Macroeconomics Books

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisAlmost 15 years ago, in The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman popularized the latest wave of globalization as a world of giant corporate supply chains that tripled world trade between 1990 and 2010. Major corporations such as Apple, Dell, and GE offshored manufacturing to low-cost economies; China became the world's factory, mass-producing and exporting computers and gadgets to Western shoppers. This paradigm of globalization has dominated global trade policy-making and guided hundreds of billions of dollars in business investments and development spending for almost three decades. But we are now on the cusp of a new era. Revolutionizing World Trade argues that technologies such as ecommerce, 3D printing, 5G, the Cloud, blockchain, and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the economics of trade and global production, empowering businesses of all sizes to make, move, and market products and services worldwide and with greater ease than ever before. The twin forces of digitization and trade are changing the patterns, players, politics, and possibilities of world trade, and can reinvigorate global productivity growth. However, new policy challenges and old regulatory frameworks are stifling the promise of this most dynamic, prosperous, and inclusive wave of globalization yet. This book uses new empirical evidence and policy experiences to examine the clash between emerging possibilities in world trade and outdated policies and institutions, offering several policy recommendations for navigating these obstacles to catalyze growth and development around the world.Trade Review"Trade has historically been expensive, slow, and opaque. Today's disruptive technologies not only offer new solutions to old problems, but create wholly new global markets for products and services. Kati Suominen draws from her deep experience in the world of goods trade to clearly set out the parameters of this new global trading ecosystem, offering excellent insight and advice for goods producers seeking to get involved in frontier technologies like blockchain and AI."—Dr. Alisa DiCaprio, Head of Trade and Supply Chain, R3"Suominen brilliantly explores the impact of new technologies on the patterns, players, and possibilities of world trade, and their unparalleled potential to reignite productivity, raise incomes, and empower people. She then masterfully lays down a bold and innovative blueprint to help policymakers act on this potential. In an increasingly darkening global trade policy scenario, this is a book by a modern-day Renaissance woman on the renaissance of globalization!"—Anabel González, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, former Costa Rica Trade Minister, Senior Director of the World Bank Trade & Competitiveness, and former WTO Agriculture Director"An important new book, highlighting the trading opportunities that come with new technologies. It analyzes the challenges that need to be overcome, including cross-border procedures, and makes the key point that beyond digitizing trade, we also need to digitize customs, borders, and ports."—Jan Hoffmann, Chief, Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD"Professor Kati Suominen 'gets it.' Globalization, technology, and mass affluence have changed the rules for international expansion. In Revolutionizing World Trade, Suominen walks us through how these changes have upended the traditional trading world, driven by ecommerce and the Internet. Every international business should get this book. Then they can 'get it' as well."—Frank Lavin, Chairman, Export Now, former Undersecretary for International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce"Revolutionizing World Trade provides an in-depth look at forces changing trade and global business and makes important recommendations for bold policy ideas which would enable outsized economic growth across global markets. A must-read for anyone driven to solve these big problems."—Brenda Santoro, Head of Global Trade, Silicon Valley Bank"Kati has a wealth of experience in international trade from both a private sector practitioner perspective as well as a public sector policy perspective. Her work has taken her to the forefront of the evolving trade landscape. This book elucidates this evolution and is a great contribution to the debate about the future of trade and our ability to shape its course for the betterment of the global community."—Steven Beck, Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Asian Development Bank"Kati Suominen introduces this book as a roadmap for the far-sighted entrepreneur; however, it is much more than that. In Revolutionizing World Trade, she explores the opportunities and challenges facing businesses, policy makers, regulators, and society in general, before finally setting out her manifesto for using e-commerce as a key enabler for inclusive trade. Whatever your role or interest in e-commerce and trade, this book will help you better understand how e-commerce is shaping our world today and the benefits that it can bring tomorrow."—Steven Pope, Vice President Customs & Regulatory Affairs, DHL Express Europe"In a time of taking two steps back, Revolutionizing World Trade makes a bold leap into the future and the verdict is there is nothing to fear! Suominen provides a thorough review of what's to come for the global economy and while not shying from the real challenges facing consumers, governments and businesses, generates a sense of promise and optimism sorely missing from today's discourse on global affairs."—Susan F. Stone, Senior Trade Advisor, OECD"Suominen examines the opportunities that new technologies will open up in world trade, ushering in what she calls 'globalization 4.0' within a decade. This future is already apparent, in an incipient form."—Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs"This [is a] lively, well-written book....Suominen is well versed in these issues, is at home as a policy wonk, and has all the right credentials (and she adds a welcome sense of humor and irreverence)....Highly recommended."—I. Walter, CHOICETable of Contents1. Introduction 2. World Economy Goes to Heaven 3. Killer App for World Trade 4. When Six Billion People Go to the Mall 5. Driverless Delivery, Door to Door 6. Finding $1.7 Trillion 7. The Big Query 8. Offline 9. Stuck in Customs 10. Splinternet 11. Credit Crunch 12. Techlash and Trade Wars 13. Better Trade By More People

