), ‘Social Capital and the Global Economy’ 18. Michael Woolcock and Deepa Narayan (2000), ‘Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy’ 19. Paul Collier and Jan Willem Gunning (1999), ‘Explaining African Economic Performance’ 20. Stephen Knack and Philip Keefer (1997), ‘Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation’ PART V SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMOCRACY 21. Robert D. Putnam (1993), ‘The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life’ 22. Robert D. Putnam (1995), ‘Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America’ 23. John Brehm and Wendy Rahn (1997), ‘Individual-Level Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Social Capital’ Name Index

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Book SynopsisWhat does economics have to do with law? Offering a defense of the economic view of law, this book clarifies the relationship between law and economics.Trade Review"An interesting and lively introduction to the economic analysis of law... It lays out the principles and values of economic analysis of law, and then proceeds to illustrate and defend that approach in a lively and competent manner. It may not convince every reader that economics provide the key to understanding law, but it makes the case competently and energetically."--Joseph L. Smith, The Law and Politics Book Review "A thoroughly entertaining, creative, and provocative addition to the law and economics literature."--Choice "David Friedman is lively, cheerful, and a bit of a tease... Friedman's book is, in the best sense of the word, extremely dense... At the same time, he is cautious and does not try to prove too much. The evidence he provides is impressive and impressively presented."--John Griffith, Times Literary Supplement "[Friedman] explains what economics has to do with law and why it matters... Applying economics to law matters because it yields efficient outcomes. In a world of finite resources and a world in which the political process controls the distribution scheme, increasing the size of the societal pie will increase the size of the slice we all can expect."--Dennis J. Callahan, The Federal LawyerTable of ContentsIntroduction 3 1. What Does Economics Have to Do with Law? 8 2. Efficiency and All that 18 3. What's Wrong with the World, Part 1 28 4. What's Wrong with the World, Part 2 36 5. Defining and Enforcing Rights: Property, Liability, and Spaghetti 47 6. Of Burning Houses and Exploding Coke Bottles 63 7. Coin Flips and Car Crashes: Ex Post versus Ex Ante 74 8. Gaines, Bargains, Bluffs, and Other Really Hard Stuff 84 9. As Much as Your Life Is Worth 95 Intermezzo. The American Legal System in Brief 103 10. Mine, Throe, and Ours: The Economics of Property Law 112 11. Clouds and Barbed Wire: The Economics of Intellectual Property 128 12. The Economics of Contract 145 13. Marriage, Sex, and Babies 171 14. Tort Law 189 15. Criminal Law 223 16. Antitrust 244 17. Other Paths 263 18. The Crime/Tort Puzzle 281 19. Is the Common Law Efficient? 297 Epilogue 309 Index 319

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Book SynopsisFrom the best-selling author of The Death of Economics and Butterfly Economics, a ground-breaking look at a truth all too seldom acknowledged: most commercial and public policy ventures will not succeed.Paul Ormerod draws upon recent advances in biology to help us understand the surprising consequences of the Iron Law of Failure. And he shows what strategies corporations, businesses and governments will need to adopt to stand a chance of prospering in a world where only one thing is certain.Trade Review"'Engrossing and entertaining... A careful, comprehensible analysis of the limits of human rationality's ability to control the world.' Alasdair Palmer, Sunday Telegraph 'Gripping stuff.' Krishna Guha, Financial Times"

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis sweeping history of classical economics shows how the work ethic has been used both to oppress workers and to liberate them. Today''s neoliberalism offers an oppressive version of the work ethic. However, the work ethic also offers resources for reorganizing the economy on behalf of ordinary people--Trade Review'Hijacked is an important and fascinating book that tells the spellbinding story of the struggle between conservatives and progressives over the Protestant work ethic. Nobody matches Anderson's distinctive combination of historical, political, and philosophical insight.' Stephen Darwall, author of Modern Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to Kant'This critical examination of the Protestant work ethic and its evolution in social and economic theory outlines the challenges of preserving rewarding and purposeful work in liberal economies where free market capitalism has eroded both aspirations and capabilities, undermining the intrinsic dignity and meaning of work.' Richard Donkin, author of The History of Work'Most of us will spend a significant part of our lives at work. But work conditions differ radically and the working poor often face brutal and dehumanizing workplaces. In this brilliant book, Anderson uncovers the role of a skewed version of the work ethic in shaping these harsh conditions. This skewed version turned the values of industry, prudence, and frugality against workers, while leaving the predatory and idle rich off the hook. Not only does Anderson offer a subtle diagnosis of the origins of today's stigmatization and deprivation of the poor, but she offers creative ideas for reclaiming the work ethic in the service of democracy. Her superb analysis, connecting political philosophy with both history and political economy, will stimulate wide debate.' Debra Satz, coauthor of Economic Analysis, Moral Philosophy, and Public Policy'As rigorous as it is approachable, this poignant plea for worker dignity contextualizes one of today's most salient economic issues.' Publishers Weekly'If we arm ourselves with Elizabeth Anderson's superb history of the work ethic, we obtain a powerful lens with which to explore at a perfect time - during party conference season - how different visions of work form the beating heart of ideological struggle.' Morning StarTable of ContentsPreface; 1. The dual nature of the Protestant work ethic and the birth of utilitarianism; 2. Locke and the progressive work ethic; 3. How conservatives hijacked the work ethic and turned it against workers; 4. Welfare reform, famine, and the ideology of the conservative work ethic; 5. The progressive work ethic (1): Smith, Ricardo, and Ricardian socialists; 6. The progressive work ethic (2): J. S. Mill; 7. The progressive work ethic (3): Marx; 8. Social democracy as the culmination of the progressive work ethic; 9. Hijacked again: Neoliberalism as the return of the conservative work ethic; 10. Conclusion: What should the work ethic mean for us today?; Acknowledgments; Major works cited; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first definitive introduction to behavioral economics aimed at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. Authoritative, cutting edge, yet accessible, it guides the reader through theory and evidence, providing engaging and relevant applications throughout. It is divided into nine parts and 24 chapters: Part I is on behavioral economics of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity. The evidence against expected utility theory is examined, and the behavioral response is outlined; the best empirically supported theory is prospect theory. Part II considers other-regarding preferences. The evidence from experimental games on human sociality is given, followed by models and applications of inequity aversion, intentions based reciprocity, conditional cooperation, human virtues, and social identity. Part III is on time discounting. It considers the evidence against the exponential discounted utility model and describes several behavioral models such as hyperbolic discounting, attribute based models and the reference time theory. Part IV describes the evidence on classical game theory and considers several models of behavioral game theory, including level-k and cognitive hierarchy models, quantal response equilibrium, and psychological game theory. Part V considers behavioral models of learning that include evolutionary game theory, classical models of learning, experience weighted attraction model, learning direction theory, and stochastic social dynamics. Part VI studies the role of emotions; among other topics it considers projection bias, temptation preferences, happiness economics, and interaction between emotions and cognition. Part VII considers bounded rationality. The three main topics considered are judgment heuristics and biases, mental accounting, and behavioral finance. Part VIII considers behavioral welfare economics; the main topics are soft paternalism, and choice-based measures of welfare. Finally, Part IX gives an abbreviated taster course in neuroeconomics.Trade ReviewIt is many years since the subject of African economic development has been treated with the best insights and methods that modern social science has to offer. Cramer, Sender, and Oqubay have set a new standard in this respect. * David Booth, African Affairs *The publication of this book is a landmark occasion for the field of behavioural economics. Until now there has been no comprehensive survey of the field suitable for graduate students. Professor Dhami has thoroughly and rigorously filled that gap. The book will be placed in a handy place in my office since I plan to consult it regularly. * Richard H. Thaler, University of Chicago *The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis offers a fascinating mix of theory and evidence and is the most comprehensive synthesis of behavioral economics at an advanced level. It will be very useful for advanced researchers as well as for graduate students in behavioral economics and beyond. * Ernst Fehr, University of Zurich *This book is a tour de force, a literal encyclopedia of behavioral economics. Its extraordinary breadth and depth, spanning all aspects from psychological foundations to the most recent advances and seamlessly integrating theory with experiments, will make it the must-have reference for anyone interested in this field, and more generally in where economics is headed. It will quickly become the standard textbook for all graduate courses in behavioral economics, and a much-thumbed companion for all researchers working at the frontier. * Roland Benabou, Princeton University *For someone like myself, who started by being ignorant of the richness of the conversation within behavioral economics on a variety of issues, this magisterial volume is the ideal introduction, at once lucid and sophisticated. * Abhijit Banerjee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *In Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis, Sanjit Dhami offers the first summary and exposition of research in this rapidly growing and increasingly influential subfield. The coverage is comprehensive, extending even to the recent subtopics of behavioural welfare economics and neuroeconomics. The book is distinguished by its detailed yet readable coverage of theory and evidence and its balanced discussion of the philosophical and methodological differences and similarities between behavioural and neoclassical approaches to microeconomics. Select undergraduates, graduate students, and interested scholars will all gain from this masterful book. * Vincent P. Crawford, University of Oxford and University of California, San Diego *Economic theory in the twentieth century developed an extremely powerful repertoire of analytical techniques for studying human behavior.Sanjit Dhami has performed a monumental task in consolidating this research and explaining the results in a rigorous yet accessible manner, while highlighting major controversies and sketching the central research questions facing us today. * Herbert Gintis, Santa Fe Institute *In the development of any field there comes a moment where the results already established must be synthesized, explained and consolidated both for those in the field and those outside. In this amazing volume Sanjit Dhami has done just that and far more. This book will serve as an encyclopedic must-have reference for anyone seeking to do work in this field or just curious about it. The coverage is exhaustive and the exposition extremely clear and at a level suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and professionals. This is truly an achievement. * Andrew Schotter, New York University and Center for Experimental Social Science *Displaying wit and wisdom, in Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis Professor Dhami conveys both the substance and the excitement of the burgeoning field of behavioral economics. This remarkable volume will serve as a reference for practitioners and a compelling entry-point for the curious. * George Loewenstein, Carnegie Mellon University *This is a unique and truly remarkable achievement. It is a magnificent overview of behavioral economics, by far the best there is, and it should define the field for at least a generation. But it is much more than that. It is also a brilliant set of original discussions, with pathbreaking thinking on every important topic. An invaluable resource for policymakers, students, and professors - and if they want to try something really special, for everyone else. * Cass Sunstein, coauthor of Nudge and Founder and Director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Harvard Law School *The expansion of behavioral economics during the past twenty years has been remarkable, much of it concerning strategic interaction and using tools from game theory. Sanjit Dhami's amazing book summarizes - and even defines - the field, broadly as well as in depth. His coverage of theory as well as of experiments is superb. The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars who wish to understand where the action is. * Martin Dufwenberg, University of Arizona *Sanjit Dhami's Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis is a major and most impressive achievement. It provides an exhaustive account and a masterful synthesis of the state of the art after more than three decades of behavioral economics. For many years to come it will be an indispensable reference for researchers in economics and psychology, and it is bound to become the standard text in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on behavioural and experimental economics. * Klaus M. Schmidt, University of Munich *This is the most complete and stimulating book on behavioral economics. With elegance and unprecedented elaborateness, it ties together a wealth of experimental findings, rigorous theoretical insights and exciting applications across all relevant fields of behavioral research. Sanjit Dhami's work has been shaped by numerous comments from the leaders in the field. Now, in the years to come, it will be the standard that shapes how the next generation of students and researchers think about behavior and its science. * Axel Ockenfels, University of Cologne, Speaker of the Cologne Excellence Center of Social and Economic Behavior *This book covers all relevant theoretical aspects of behavioral economics in great depth. A great strength is its comprehensiveness: it covers the whole field. The book thus is unique in bringing to the fore the unity and diversity of the behavioral approach. The material is well-organized and accessible to a wide audience. It is invaluable to anyone teaching or studying any topic in behavioral economics, showing how the topic fits into the whole. * Peter Wakker, Erasmus University Rotterdam *Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis will be a central textbook for behavioral economics. One