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Book SynopsisThe days of boom and bubble are over, and the time has come to understand the long-term economic reality. Although the Great Recession officially ended in 2009, hopes for a new phase of economic expansion were quickly dashed. Instead, growth has been slow, unemployment has remained high, wages and benefits have seen little improvement, poverty has increased, and the trend toward more inequality of incomes and wealth has continued. It appears that the Great Recession has given way to a period of long-term anaemic growth, which Foster and McChesney aptly term the Great Stagnation.This incisive and timely book traces the origins of economic stagnation and explains what it means for a clear understanding of our current situation. The authors point out that increasing monopolization of the economy-when a handful of large firms dominate one or several industries-leads to an over-abundance of capital and too few profitable investment opportunities, with economic stagnation as the result. Absent powerful stimuli to investment, such as historic innovations like the automobile or major government spending, modern capitalist economies have become increasingly dependent on the financial sector to realize profits. And while financialisation may have provided a respite from stagnation, it is a solution that cannot last indefinitely, as instability in financial markets over the last half-decade has made clear.Trade Review("The authors carefully develop a powerful case that the normal state of 'really existing capitalist economies,' increasingly dominated by multinational megacorporations along with associated financialization, is not growth with occasional recession, but rather stagnation with occasional escapes that have diminishing prospects. Hence an 'endless crisis,' endless in both time and space, including China. And a crisis that is heading towards disaster unless there is a radical change of course. This valuable inquiry should be carefully studied and pondered, and should be taken as an incentive to action." -Noam Chomsky) // ("In the distinguished tradition of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, Foster and McChesney here combine grim analysis with bleak prognosis, reminding us that monopoly power disappeared from the textbooks but not from real life. This is a useful book for anyone raised on the reflexive American optimism of the post-war years." --James K. Galbraith)

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Book SynopsisDo the Fed’s efforts to stabilize the economy worsen inequality? The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, was built for a monetary system composed primarily of investor-owned, government-chartered banks. But over the years, the erosion of banking law and the rise of alternative forms of money created outside of the banking system have pushed the Fed to take on more and more responsibilities to keep the economy out of recession, as it did during the 2008 crisis, and again during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it created $3 trillion to stop another financial panic. Legal scholar and former Treasury official Lev Menand explains how the Fed did this, and argues that it is time to cure the disease that has plagued the American economy for decades, and not just rely on the Fed to treat its symptoms. The Fed Unbound is an urgent appeal to Congress to reform the U.S. economic and financial infrastructure.Trade Review“The best book ever on the Federal Reserve system.” —Project Syndicate “On a monetary-policy bookshelf weighed down with thick, self-congratulatory tomes from big-name practitioners who too often obscure more than they explain, Menand delivers a minor miracle of sorts: a short, crisp, nuanced volume that will help you understand what the Fed is up to.” —The Wall Street Journal “A clear, textbook-style history of the founding of the Fed and an explanation of what it actually does in the money markets.” —The Washington Post “In a refreshingly quick read, Lev Menand takes a deep look at the history of the Federal Reserve, its recent actions in times of crisis, and its future possibilities.” —Porchlight Books, editor’s choice “Lev Menand’s The Fed Unbound is an important and provocative book that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the Fed’s role in the financial system and the economy.” —Business Economics “A clear and cogent assessment of how the nation’s central bank might be reformed.” —Kirkus Reviews “A fascinating and deep analysis of what has gone wrong with the American financial system. Lev Menand peels back the layers of mythology and hagiography surrounding the Federal Reserve, to reveal just another government agency that fell in love with deregulation and now struggles with the consequences. The rise and rise of the repo market is central to how a stable and well-functioning financial system became so precarious. This is a must read for anyone who cares about macroeconomic policy and the future of the global economy.” —Simon Johnson, professor at MIT Sloan, and co-author of 13 Bankers “No American institution is more important, or more opaque to the outsider, than the Fed. Now, Lev Menand has somehow, magically, made its functioning, its history, its limitations, and its possible futures completely lucid, even for the non-mathematically inclined, and, along the way, managed to sound several alarms about the risks even the most well-meaning opaque institution presents to democracy.” —Adam Gopnik, author of A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism “Born out of the need to govern the private money supply in a democracy, the Federal Reserve System manages a marriage between the state and the banks it is designed to regulate. As Menand shows, neither partner has been able to effectively contain the other. The outcome of this ‘quixotic dance’ is The Fed Unbound. A crucial read for anybody interested in the structural causes of today’s monetary policy.” —Katharina Pistor, professor at Columbia Law School and author of The Code of Capital: How Law Creates Wealth and Inequality “Over the past century, the Federal Reserve has grown massively in power, size and influence. Yet the reasons for this evolution, and the myriad consequences that flow from it, have often remained shrouded from view. In The Fed Unbound, Menand provides a provocative and fresh account of the Fed’s rise to one of the most important institutions of our time. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in how the government or financial markets actually work.” —Kathryn Judge, professor at Columbia Law School and author of Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source “Lev Menand explains that shadow banking and some newer innovations should be treated as within the private part of the monetary system, while the Fed should not be treated as an all-purpose substitute for the elected Congress. These profound propositions need urgent attention given U.S. world leadership depends on the effectiveness, integrity, and legitimacy of the Fed. Read this book.” —Paul Tucker, author of Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State “The Fed Unbound is a wonderfully lucid and provocative account of the Fed’s ever-expanding role in the U.S. and global economies. Everyone who reads Menand’s account will rethink their understanding of the Fed’s place in the U.S. economy and in the government. This book will be a landmark in the growing field of law and macroeconomics.” —Yair Listokin, professor at Yale Law School and author of Law and Macroeconomics: Legal Remedies to Recessions ”Lev Menand’s incisive analysis of the Fed’s authorities could not be timelier. The Fed Unbound demonstrates how our chronic dependency on the central banking system—and thus, private banks—has failed to benefit the broader public, even in times of crises. In a rare feat, Menand’s work not only interrogates the Fed’s power on a technical level, but points toward the reconstruction of power that should not be.” —Raúl Carrillo, Deputy Director, Law & Political Economy Project