key feature is its appealing focus on the interplay between theory and evidence. For researchers, it will be a great source of information, puzzles, and challenges for the many years to come. It is a major achievement. * Xavier Gabaix, New York University, Stern School *Sanjit Dhami has spent more than 10 years on the monumental task to lay out the foundations of behavioral economics. The result is a major achievement. The book provides a comprehensive and encompassing survey and I think it will shape how the next generation of researchers thinks about the field. Overall, this is an excellent book that can be commended to advanced students of behavioural economics and to non-behavioural economics who are looking for an entry point into the field. It will also serve researchers in behavioural economics as an authoritative reference book. It is a must-have for anyone with a serious interest in the field. * Jean-Robert Tyran, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics *The Foundations of Behavioural Economic Analysis is a major contribution to the contemporary economic studies in the areas of behavioural economics, psychology and game theory. It will remain as a major treatise on behavioural economics for many decades. I cannot think that another book will supersede this book in terms of rigour, comprehensiveness, and analytical sophistication in the foreseeable future. This book is also a very interesting and extremely useful publication for academic analysis, policy design and practical applications. * Professor.Sardar M. N.Islam, Victoria University *Almost all the chapters follow a basic structure: they sketch the neoclassical theory; review evidence on its empirical plausibility; introduce alternative behavioral theories; finally go on to discuss further evidence of the newer theories' relative successes and failures compared to the neoclassical theories. A lot of thought has gone into writing the introductions of each section as they outline the broad trends, debates, and core empirical results, making it easy to get into the detailed chapters with a clear idea of the direction of research in that topic.To sum it up, the book ends up doing exactly what it promised, take stock of behavioral economicscourse text for advanced students.., a research handbook for behavioral economists, and an invitation to economists and other social scientists of all persuasions to explore this exciting new field. * Utteeyo Dasgupta, Studies in Microeconomics *Table of ContentsPART I: BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS OF RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND AMBIGUITY; PART II: OTHER-REGARDING PREFERENCES; PART III: BEHAVIORAL TIME DISCOUNTING; PART IV: BEHAVIORAL GAME THEORY; PART V: BEHAVIORAL MODELS OF LEARNING; PART VI: EMOTIONS; PART VII: BOUNDED RATIONALITY; PART VIII: BEHAVIORAL WELFARE ECONOMICS; EXERCISES; PART IX: NEUROECONOMICS; APPENDIX ON GAME THEORY

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Book SynopsisStocks and bonds? Real estate? Hedge funds? Private equity? If you think those are the things to focus on in building an investment portfolio, Andrew Ang has accumulated a body of research that will prove otherwise. In his new book Asset Management: A Systematic Approach to Factor Investing, Ang upends the conventional wisdom about asset allocation by showing that what matters aren''t asset class labels but the bundles of overlapping risks they represent. Making investments is like eating a healthy diet, Ang says: you''ve got to look through the foods you eat to focus on the nutrients they contain. Failing to do so can lead to a serious case of malnutrition-for investors as well as diners. The key, in Ang''s view, is bad times, and the fact that every investor''s bad times are somewhat different. The notion that bad times are paramount is the guiding principle of the book, which offers a new approach to the age-old problem of where do you put your money? Years of experience, both as a finance professor and as a consultant, have led Ang to see that the traditional approach, with its focus on asset classes, is too crude and ultimately too costly to serve investors adequately. He focuses instead on factor risks, the peculiar sets of hard times that cut across asset classes, and that must be the focus of our attention if we are to weather market turmoil and receive the rewards that come with doing so. Optimally harvesting factor premiums-on our own or by hiring others-requires identifying your particular set of hard times, and exploiting the difference between them and those of the average investor. Clearly written yet chock-full of the latest research and data, Asset Management will be indispensable reading for trustees, professional money managers, smart private investors, and business students who want to understand the economics behind factor risk premiums, harvest them efficiently in their portfolios, and embark on the search for true alpha.Trade ReviewThe phrases "finance textbook" and "page-turner" rarely occupy the same sentence or even the same paragraph, but Asset Management: A Systematic Approach to Factor Investing justifies that pairing of terms. * William J. Bernstein, co-principal at Efficient Frontier Advisors Reviewed by CFA Institute *This splendid book lays out the important lessons that a new generation of finance research has learned about markets and investing, in a thoughtful and accessible way. Ang focuses on real issues for real players, and distills practical lessons about investment strategies and the investment process. * John H. Cochrane, The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business *Andrew Ang's inspirational book presents new, important, and influential concepts on investment. He oozes enthusiasm for his subject, and generously shares his experience of putting cutting-edge ideas into practice. Elroy Dimson, London Business School and Cambridge Judge Business SchoolEvery professional asset manager should read Ang's Asset Management, easily the most thoughtfully written, accessible, and carefully researched treatment of the topic. Each chapter is an expertly guided tour. Darrell Duffie, Graduate School of Business, Stanford UniversityAndrew Ang eloquently synthesizes current research on investing together with his own approach to asset management into a highly readable and authoritative book. It is simply the best new book on asset management that I have read - approachable by non-specialists and a treasure for managers and scholars already familiar with the topic. This book is an essential guide to one of the world's most important topics. * William N. Goetzmann, Yale School of Management *It is no surprise that many of us have been using the unfinished chapters of Andrew Ang's Asset Management for teaching. For over 10 years, there has been glaring lacuna when it comes to textbooks for the teaching of investment finance. Andrew's book fills this void and is destined to become the standard text in investments at top graduate schools. It will also be a must-read for practitioners of investment finance. * Campbell R. Harvey, Duke University Journal of Finance (2006-2012) *This book is a comprehensive, accessible, and adept exposition of the pivotal role played by factor exposures in markets and in portfolio design. Ang shows how these principles can be used to guide both individual investors as well as institutions, and financial practitioners now have a must read source for this critical material. Steve Ross, Sloan School, MITAndrew Ang has written the next comprehensive 'go to' book on asset management. He treats readers gently as he takes them through the potentially technical world of factor investing, and his generous use of 'real world' case studies gives a helpful intuitive dimension his explanations. All considered, this is a 'must read' book for all asset owners and managers who want to maintain their thought-leadership edge. * Keith Ambachtsheer, Director Emeritus, International Centre for Pension Management, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto *The last time I was asked to comment on a book of this quality and applicability I threatened to harm the author for potentially putting me out of a job. I repeat the threat in this case. * Cliff Asness, Founder, Managing Principal, and Chief Investment Officer, AQR Capital Management *As Andrew Ang knows, the best way to achieve good investment results is to get the portfolio structure right for each client and the key to that is systematic factor investing. Charles D. Ellis, author of Winning the Loser's GameDespite its title, this is much more than a textbook on asset management. Andrew Ang writes in an engaging style that cites his extensive investment experience, without giving up any of the rigor that we would expect from such a prominent academic. * Roger G. Ibbotson, Chairman of Zebra Capital Management and Professor in Practice Emeritus, Yale School of Management *Professor Ang is leading the factor investing revolution. Written with great clarity and authority, Asset Management is a true pleasure to read. * Knut Norheim Kjaer, Founding CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management and Co-founding Partner of Trient Asset Management *Andrew's new book is a useful practitioner-oriented update of the developments in asset management in recent decades. For example, assets are seen as bundles of factors, the fundamental drivers which provide the 'nutrients' that drive returns. This framing is certainly helpful in understanding recent developments in the industry. Moreover, the cases which motivate each chapter very nicely tie together the theory and the practice. * Bob Litterman, Chair of the Risk Committee at Kepos Capital, a hedge fund based in New York *Table of ContentsPreface: Asset Management ; Part I: The Asset Owner ; Chapter 1: Asset Owners ; Chapter 2: Preferences ; Chapter 3: Mean-Variance Investing ; Chapter 4: Investing for the Long Run ; Chapter 5: Investing Over the Life Cycle ; Part II: Factor Risk Premiums ; Chapter 6: Factor Theory ; Chapter 7: Factors ; Chapter 8: Equities ; Chapter 9: Bonds ; Chapter 10: Alpha (and the Low Risk Anomaly) ; Chapter 11: <"Real>" Assets ; Chapter 12: Tax-Efficient Investing ; Chapter 13: Illiquid Assets ; Chapter 14: Factor Investing ; Part III: Delegated Portfolio Management ; Chapter 15: Delegated Investing ; Chapter 16: Mutual Funds and Other 40-Act Funds ; Chapter 17: Hedge Funds ; Chapter 18: Private Equity ; Afterword: Factor Management ; Appendix: Returns ; Acknowledgements ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-1929) was an American economist and sociologist. Educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University and Yale University, his most famous work, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), from which this selection is taken, is a satiric look at American society. He coined the widely used phrases "conspicuous consumption" and "pecuniary emulation".

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Book SynopsisA new and radical reexamination of today''s neoliberalist “new economy” through the political lens of the debtor/creditor relation."The debtor-creditor relation, which is at the heart of this book, sharpens mechanisms of exploitation and domination indiscriminately, since, in it, there is no distinction between workers and the unemployed, consumers and producers, working and non-working populations, between retirees and welfare recipients. They are all ''debtors,'' guilty and responsible in the eyes of capital, which has become the Great, the Universal, Creditor."—from The Making of the Indebted ManDebt—both public debt and private debt—has become a major concern of economic and political leaders. In The Making of the Indebted Man, Maurizio Lazzarato shows that, far from being a threat to the capitalist economy, debt lies at the very core of the neoliberal project. Through a reading of Karl Marx''s lesser-known youthful writings on John Mill, and a rereading of writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Michel Foucault, Lazzarato demonstrates that debt is above all a political construction, and that the creditor/debtor relation is the fundamental social relation of Western societies.Debt cannot be reduced to a simple economic mechanism, for it is also a technique of “public safety” through which individual and collective subjectivities are governed and controlled. Its aim is to minimize the uncertainty of the time and behavior of the governed. We are forever sinking further into debt to the State, to private insurance, and, on a more general level, to corporations. To insure that we honor our debts, we are at once encouraged and compelled to become the “entrepreneurs” of our lives, of our “human capital.” In this way, our entire material, psychological, and affective horizon is upended and reconfigured.How do we extricate ourselves from this impossible situation? How do we escape the neoliberal condition of the indebted man? Lazzarato argues that we will have to recognize that there is no simple technical, economic, or financial solution. We must instead radically challenge the fundamental social relation structuring capitalism: the system of debt.

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Book SynopsisElgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. This Advanced Introduction presents a focused narrative about political decision-making based on the work that has defined public choice as a discipline. Randall G. Holcombe emphasizes the theoretical foundations of Public Choice, examining the way that voter preferences are aggregated through democratic decision-making, the way that political exchange leads to the production of public policy, and the way that the constitutional framework within which political activity takes place is designed. He provides a concise discussion of the main models of Public Choice in an engaging manner, giving readers a foundation for understanding the theoretical and empirical work in the field. Each chapter ends with a Notes section that discusses the research on which the chapter is based, with an emphasis on the pioneering work that has shaped the development of Public Choice.Undergraduate and graduate level students in economics, political science and public administration will find this introduction an essential resource for understanding political decision making. Instructors in those fields will find this book a useful and affordable text and an indispensable resource for teaching Public Choice.Trade Review'In this slim volume, Randall Holcombe takes the reader masterfully on an informative journey through the main regions of public choice theory. Among the topics this fine volume covers are voting theory, presidential vs. parliamentary systems, interest groups, bureaucracy, political entrepreneurship, and constitutional political economy. Someone who works through this book will be solidly prepared to venture into the higher reaches of public choice theory.' --Richard E. Wagner, George Mason University'Robert Kennedy said that ''Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.'' This is a book for both kinds of people. Holcombe provides a hard-headed analysis of how government and politics actually works, and careful analysis of why the dreams for optimal outcomes, whether coming from the formal models of supposedly sophisticated economists, (based on ''as if'' assumptions that exclude politics), or those coming from idealist ''reformers'' (stemming from their utopian visions), end up shattered by harsh behavioral and institutional realities. Written in a completely non-technical fashion, and covering topics like rational ignorance, rent-seeking and regulatory capture, this book works beautifully either as a complement to traditional introductory economics courses, or