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Book SynopsisFrom the Industrial Revolution to the internet, capitalism has been a great engine of human progress. But now it stands accused of allowing the greedy few to run riot over the rest of society, exploiting workers and suppliers and recklessly damaging the planet in pursuit of profit. Where did these accusations come from – and are they true? In this lively critique, Spectator business editor Martin Vander Weyer argues that capitalism has indeed lost its moral compass, has lost public trust and is in urgent need of repair. But this is no far-left analysis seeking to champion a thinly veiled Marxist platform. Written from the point of view of a deep admirer of entrepreneurship and private-sector investment as a proven path to innovation and prosperity, The Good, the Bad and the Greedy argues that businesses always operate in a social context and that a ‘good’ business in a moral sense can also, in a perfect world, be a business that richly rewards its creators and backers. From the writer whom Boris Johnson called ‘the most oracular and entertaining business commentator’ in London, this thoughtful critique of 21st-century capitalism formulates core principles that separate the good from the bad and the greedy and warns that the system must be reformed and faith in it restored – before the next generation commit the ultimate act of self-harm by rejecting capitalism in favour of something worseTrade Review"We have a problem: we know capitalism works, but we also know most people think it doesn't. Being pro-capitalism isn't fashionable but it is right. How do we sort this out? This timely, thoughtful and witty book offers some excellent answers." - Merryn Somerset Webb, editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek and Financial Times columnist "Martin Vander Weyer has written a magisterial analysis of how modern capitalism has lost its soul. With public support for free-market capitalism evaporating, we need to restore the sense of purpose and obligation that the greatest companies once possessed but which has been lost in a jumble of management-speak, mission statements and cost controls. The Good, the Bad and the Greedy is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why a system that has delivered unprecedented prosperity has also become so unpopular - and who wants to start figuring out what we might do about it." - Matthew Lynn, Daily Telegraph columnist "Martin Vander Weyer makes a clear case that capitalism is not dead - but is often broken by broken people." - Lord Browne of Madingley, former chief executive of BP "This book is a highly engaging combination of economic history, finance and philosophy. It tries to answer the really important questions about business and markets. Whom do companies serve? Can they be more ethical and remain successful? Is reform needed? It covers the critical subjects of tax, executive pay and philanthropy in a balanced and brilliantly readable way. It should be recommended reading for investors, managers, entrepreneurs and politicians - or indeed anyone interested in debating the strengths and weaknesses of the free-enterprise system." - Luke Johnson, entrepreneur and former chairman of Channel 4 and the Royal Society of Art "Timely, insightful and beautifully written." - Rupert Younger, director, Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation "The Good, the Bad and the Greedy explains clearly, with humour and in an easily readable form, how financial markets work, how they affect us all and how from time to time a few greedy undesirables find ways of misleading the public and swindling them. Regulations to prevent fraud exist, but regulators are always slow to catch up. Many firms with decent directors are often too big for top management to supervise effectively what is happening at street level. The result is that public trust in the system gets damaged. Martin Vander Weyer proposes changes to repair that damage and, in particular, to re-establish the City of London's reputation. Even if you feel you have no stake in capitalism, you still ought to know its pros and cons. This is a good way to find out." - Sir Martin Jacomb, former chairman of Prudential and Canary Wharf Group and former deputy chairman of Barclays "Capitalism works best when it enables, through ownership, citizens to have a stake in the nation. It fails when it adulates the making of money without a social or moral purpose. Martin Vander Weyer's laser mind shows the way out of our present turbulence." - Lord Vinson, industrial entrepreneur and founder-director of the Centre for Policy Studies "A handbook for a new start: a thoughtful analysis of what has gone wrong in the financial world, and the history of how that has come about." - Jonathan Ruffer, investment manager and philanthropist

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Book SynopsisForeword by Guido Cozzi (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)Advanced Macroeconomics covers selected topics in advanced macroeconomics at undergraduate level and bridges the gap between intermediate macroeconomics for undergraduates and advanced macroeconomics for postgraduates. By building on materials in intermediate macroeconomics textbooks and covering the mathematics of some classic dynamic general-equilibrium models, this book will give undergraduate students a firm appreciation of modern developments in macroeconomics. This book examines the implications of government policies (such as fiscal policy, monetary policy and innovation policy) and devotes several chapters to economic growth, covering the ideas for which Paul Romer was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2018.Dynamic general equilibrium is the foundation of modern macroeconomics. Chapter 1 begins with a simple static model to demonstrate the concept of general equilibrium. Chapters 2 to 4 cover the neoclassical growth model, exploring the effects of exogenous changes in technology: an important source of business cycle fluctuations. Chapters 5 to 7 use the neoclassical growth model to explore the effects of fiscal policy instruments such as government spending, labour income tax and capital income tax. Chapter 8 develops a simple New Keynesian model to analyse the effects of monetary policy. Chapter 9 begins the analysis of economic growth by reviewing the Solow growth model. Chapters 10 to 12 present the Ramsey model and introduce different market structures to the model to lay down the foundation of the Romer model. Chapter 13 incorporates an R&D sector into the Ramsey model with a monopolistically competitive market structure to develop the Romer model of endogenous technological change. Chapters 14 to 15 examine the implications of the Romer model. Chapter 16 concludes this book by presenting the Schumpeterian growth model and examining its different implications from the Romer model.Trade Review"Angus Chu's book superbly manages to teach undergraduate students the intertemporal macroeconomic methods needed to fully understand the research going on in this field. Hence it fills an important gap in the current didactic literature, which badly misses it and leaves Bachelor students unable to write, for example, a theoretical thesis ... I strongly recommend this book in any good economics curriculum."; Professor Guido Cozzi; University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; "Angus Chu's text is an excellent exposition of modern macroeconomics for advanced undergraduates, filling a gap between intermediate and advanced graduate material. It is distinctive as it systematically develops models from first principles using dynamic optimisation techniques."; Professor Aditya Goenka; University of Birmingham, UK; "Fills the gap between the standard undergraduate textbook with very little or no calculus and the graduate textbook with too much mathematics for an undergraduate course. The presentation of modern growth theory is excellent, allowing readers to access frontier tools and research topics at a fairly low technical cost."; Professor Giammario Impullitti; University of Nottingham, UK; "Provides an excellent overview of the key macroeconomic models with relevance for government policy. In doing so, it addresses not only the traditional models, but it also gives insights from recent research in this field."; Professor Jozef Konings; University of Liverpool, UK; "This advanced textbook offers an interesting blend of analytical, quantitative and policy insights about the best means to model and assess different mechanisms of economic growth and macroeconomic policy questions."; Professor Sushanta Mallick; Queen Mary University of London, UK; "This book covers a range of policy issues, such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, and innovation policy, in a coherent analytical framework, which has the advantage of helping students understand how different topics in macroeconomics relate to each other."; Professor Pietro Peretto; Duke University, USA; "An excellent textbook that covers a substantial number of advanced macroeconomic topics. This is a wonderful learning and reference guide designed for undergraduate students who want to explore advanced macroeconomics and can be easily adopted at postgraduate level ... This stimulating book provides students with solid grounding and rigorous analysis of mathematical modelling. I particularly like the easy-to-follow structure and comprehensive language which are unique features possessed by this must-have book."; Professor Oleksandr Talavera; University of Birmingham, UK; "This well written textbook expertly bridges the gap between the two levels of study ... In this way, students get well acquainted with the basic toolkit of modern macroeconomics, and the rigorous policy analysis shows them how and when the government can improve upon market outcomes."; Professor Akos Valentinyi; University of Manchester, UK;Table of ContentsA Static General-Equilibrium Model; The Neoclassical Growth Model; Dynamics of the Neoclassical Growth Model; The Neoclassical Growth Model with Elastic Labour Supply; Fiscal Policy: Government Spending; Fiscal Policy: Labour Income Tax; Fiscal Policy: Capital Income Tax; Monetary Policy in the New Keynesian Model; The Solow Growth Model; The Ramsey Model; The Ramsey Model with a Perfectly Competitive Market; The Ramsey Model with a Monopolistically Competitive Market; The Romer Model of Endogenous Technological Change; Scale Effect in the Romer Model; R&D Underinvestment and Subsidies; The Schumpeterian Growth Model; Appendix on Dynamic Optimization;