to introductory courses in political science.' --Bernard Grofman, University of California, Irvine'The author has extensive personal connections to all the aspects of public choice, and has produced a masterful volume. The insights of public choice are varied, but its explanatory power is consistent. Holcombe manages to weave together an interesting and informed commentary on the many strands of public choice scholarship in a way that will be useful even to experts, while providing an overview that a determined newcomer will be able to pick up immediately.' --Michael Munger, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsContents: Part I: Introduction 1. Public Choice and Public Policy Part II: Aggregating Voter Preferences 2. The Politics of Left and Right 3. Institutions: Proportional vs. Plurality; Parliamentary vs. Presidential 4. Political Strategy: Turnout and the Distribution of Preferences 5. Multidimensional Issue Space 6. Why Do People Vote? Rational Ignorance, Expressive Voting, Rational Irrationality Part III: Designing Public Policy 7. Transaction Costs and Political Exchange 8. Political Markets: Interest Groups, Rent-Seeking, and Regulatory Capture 9. Bureaucracy 10. Political Organization: Districts, Committees, and Institutional Design 11. Political Entrepreneurship Part IV: Constitutional Design 12. Constitutional and Post-Constitutional Decision-Making 13. Interest Groups and Constitutional Evolution 14. Checks and Balances: Elites and Masses Index

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Book SynopsisMilton Friedman was lauded as the grandmaster of free-market economic theory in the postwar era. This book collects many of Friedman's papers on topics in economics that were published in the "Journal of Political Economy". It incorporates papers from 1948 to 1990. It is useful for those tracing the course of 20th century economics and politics.Trade Review"There are very few people over the generations who have ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization. Milton Friedman is one of those very few people." - Alan Greenspan"

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Book SynopsisAs the first comprehensive treatment of Classical economics from a modern Austrian perspective, this important history of nineteenth century economic thought discusses the key members of each school and reassesses their work. Professor Rothbard's approach offers new perspectives on both Ricardo and Say and their followers. The author suggests that Ricardianism declined after 1820 and was only revived with the work of John Stuart Mill. The book also resurrects the important Anglo-Irish school of thought at Trinity College, Dublin under Archbishop Richard Whately. Later chapters focus on the roots of Karl Marx and the nature of his doctrines, and laissez-faire thought in France including the work of Frederic Bastiat. Also included is a comprehensive treatment of the bullionist versus anti-bullionist and the Currency versus banking School controversies in the first half of the nineteenth century, and their influence outside Great Britain.Tracing economic thought from Smith to Marx, this book is notable for its inclusion of all the important figures in each school of thought and for assessing their theories in religious, political, philosophical and historical context. Economic Thought before Adam Smith, the first volume of Professor Rothbard's history of economic thought from an Austrian perspective, is also available.Trade Review'Rothbard's two-volume history of economic thought will inspire much fruitful discussion . . . Works that combine so much scholarship, clarity, freshness, and courage have become rare in economics.' -- Paul Heyne, The Independent Review'. . . the magnitude of Rothbard's achievement was such that his legacy is assured; his contribution to the cause of liberty in America will not only endure but continue to grow in stature. As an economist, he succeeded in firmly establishing the Austrian school of economics in America, expanding and refining the legacy of his own mentor, the great Ludwig von Mises.' -- Justin Raimondo, Chronicles'. . . an extraordinarily lively and provocative book. The world would be a poorer place without this stimulating and combative book. . .' -- D. P. O'Brien, The Manchester School'. . . it provides an extremely wide-ranging treatment of the periods and topics it covers. . . . this is a controversial book, written from a clear-cut standpoint. . . . an extremely exciting, even brilliant book.' -- Roger E. Backhouse, History of Economic Thought'To say that Murray Rothbard wrote with a polemical flair is an understatement of astonishing proportions. . . . The volumes are beautifully produced by Edward Elgar and anyone interested in Rothbard's thought, the history of economic liberalism, and the history of economic thought in general, will want these volumes in their personal collection. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought is vintage Rothbard, which means that the volumes are very readable, always unique in interpretation. . . . In short Rothbard's An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought is a major contribution to the history of economic thought in general, and to Austrian economics in particular, and it deserves a wide circulation. It ranks with the contributions to intellectual history - not as a textbook of the wrong opinions of dead men, but as an original theoretical work whose intellectual story, if listened to, would surely overturn the received wisdom of our day and lead to a major recasting of the disciplines of economics and of political economy.' -- Peter J. Boettke, Economic Affairs'Murray Rothbard's two volumes are a monument of twentieth century scholarship.' -- David Gordon, The Mises Review'Rothbard's treatise makes a good case for the study of economic thought and provides a good introduction to Austrian economics by showing its links with earlier thinkers. . . friend and foe alike will benefit from Rothbard's atypical approach. His discussions of every thinker are enriched with insights on philosophy, history, religion, political movements, and the philosophy of science. The two volumes are jam-packed with information and research ideas.' -- Mark Thornton, Southern Economic JournalTable of ContentsContents: 1. J.B. Say: The French Tradition in Smithian Clothing 2. Jeremy Bentham: The Utilitarian as Big Brother 3. James Mill, Ricardo and the Ricardian System 4. The Decline of the Ricardian System, 1820–48 5. Monetary and Banking Thought, I: The Early Bullionist Controversy 6. Monetary and Banking Thought, II: The Bullion Report and the Return to Gold 7. Monetary and Banking Thought, III: The Struggle Over the Currency School 8. John Stuart Mill and the Reimposition of Ricardian Economics 9. Roots of Marxism: Messianic Communism 10. Marx’s Vision of Communism 11. Alienation, Unity and Dialectic 12. The Marxian System, I: Historical Materialism and the Class Struggle 13. The Marxian System, II: The Economics of Capitalism and its Inevitable Demise 14. After Mill: Bastiat and the French Laissez-Faire Tradition Bibliographical Essay

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Book SynopsisIn this series of essays, Ayn Rand presents her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the default of conservatism, and the evils of altruism.The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This is the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constitutes a major philosophic revolution. Here is a challenging new look at modern society by one of the most provocative intellectuals on the American scene.   This edition includes two articles by Ayn Rand that did not appear in the hardcover edition: “The Wreckage of the Consensus,” which presents the Objectivists’ views on Vietnam and the draft; and “Requiem for Man,” an answer to the Papal encyclical Progresso Populorum.

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Book SynopsisIn 1876, Carl Menger, then a young professor at the University of Vienna, was asked to teach the principles of political economy to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the 17 year old only son of Emperor Francis Joseph, who was to die tragically before he could inherit the throne.Rudolf's recently discovered Notebooks of these lectures, corrected by Menger, are a fascinating record of what the founder of the Austrian marginalist school thought worth teaching to the heir presumptive of a great power. Without referring to his own theories, Menger delivered a course on the economics of Adam Smith - as presented in the mainstream German textbooks of the time - in such a way that the Notebooks can be viewed as a key document on classical economic liberalism, pure and unadulterated. They cast new light on Menger's own theoretical discoveries, his view of government and his interpretation of classical economics. In this important volume Rudolf's Notebooks are published for the first time both in German and an English translation. The editor's detailed introduction provides the historical and intellectual background to the Notebooks as well as a thorough analysis of classical economics and its treatment by Menger. The text is fully annotated in German and English with its surprising sources traced passage by passage.Trade Review'This book will be of interest on a number of different levels. Most simply, it is a fascinating historical record of a pedagogical experience. . . . the Notebooks present the historian of economic thought, and those interested in the Austrian school in particular, with a number of intriguing, even frustrating puzzles.' -- Peter Lewin, History of Economic Ideas'. . . in all this volume provides a useful addition to our understanding of Carl Menger. The translation is very readable and the index is good. The Streisslers are to be commended for performing a real service to the scholarly community in editing and publishing this book.' -- Karen I. Vaughn, Journal of the History of Economic Thought

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Book SynopsisNewsweek hailed Paul Krugman as "a superstar among economists" and went on to praise Peddling Prosperity as "the best primer around on recent U.S. economic history." Others joined the chorus.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"John Campbell is one of the leading researchers and teachers in asset pricing. This remarkably clear and well-organized book is strong testimony to his expertise. I will use it often in my own research."—Kenneth R. French, Dartmouth College"John Campbell has given us the definitive course text on financial decision making and asset pricing. Every student and researcher in the field will want this masterful integration of decades of study on actual investor behavior and market equilibrium."—Darrell Duffie, Stanford University"John Campbell has long been a top researcher in the vibrant intersection of asset pricing and macroeconomics. This book provides an interesting and in-depth exposition of his take on the current state of this important area."—Eugene Fama, University of Chicago Booth School of Business"Written by a major contributor to the economics of financial markets, Financial Decisions and Markets is a comprehensive, insightful, and authoritative graduate-level introduction to asset pricing. This book stresses the interplay between theory, econometrics, and empirics, the hallmark of John Campbell's research. The critical analysis and problem sets stimulate readers to confront open questions at the research frontier. I plan to adopt this book in my PhD-level course."—George M. Constantinides, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Important and elegantly written."--Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal "The End of Theory holds some important lessons for financial markets today... According to Bookstaber, it's time to stop tweaking a 150-year-old model that seems to be getting worse, not better, at predicting crises, and embrace something totally new. Finally, and perhaps most usefully, he challenges the economics profession itself, where too many experts still have way too much faith in their own mathematical infallibility."--Rana Faroohar, Financial Times "The analysis is top-notch, and anyone who wants to understand the workings of the financial system will benefit from reading this book."--The EconomistTable of ContentsI: Introduction 1 1 Crises and Sunspots 3 2 Being Human 14 II: The Four Horsemen 23 3 Social Interactions and Computational Irreducibility 25 4 The Individual and the Human Wave: Emergent Phenomena 34 5 Context and Ergodicity 40 6 Human Experience and Radical Uncertainty 50 7 Heuristics: How to Act Like a Human 65 III: Paradigm Past And Future 79 8 Economics in Crisis 81 9 Agent-Based Models 94 10 Agents in the Complexity Spectrum 108 IV: Agent-Based Models For Financial Crises 125 11 The Structure of the Financial System: Agents and the Environment 127 12 Liquidity and Crashes 144 13 The 2008 Crisis with an Agent-Based View 157 V: The End Of Theory 169 14 Is It a Number or a Story? Model as Narrative 171 15 Conclusion 185 Acknowledgments 191 Notes 193 References 211 Index 221

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Book SynopsisFrom blind faith in ever-rising housing prices to plummeting confidence in capital markets, 'animal spirits' are driving financial events worldwide. This book aims to challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and puts forward a fresh vision that can transform economics and restore prosperity.Trade ReviewRobert J. Shiller, Co-Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics George A. Akerlof, Co-Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics Winner of the 2009 Book Award, getAbstract International Winner of the 2009 Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security, TIAA-CREF Winner of the 2009 Finance Book of the Year, CBN (China Business News) Financial Value Ranking Shortlisted for the 2009 Book of the Year, Financial Times//Goldman Sachs Business Featured on the Financial Times (FT.com)'s Books of the Year list Listed on Bloomberg.com in a review by James Pressley as two of "our favorite financial-crisis books this year." "Akerlof and Shiller are the first to try to rework economic theory for our times. The effort itself makes their book a milestone... And their book takes their case not just to economists, but also to the general reader. It is short (176 pages of text) and easy enough for laymen to understand."--Louis Uchitelle, New York Times Book Review "There is barely a page of Animal Spirits without a fascinating fact or insight."--John Lanchester, New Yorker "Akerlof and Shiller succeed, too, in demonstrating that conventional macroeconomic analyses often fail because they omit not just readily observable facts like unemployment and institutions such as credit markets but also harder-to-document behavioral patterns that fall within the authors' notion of 'animal spirits.' Confidence plainly matters, and so does the absence of it. When the public mood swings from exuberance to anxiety, or even fear, the effect on asset prices as well as on economic activity outside the financial sector can be large."--Benjamin M. Friedman, New York Review of Books "Animal Spirits [is] ... the new must-read in Obamaworld."--Michael Grunwald, Time "[Animal Spirits] really applies to all the big areas where we need change."--Peter Orszag, Obama budget director (quoted from Time magazine article) "White House Budget Director Peter Orszag is a numbers guy, a propeller head as President Obama would say. But as David Von Drehle and I write in this week's print version of Time, Orszag has been spending his time recently reading not about spreadsheets, but about psychology. In particular, he has been reading a new book by the economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller called Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives The Economy, and Why It Matters For Global Capitalism... We are, it turns out, slaves to the Animal Spirits. They have brought us to our knees. And now they are the only things that can save us."