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Book SynopsisA book of two halves, Decarbonomics first sets the scene of current global economics, outlining the effect of the pandemic, the trade war between the US and China and the resulting fragmentation of globalisation. In the second half of the book, leading financial analyst Charles Dumas examines the economic reasons for action on climate change, and what form that might take. Dumas argues that investment to combat the changing climate will provide not only a boost to growth but also a rebalancing of geopolitics, benefiting those economies best placed to exploit the new technologies - possibly away from the oil-rich Middle East and towards the sun-rich Southern Hemisphere. He also examines the implications of a carbon tax, shifting economics to forge a financial solution to climate change. Drawing on original analysis by one of the world's leading macroeconomic forecasters, Decarbonomics shows how climate-change economics has shifted from a story of necessary sacrifice to one of opportunity.Trade ReviewCould the climate challenge rescue our economy from the weak demand that has afflicted it for decades? In this stimulating discussion of global macroeconomics and climate, Charles Dumas suggests that the investments needed to transform generation and use of energy could do more than reduce the threat of climate disaster: with the support of the right policies, they could help end our macroeconomic malaise. -- Martin Wolf * Financial Times *Charles Dumas shows how restoring economic growth and combating climate change are not in conflict but can be partners. * Lord (Mervyn) King, former governor of the Bank of England *It is most impressive, formidable in its determination to apply all that is admirable and pertinent in the high tradition of political economy to the huge issues posed by these topics.' * Peter Jay *

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Book Synopsis__________________*A road-map for a kinder, fairer capitalism that is fit for the 21st century*Financial Times Book of the Month‘The founder of Richer Sounds is one of the finest entrepreneurs we have.’ Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & Spencer__________________Capitalism has lost its way.Every week brings fresh news stories about businesses exploiting their staff, avoiding their taxes, and ripping off their customers. Every week, public anger at the system grows. Now, one of Britain’s foremost entrepreneurs intervenes to make the case for putting business back firmly in the service of society, and setting out on a new path to a kinder, fairer form of capitalism. Drawing on four decades of hands-on management experience, the founder of Richer Sounds argues that ethically run businesses are invariably more efficient, more motivated and more innovative than those that care only about the bottom line. He uncovers the simple tools that the best leaders use to make their businesses fair, revealing how others can follow suit. And he also delves into the big questions that modern capitalism has to answer if it is to survive and to thrive.Trade ReviewThe founder of Richer Sounds is one of the finest entrepreneurs we have. -- Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & SpencerThis is a real eye-opener for people on the left and the right of the political spectrum. -- John Sentamu, the Archbishop of YorkWhat is the right order to rank the various stakeholders in a business? . . . One philosophy is that staff should come first. This perspective is put forward persuasively in a new book called The Ethical Capitalist, written by entrepreneur Julian Richer. I was briefly in business with Julian and came to admire his talents. He has huge energy, sound instincts, and enormous loyalty to the staff in his retail firm Richer Sounds. -- Luke Johnson * Sunday Times *If you are thinking of a great book to read look no further than Julian Richer’s The Ethical Capitalist. -- James Timpson, Chief Executive, Timpson

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Book Synopsis40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for the places where they operate? Joe Studwell explosively lifts the lid on a world of staggering secrecy and shows that the little most people know is almost entirely wrong.Trade ReviewA first-class study ... the product of an original, inquiring mind. * Sunday Times *The romp around the region's pleasure domes is a blast. * Asian Wall Street Journal *You badly need to read this book. Joe Studwell...should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business...his tone is ironic without being cruel...his mythbusting is as merciless as it is enlightening...Studwell skewers myths with equal passion and panache. * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisEffective decision making requires understanding of the underlying principles of financial markets and economics. Intellectually, economics and financial markets are genetically intertwined although when it comes to popular commentary they are treated separately. In fact, academic economic thinking appears separate from financial market equity strategy in most financial market commentary. Historically, macroeconomics tended to assume away financial frictions and financial intermediation whereas financial economists did not necessarily consider the negative macroeconomic spill overs from financial market outcomes. In more recent years, the economic discipline has gone through a serious self-reflection after the global crisis. This book explores the interplay between financial markets and macroeconomic outcomes with a conceptual framework that combines the actions of investors and individuals. Of interest to graduate students and those professionals working in the financial markets, it provides insight into why market prices move and credit markets interact and what factors participants and policy makers can monitor to anticipate market change and future price paths. ​Table of ContentsChapter 1: Why Finance Matters for Economics: The Story of Financing the Railroad.- Chapter 2: The Story of the Original Boom and Bust in Western Finance: The Mississippi Bubble.- Chapter 3: Price Determination in a Multi Sector Global Economy.- Chapter 4: Credit Allocation and the Role of the Price of Credit.- Chapter 5: Short-term Credit: Financing the Consumer and Business.- Chapter 6: Capital Markets: Financing Business over the Long Term.- Chapter 7: Internal Dynamics of Corporate Finance: What’s Behind the Curtain?.- Chapter 8: Evolution of Household Finances.- Chapter 9: Global Capital Flows: Credit Allocation across Borders.- Chapter 10: Profits: Rewards and Incentives.- Chapter 11: Equity Finance: Financing Innovation and Long-term Household Wealth.- Chapter 12: Federal Government Finance: The Grand Assumption. ​

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Book SynopsisIn a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, this book provides empirical guidance to the economy and what to expect in the near and distant future. Beginning with a historic look at major contributions to economic indicators and business cycles starting with Wesley Clair Mitchell (1913) to Burns and Mitchell (1946), to Moore (1961) and Zarnowitz (1992), this book explores time series forecasting and economic cycles, which are currently maintained and enhanced by The Conference Board. Given their highly statistically significant relationship with GDP and the unemployment rate, these relationships are particularly useful for practitioners to help predict business cycles.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Economic Growth and Business Cycles in the United States. - Chapter 2. Mr. Wesley Clair Mitchell: The Advent of U.S. and NBER Business Cycle Research. - Chapter 3. Measuring Business Activity, An Introductions to the Contributions of Mr. Persons, Mr. Schumpeter, Mr. Haberler, and Mr. Eckstein. - Chapter 4. Mr. Burns and Mr. Mitchell on Measuring Business Cycles. - Chapter 5. Mr. Geoffrey Moore and NBER Business Cycle Research. - Chapter 6. Mr. Victor Zarnowitz and Economic Forecasting, and NBER Business Cycle Research. - Chapter 7. Regression and Time Series Modeling of Real GDP, the Unemployment Rate, and the Impact of Leading Economic Indicators on Forecasting Accuracy. - Chapter 8. Granger-Causality Testing and LEI Forecasting of Quarterly Mergers and the Unemployment Rate. - Chapter 9. Active Management in Portfolio Selection and Management within Business Cycles and Present-Day COVID. - Chapter 10. Testing and Forecasting the Unemployment Rate with the Most Current Data, TCB LEI, data as of 11/05/2021. - Chapter 11. Conclusions and Summary.

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Book SynopsisThis book challenges the notion that commodities are always good hedges against inflation, which is the conventional belief today in financial markets. Specifically, it focuses on gold as a traditional hedge and the ways in which crypto assets are argued to be positioned as an alternative hedge against inflationary risk.The book engages with emerging debates around the performance of gold since the 2008 financial crisis, analyzing its characteristics, relationship with inflation, and the role of mining companies, and discusses ways that cryptocurrencies have replaced precious metals as an attractive asset class during an inflationary scenario. In considering the case of crypto as being or not a good inflation hedge, the book devotes particular attention to the theoretical financial and macroeconomic implications of a monetary system based on Bitcoin, dealing with the concept of money and the determination of Bitcoin’s supply and purchasing power. Additionally, it outlines the consequences that such a system would entail for the banking industry, and financial conditions involving interest rates, exchange rates, and the inflation-deflation dynamic. The book also analyses the relative impact of past and future events on the different commodity families.This work will be of interest to students and researchers in financial economics, macroeconomics, and monetary economics, as well as analysts and traders in financial and commodity markets.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Are Commodities a Good Hedge Against Inflation?.- Chapter 2: Precious Metals: The Bull Market that Faded.- Chapter 3- The Market’s New Gold and the Promise of Bitcoin.- Chapter 4: Final Thoughts on Commodities, Crypto and Inflation.

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Book SynopsisMacroeconomic Theory and History.- Basic Macroeconomic Model.- Exogenous and Endogenous Fluctuations.- Exogenous and Endogenous Growth.-  Asset Prices and Bubbles.- Credit Cycle.- Cash Payment and Inflation.- Complete and Incomplete Markets.-  Liquidity Constraints.- Endogenously Incomplete Markets.- Bank Runs and Liquidity Crises.- Money and Job Search.- Dynamic Programming.- Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book reinforces an understanding of Economics by showing how basic mathematics is used to construct models of the economy. By taking wide-ranging examples drawn for virtually all areas of economics, it shows how model-building is an indispensable aid to understanding economics.The mathematical techniques used in the book are fairly rudimentary — optimisation methods and equation-solving are the primary tools used. A brief explanation of constrained optimisation using Lagrange multipliers is provided. Throughout, the emphasis is on how these techniques are fruitfully deployed in constructing economic models and solving economic problems. It bridges the gap between mathematical analysis and economic logic. For readers, it builds confidence in constructing their own models for purposes of analysis. The book is well-suited for self-study.