--Michael Scherer, Time.com's Swampland "In their new book, two of the most creative and respected economic thinkers currently at work, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, argue that the key is to recover Keynes's insight about 'animal spirits'--the attitudes and ideas that guide economic action. The orthodoxy needs to be rebuilt, and bringing these psychological factors into the core of economics is the way to do it... The connections between their thinking on the limits to conventional economics and the issues thrown up by the breakdown are plain, even if they were unable to make every link explicit. Even more than Akerlof and Shiller could have hoped, therefore, it is a fine book at exactly the right time... Animal Spirits carries its ambition lightly--but is ambitious nonetheless. Economists will see it as a kind of manifesto."--Clive Crook, Financial Times "An influential Democrat who was also one of the world's top-ten, highest-paid hedge fund managers last year thinks he knows which book is at the top of the White House reading list this spring: Animal Spirits, the powerful new blast of behavioural economics from Nobel prize-winner George Akerlof and Yale economist Robert Shiller."--Financial Times "Akerlof and Shiller remind us that emotional and intangible factors--such as confidence in institutions, illusions about the nature of money or a sense of being treated unfairly--can affect how people make decisions about borrowing, spending, saving and investing. Animal Spirits is an affectionate tribute to the man [John Maynard Keynes] whose ideas, unfashionable for the past 30 years, have resurged."--Nature "Animal Spirits is a welcome addition to our Hannitized national economic debate, in which anyone who advocates government spending risks being labeled a socialist... Animal Spirits is most compelling when the authors summon all the key behavioral patterns to explain vast, complex phenomena such as the Great Depression... Animal Spirits ... [is] aimed squarely at the general reader, and rightly so: Macroeconomics is now everybody's business--the banks are playing with our money."--Andrew Rosenblum, New York Observer "[A] lively new financial crisis book."--James Pressley, Bloomberg News "The two superstars have produced a truly innovative and bold work that attempts to show how psychological factors explain the origins of the current mess and offer clues for possible solutions. At a time when plummeting confidence is dragging down the market and the economy, the authors' focus on the psychological aspect of economics is incredibly important."--Michael Mandel, BusinessWeek "What Sigmund Freud did for the study of the mind, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller are doing for economics. Freud, healer or fake--take your pick--built a career and a field of medicine on the idea that people are driven by irrational forces. Akerlof, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, and Shiller, the Yale economist who is the eminence grise of the housing meltdown, argue that massive government market intervention programs are the only way to turn fear into enthusiasm for spending and investing--the 'animal spirits' that are an essential part of recovery... Akerlof and Shiller pick up on the idea of the emotional impetus to investment. With elegant reasoning and lovely prose, they demonstrate that we'll all be wallowing in misery unless governments around world, especially the in the G7 nations, help to return markets to optimism... Animal Spirits is a fine discussion of the last few decades of development of economic theory, especially monetary economics."--Andrew Allentuck, The Globe & Mail "[T]his book is rather more than the usual lament about the failings of economics. Its authors are two of the discipline's leading lights... Most of the time, the unrealistic assumption of rationality serves economists fairly well. They should, however, be more prepared to depart from it, especially in times like these--even if that makes behaviour more difficult to describe in elegant equations. Messrs Akerlof and Shiller have therefore done their profession a service."--The Economist "With Animal Spirits we hone in on how incentives and narratives can be created to channel the human psychological factor into collectively healthy directions, and how to be aware of the fictions we tell ourselves about how we wish the world and greed and financial security worked. [Animal Spirits] sheds light on complex issues and leaves readers with a better grasp of undercurrents and--most importantly--a rediscovered belief in principles of common sense and caution."--Daily Kos "The new book from George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, Animal Spirits, has been getting a lot of press of late, and quite rightly: it's really good. It's not only very readable; it also offers a compelling vision of a very different type of macroeconomics--one where behavioral considerations are front and center, rather than simply providing what Clive Crook calls 'ad hoc modifications' to the standard, ridiculously oversimplified and unrealistic, model... [I]f you read only one book on this subject, make it Animal Spirits."--Felix Salmon, Portfolio.com "As George Akerlof and Robert Shiller show in a new book Animal Spirits, this is no freak storm. It may mark the long-awaited encounter between psychology and economics... Akerlof and Shiller's book is probably the first macroeconomic exploration of the subject that is accessible to those interested in the subject but who don't have the academic training to understand the detailed argument."--Mint "My book of the week is an easy one this time around: it's Animal Spirits, by Robert Shiller and George Akerlof... Admittedly, I'm biased as a fan of both Shiller's and Akerlof's. Believe me, however, when I say the blessedly brief Animal Spirits is a thoughtful and well-written look at how economics discarded psychology and lost its way on the trip from Adam Smith, through Keynesianism, to laissez-faire. The book puts the current crisis in a useful economic context, with consistent and practical selections from behavioral finance illuminating everything along the way... Highly recommended."--Paul Kedrosky, SeekingAlpha "Another contribution to the human-nature-ensures-economics-is-irrational school of thought. But, unlike many of the rants against people trying to make an honest profit, this is a measured examination of how the present crisis is explained in economic terms. And so it should be. George Akerlof is a Nobel prizewinner, Robert Shiller teaches at Yale and is the author of Irrational Exuberance, which should give you an idea of this one's approach. This fascinating work uses economics to explain real-life issues, such as real estate price cycles, to key policy problems, such as the relationship between inflation and employment."--Stephen Matchett, The Australian "George Akerlof and Rober Shiller's Animal Spirits is a plea to start believing our lying eyes rather than the model. Rather than try to explain away the apparent irrationality in human behaviour, Akerlof and Shiller say we need to try to understand it and shape policies that take it into account... The core message of Animal Spirits is that we should stop trying to cage the spirits and instead admit their central importance. Specifically, this means that world governments will need to intervene forcefully in the current economic crisis with both fiscal stimulus and direct measures to stimulate lending--to restore some of the confidence that the crash has sapped."