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Book SynopsisThe global financial crisis has made it clear that powerful psychological forces are imperiling the wealth of nations. This title challenges the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and puts forward a vision that transforms economics and restores prosperity. It asserts the necessity of an active government role in economic policymaking.Trade Review* Robert 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 International Book Award, getAbstract * Co-Winner of the 2010 Silver Medal Book Award in Entrepreneurship, Axiom Business * Co-Winner of the 2010 Robert Lane Award for the Best Book in Political Psychology, American Political Science Association * 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 Business Book of the Year Award, Financial Times and Goldman Sachs * Featured on the Books of the Year list, Financial Times (FT.com)* 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."--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 "Two of the most creative and respected economic thinkers currently at work, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, ... [have written] a fine book at exactly the right time."--Clive Crook, Financial Times "A truly innovative and bold work... 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 "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 "George Akerlof and Robert Shiller have offered an attractive road map for a macroeconomics that might be inspired by the recent financial crisis."--Romar Correa, Economic & Political Weekly "I believe this book to be best suited for those individuals who come from different fields but have a keen interest in economics and finance."--Kristina Vasileva, Journal of General Management "It is perhaps the ultimate compliment to suggest that Russia's greatest writer would very much have agreed with Barany's depiction of the Russian military--and that his approach is a superior one for understanding Russian military politics."--John P. Moran, Perspectives on Politics "More important than the timeliness of the book was the legacy that it leaves behind. This book helps us to understand as never before how macroeconomics really works."--Stan C. Weeber, Journal of Global Analysis "Akerlof and Shiller deserve at least two cheers--one for providing a more solid psychological foundation for our understanding of confidence and another for re-introducing such an important concept into mainstream macroeconomics."--Martin Rapetti, Eastern Economic JournalTable of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition vii Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxvii Introduction 1 Part One: Animal Spirits ONE Confidence and Its Multipliers 11 TWO Fairness 19 THREE Corruption and Bad Faith 26 FOUR Money Illusion 41 FIVE Stories 51 Part Two: Eight Questions and Their Answers SIX Why Do Economies Fall into Depression? 59 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 EIGHT Why Are There People Who Cannot Find a Job? 97 NINE Why Is There a Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment in the Long Run? 107 TEN Why Is Saving for the Future So Arbitrary? 116 ELEVEN Why Are Financial Prices and Corporate Investments So Volatile? 131 TWELVE Why Do Real Estate Markets Go through Cycles? 149 THIRTEEN Why Is There Special Poverty among Minorities? 157 FOURTEEN Conclusion 167 Notes 177 References 199 Index 219

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"William D. Nordhaus, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics""One of Foreign Affairs' Best Books""A Project Syndicate Commentators' Best Reads of the Year""Winner of the Silver Medal in Philanthropy / Nonprofit / Sustainability, Axiom Business Book Awards""A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""Nordhaus’s green compendium is rational and balanced. . . . The author of The Spirit of Green clearly cares intensely about the climate, believes economics offers answers, and sees some welcome positive trends."---Richard Beales, Reuters Breakingviews"A compelling read, and a highly recommended up-to-date guide to the economics of the environment and climate change."---Bejoy K. Thomas, Current Science"In this superb analysis, Nordhaus (Yale Univ.), Nobel laureate in economics, contends that addressing environmental problems should not inhibit economic growth. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *

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Book SynopsisA provocative new analysis of immigration's long-term effects on a nation's economy and culture. Over the last two decades, as economists began using big datasets and modern computing power to reveal the sources of national prosperity, their statistical results kept pointing toward the power of culture to drive the wealth of nations. In The Culture Transplant, Garett Jones documents the cultural foundations of cross-country income differences, showing that immigrants import cultural attitudes from their homelands—toward saving, toward trust, and toward the role of government—that persist for decades, and likely for centuries, in their new national homes. Full assimilation in a generation or two, Jones reports, is a myth. And the cultural traits migrants bring to their new homes have enduring effects upon a nation's economic potential. Built upon mainstream, well-reviewed academic research that hasn't pierced the public consciousness, this book offers a compelling refutation of an unspoken consensus that a nation's economic and political institutions won't be changed by immigration. Jones refutes the common view that we can discuss migration policy without considering whether migration can, over a few generations, substantially transform the economic and political institutions of a nation. And since most of the world's technological innovations come from just a handful of nations, Jones concludes, the entire world has a stake in whether migration policy will help or hurt the quality of government and thus the quality of scientific breakthroughs in those rare innovation powerhouses. Trade Review"Immigrants change the countries they move to. The Culture Transplant is the very best book on this phenomenon, reflecting the continuing rise of Garett Jones as a thinker and writer of real import."—Tyler Cowen, blogger, Marginal Revolution"Synthesizing decades of new work in development economics, Garett Jones re-examines and rejects some of the core assumptions within the modern immigration debate. Defenders of open borders—utilitarians in particular—will have to seriously grapple with this novel and groundbreaking book."—Hrishikesh Joshi, Bowling Green State University"A unique and authoritative treatment of the deep persistence of cultural attributes that permeates across generations, and through migration, shapes institutions and contemporary outcomes. By focusing on people rather than places, Garett Jones provides a unique perspective on how we should think about the role of migration and diversity in understanding modern successes and failures. Jones's treatment of the literature is a master class in distilling rigorous research and presenting it in a breezy fashion that is hard to put down once you get started."—Areendam Chanda, Louisiana State University"The Culture Transplant is a good read, a brief dive into the intriguing question of why some places and some people are so much more prosperous than others."—Robert VerBruggen, Wall Street JournalMuch of the literature on immigrant assimilation looks at easily observable questions about subsequent generations, such as whether they are learning English, graduating high school, and moving up the income ladder. Jones's book proves that these external accomplishments do not necessarily indicate assimilation at the deeper level of cultural values. This is of the greatest possible importance, because every day social science discovers further evidence that these cultural values, more than anything else, determine what a country's politics and its economy will look like in the future."—Helen Andrews, The American Conservative"Jones has written an excellent synopsis of the deep roots of culture and the persistent effects of these deep roots. The book is concise and easy to read, led by Jones's ability to decompose complicated ideas into easily understood examples and descriptions. Researchers and the public will gain valuable insights from The Cultural Transplant, a better understanding of the persistence of culture and longrunning factors that have placed countries on socioeconomic trajectories that have yielded vast differences in living standards across the world."—C. Justin Cook, The Developing Economies"Most economists agree that immigration—including illegal immigration—leads to greater economic growth and innovation. However, Jones argues that immigrants transplant their culture in the countries they move to, making the economies there similar to those in their home countries. Where immigrants come from and their home nation's technological development are critical to the economic and cultural impacts they have on the countries they move to."—P. Z. McKay, CHOICETable of Contents0. Preface: The Best Immigration Policy 0. Introduction: How Economists Learned the Power of Culture 1. The Assimilation Myth 2. Prosperity Migrates 3. Places or Peoples? 4. The Migration of Good Government 5. Our Diversity Is Our ____________ 6. The I-7 7. The Chinese Diaspora: Building the Capitalist Road 8. The Deep Roots across the Fifty United States 9. Intercalary: Je ne sais quoi 10. Conclusion: The Goose and the Golden Eggs

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Book SynopsisSelected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013Governments today in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that has made the economy worse. In contrast, they have advanced a policy of draconian budget cuts--austerity--to solve the financial crisis. We are told that we have all lived beyond our means and now need to tighten our belts. This view conveniently forgets where all that debt came from. Not from an orgy of government spending, but as the direct result of bailing out, recapitalizing, and adding liquidity to the broken banking system. Through these actions private debt was rechristened as government debt while those responsible for generating it walked away scot free, placing the blame on the state, and the burden on the taxpayer. That burden now takes the form of a global turn to austerity, the policy of reducing domestic wages and prices to restore competitiveness and balance the budget. The problem, according toTrade Reviewexcellent... timely... illuminating * Political Studies Review, Liam Stanley *A must-read * ACEMAXX-ANALYTICS *One of the especially good things in Mark Blyth's Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea is the way he traces the rise and fall of the idea of 'expansionary austerity', the proposition that cutting spending would actually lead to higher output. As Blyth documents, this idea 'spread like wildfire.' * Paul Krugman, The New York Review of Books *An important polemic... valid and compelling. * Lawrence Summers, Financial Times *Mark Blyth has written a clever, well-argued book that we should all read. * The Friend *Essential reading... The economy is much too important to leave to economists. We need to understand how ideas shape it, and Blyth's new book provides an excellent starting point. * Washington Monthly *Splendid new book. * Martin Wolf, Financial Times *Austerity is an economic policy strategy, but is also an ideology and an approach to economic management freighted with politics. In this book Mark Blyth uncovers these successive strata. In doing so he wields his spade in a way that shows no patience for fools and foolishness. * Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science University of California, Berkeley *Of all the zombie ideas that have been reanimated in the wake of the global financial crisis, austerity is the most dangerous. Mark Blyth shows how austerity created the disasters of the 1930s, and contributed to the descent of the world into global war. He shows how European austerity policies have prevented any recovery from the crisis of 2009, while rescuing and protecting the banks and financial institutions that created the crisis. An essential guide for anyone who wants to understand the current depression. * John Quiggin, author of Zombie Economics *Most fascinating is the author's discussion of the historical underpinnings of austerity, first formulated by Enlightenment thinkers Locke, Hume and Adam Smith, around the (good) idea of parsimony and the (bad) idea of debt. Ultimately, writes Blyth, austerity is a 'zombie economic idea because it has been disproven time and again, but it just keeps coming. A clear explanation of a complicated, and severely flawed, idea. * Kirkus Reviews *Informed, passionate. * Dissent Magazine *Mark Blyth's fascinating analysis guides the reader through 'the historical ideology which has classified debt as problematic.' In doing so he outlines the relevance of century-old debates between the advocates and opponents of laissez faire, and explains why, after a brief reemergence in 2008-09, and despite the lack of evidence supporting austerity, the world turned its back on Keynesian policies. * Robert Skidelsky, author of Keynes: The Return of the Master *Among all the calamities spawned by the global financial crisis, none was as easily avoidable as the idea that austerity policies were the only way out. In this feisty book, noted political scientist Mark Blyth covers new territory by recounting the intellectual history of this failed idea and how it came to exert a hold on the imagination of economists and politicians. It is an indication of the sorry state of macroeconomics that it takes a political scientist to expose so thoroughly one of the economics profession's most dangerous delusions. * Dani Rodrik, Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy, The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University *Table of ContentsPreface ; Austerity, a Personal History ; 1 A Primer on Austerity, Debt, and Morality Plays ; Part One Why We All Need to Be Austere ; 2 America: Too Big to Fail? ; Bankers, Bailouts, and Blaming the State ; 3 Europe-Too Big to Bail ; The Politics of Permanent Austerity ; Part Two Austerity's Twin Histories ; Introduction to Chapters 4, 5, and 6 ; Austerity's Intellectual and Natural Histories ; 4 The Intellectual History of a Dangerous Idea, 1692-1942 ; 5 The Intellectual History of a Dangerous Idea, 1942-2012 ; 6 Austerity's Natural History, 1914-2012 ; Part Three Conclusion ; 7 The End of Banking, New Tales, and a Taxing ; Time Ahead ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisCentral banks are supposed to stabilize markets, yet decades of mounting central bank power have seen wave after wave of financial crisis. Leon Wansleben offers novel explanations for the rise of central banks and the problematic implications of their finance-dependent policies.Trade ReviewThe Rise of Central Banks shines light on the agency of bureaucrats and calls upon society and elected leaders to direct these actors’ efforts toward more progressive goals. * Politics Today *A laudable undertaking…Wansleben is breaking new ground. He has something to offer that you do not find in mainstream economic literature. -- Niels Bünemann * Central Banking *The Rise of Central Banks is a smart, well-researched book about central banks and their prominent role in economic governance during the recent era of financialized capitalism. Wansleben does a fine job weaving together many events, episodes, and details into a coherent story. Audiences interested in the Fed, central banking, economic policy, and financialization will certainly want to read this book. -- Bruce G. Carruthers, Northwestern UniversityThis is an impressive work that adds substantially to our scholarly understanding of modern central banks and why they have come to have such a dominant impact on our everyday lives. -- Kathleen R. McNamara, Georgetown UniversityToday’s economies are profoundly shaped by what central banks do, the decisions they take, and their blindspots. Wansleben’s superb book brings new depth, scholarship, and sophistication to the study of these hugely important organizations. -- Donald MacKenzie, University of EdinburghAmbitious and well-researched. Wansleben dissects the growing operational entanglements between monetarist governing techniques, the expansion of financial markets, and neoliberal economic policies in a world where central banks have become more powerful than ever. The outcome is a bloated financial sphere that is dangerously reliant on central banks’ actions to preserve its explosive power. A chilling, but incredibly important, account. -- Marion Fourcade, author of Economists and Societies: Discipline and Profession in the United States, Britain, and France, 1890s to 1990s