--Matthew Yglesias, The National "In saluting Keynes' quip, Akerlof and Shiller argue that much of the story is in the unreliability and incompleteness of supposedly rational behavior--the micro-foundation of the free-market model. They contend that modern economics, even self-described Keynesian economics, has given short shrift to this core behavioral insight... Their best chapter is on the limited capacity of central banks to prevent or cure calamities."--Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect "Akerlof and Shiller take psychological research seriously, and it's refreshing to see that they're not trying to reinvent the wheel... The book is an interesting read and would probably be very useful for an undergrad class that needs an introduction to behavioral economics. A & S do a nice job of moving between the theoretical and the practical, the empirical and the implied. The writing is accessible and the topic is more than relevant to our current economic situation."--Orgtheory.net "Animal Spirits is succinct, clear and lively."--Brad Willis, Edmonton Journal "In an intriguing new book, Animal Spirits, US economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller argue that psychology plays a far bigger role in determining economic outcomes than economists realize--and that, broadly speaking, people get what they expect. If we think good times are ahead, we act confidently in a way that creates them. And if we expect a downturn ahead, we act defensively and unwittingly ensure that's what we get."--Tim Colebatch, The Age "The authors are right in pointing out the inadequacy of conventional economics in understanding, not to say addressing, today's economic woes, because they fail to take into account these animal spirits."--Wan Lixin, Shanghai Daily "[Animal Spirits] is a short, thoughtful and sometimes simplistic book that calls for a different vision of economics... Animal Spirits may well be a GPS system for a changing economic future."--Gene Rebeck, Delta Sky "Animal Spirits presents a rigorous case for the importance of 'confidence multipliers' and 'stories' in explaining recent market behaviour and of 'fairness' and 'money illusion' in preventing wages from falling in recessions to the market-clearing rate. Written in an accessible style, the book provides a very useful practical primer for policy-makers, practitioners and academics on many aspects of the current crisis. The authors also make a compelling theoretical case for macroeconomists taking more account of the role of non-economic motives and irrational responses."--Richard Bronk, The Business Economist "[T]he authors do a superb job of conveying the importance of bevaioural economics to a non-specialist audience. They increase our understanding of recent economic events and they show that animal spirits affect how governments should manage the economy."--Natalie Gold, Times Higher Education "Animal Spirits offers a road map for reversing the financial misfortunes besetting us today. Read it and learn how leaders can channel animal spirits--the powerful forces of human psychology that are afoot in the world economy today."--Money Science "[T]his very book seems to be one of the 'must-reads' in the Obama administration."--Andreas Ernst, JASSS "Ideologists are likely to dismiss this volume. However, for other readers--whether their perspectives are quantitative or qualitative--Animal Spirits may fill a troubling gap in existing investigations of the causes of booms and busts."--Thomas H. Wilkins, Investment Professional "Akerlof and Shiller's book is an interesting and thought-provoking attempt to understand how underlying human psychology drives the economy. The questions they pose and the examples they provide should be read by any economist seeking to better understand the differences between what economics predict will occur, and how people actually behave as individuals and within larger groups."--Dmitri Leybman, Midway Review "Animal Spirits, which attempts to leverage the insights of behavioral economics to reanimate the vision of John Maynard Keynes, is perfectly timed for the present moment."--Nick Schulz, Wilson Quarterly "Animal Spirits is exceptional in showing how economics can be accessible and relevant in dealing with this awesome challenge."--Irish Times "A reader would be right in thinking that Animal Spirits is an especially appealing but provocative appetizer that stimulates the interest of unorthodox and anti-orthodox economists everywhere to rewrite macroeconomics as if humans beings with their messy emotions, group dynamics, and all the rest really exist. Readers will also find Animal Spirits an invitation for society to ignore new classical economics in the interest of effective and decent economic policy."--Marcellus Andrews, Challenge "[T]he authors are ... [b]oth ... credited with a deep understanding of economic history, the history of economic thought, and today's global economic environment. That makes this book a 'must read' for anyone seeking insights into recent economic events and seeking ways of crafting government policies to prevent another similar economic downturn."--Jagadeesh Gokhale, Cato JournalTable of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Part One: Animal Spirits Chapter One: Confidence and Its Multipliers 11 Chapter Two: Fairness 19 Chapter Three: Corruption and Bad Faith 26 Chapter Four: Money Illusion 41 Chapter Five: Stories 51 Part Two: Eight Questions and Their Answers Chapter Six: Why Do Economies Fall into Depression? 59 Chapter Seven: Why Do Central Bankers Have Power over the Economy (Insofar as They Do)? 74 Postscript to Chapter Seven: The Current Financial Crisis: What Is to Be Done? 86 Chapter Eight: Why Are There People Who Cannot Find a Job? 97 Chapter Nine: Why Is There a Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment in the Long Run? 107 Chapter Ten: Why Is Saving for the Future So Arbitrary? 116 Chapter Eleven: Why Are Financial Prices and Corporate Investments So Volatile? 131 Chapter Twelve: Why Do Real Estate Markets Go through Cycles? 149 Chapter Thirteen: Why Is There Special Poverty among Minorities? 157 Chapter Fourteen: Conclusion 167 Notes 177 References 199 Index 219

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Book SynopsisEconomics is changing radically. This paradigm shift, the biggest in the field for over a century, will have profound implications for business, government and society for decades to come.In this groundbreaking book, economic thinker and writer Eric Beinhocker surveys the cutting-edge ideas of the leading economists, physicists, biologists and cognitive scientists who are fundamentally reshaping economics, and brings their work alive for a broad audience.These researchers argue that the economy is a ''complex adaptive system'', more akin to the brain, the internet or an ecosystem than to the static picture of economic systems portrayed by traditional theory. They claim it is the evolutionary process of differentiation, selection and amplification, acting on designs for technologies, social institutions and businesses that drives growth in the economy over time. If Adam Smith provided the inspiration for economics in the twentieth century, it is Charles Darwin who is Trade Review... A brilliant, thought-provoking and wide-ranging book ... anybody interested in understanding why we are where we are should read it. For me, it was more than the business book of 2006; it was the book of 2006 -- Martin Wolf * Financial Times *Beinhocker is nothing if not ambitious -- Sir Howard Davies, director of The LSE * The Times Higher Educational Supplement *An absorbing survey...[a] tour de force -- James Pressley * Bloomberg *Economic thinking has changed radically in the last fifteen years.Eric Beinhocker gives us a sparkling tour of the new ideas. -- Professor W. Brian Arthur, Santa Fe InstituteFor business readers and academics, Beinhocker is a zealous and able guide * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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