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Financial Times Best Book of the Year: Economics""'Economies sometimes go through macro-financial crises.' Indeed, they do, as we have so painfully learned in recent decades. In this excellent and blessedly brief book, two distinguished scholars bring students and busy professionals up to date on the best thinking about how these crises originate and unfold and how policymakers need to respond. A valuable guide for those who need to understand what contemporary economics has to say on this vital topic."---Martin Wolf, Financial Times"A must-read."---Ashoka Mody, Project Syndicate"A Crash Course on Crises packs a serious punch, covering a substantial amount of theoretical ground illustrated by real-world examples drawn from four continents and almost 100 years."---Anjalika Badalai, Society of Professional Economists"Designed as both a complement to existing macroeconomic textbooks and a present-day primer for policymakers, [A Crash Course on Crises] is brief, direct and accessible. It will likely adorn the reading lists of financial economics courses for years to come."---Rémi Meehan, International Affairs

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Book SynopsisThis book examines key issues connected with the distribution of personal wealth in the UK. It studies why wealth is now such an important factor in social differences and public policy. It presents the most recent information on current wealth inequalities and a detailed discussion of trends in the distribution of wealth. It uses newly available data to compare wealth inequalities in the UK with the USA, Canada, and Sweden. It uses longitudinal data, which track the same people over time, to examine trajectories in wealth accumulation over the decade to 2005 and inequalities in inheritances over the same period. It looks at how parental wealth levels and people''s asset-holdings early in adulthood affect outcomes later in their lives. The final part looks at the way in which policies towards wealth-holding developed historically, and the contradictory ways in which a wide range of public policies relate to people''s wealth levels, including through taxation, means-testing, and the encouragement of saving, and discusses what the key issues for policy towards wealth and wealth inequalities now are. Personal wealth in the UK totalled 5.5 trillion by 2010 (9-10 trillion if occupational pension rights are included). Inheritance flows are now equivalent to 4 per cent of national income each year. All households in the wealthiest tenth have more than 75 times the wealth of any of those in the bottom tenth. Absolute differences in wealth levels have increased substantially over the last 15 years, so wealth differences represent many more years of income than in the past. This makes them of great importance to life chances. This makes the book highly relevant for public policy, but also for academic and student understanding of a crucial dimension of social difference. As well as bringing together existing information on the area, the book contains considerable new analysis on wealth inequality, inheritance, and their impacts, drawing on work which is at the forefront of recent research.Trade ReviewThe authors have put together a number of complementary chapters that are of interest and will be useful for researchers and students in a wide range of fields...an excellent contribution to the debate on wealth inequality. * Alan Southern, People, Place and Policy *Table of ContentsPART I: WEALTH AND DISTRIBUTION; PART II: PERSONAL WEALTH ACCUMULATION AND ITS IMPACTS; PART III: WEALTH AND POLICY

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Book SynopsisThis volume uses state of the art models from the frontier of macroeconomics to answer key questions about how the economy functions and how policy should be conducted. The contributions cover a wide range of issues in macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy. They combine high level mathematics with economic analysis, and highlight the need to update our mathematical toolbox in order to understand the increased complexity of the macroeconomic environment. The volume represents hard evidence of high research intensity in many fields of macroeconomics, and warns against interpreting the scope of macroeconomics too narrowly. The mainstream business cycle analysis, based on dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) modelling of a particular type, has been criticised for its inability to predict or resolve the recent financial crisis. However, macroeconomic research on financial, information, and learning imperfections had not yet made their way into many of the pre-crisis DSGE models bTable of ContentsPART 1: FINANCIAL CRISIS AND RECOVERY ; PART 2: LEARNING, INCENTIVES, AND PUBLIC POLICY

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Book SynopsisHuman Development is widely recognised as the overriding goal of development, yet its realization is challenged by growing inequality, macro-economic fluctuations, and recurrent financial crises. This edited collection reflects on the work of Richard Jolly and includes contributions from leading scholars of development, all of whom have worked with Richard Jolly at varying points in his distinguished career. The volume advances thinking in the area of Human Development by discussing the evolution of its conceptualization and the policy implications, and the achievements in related key areas such as education, social protection, and employment. It juxtaposes these theoretical and (at times) real life improvements with disturbing developments in terms of growing inequality and macro-economic instability. It documents the growing income inequality which has characterized both developing and developed countries. It shows that there has been a decline in some countries and identifies the poTable of ContentsPART I: SIR RICHARD JOLLY'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; PART II: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND INEQUALITY: PROGRESS IN CONCEPTS AND POLICIES?; PART III: STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT, NEW MACROECONOMIC APPROACHES AND REMAINING CHALLENGES

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Book SynopsisThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. It is now widely accepted that politics plays a significant role in shaping the possibilities for inclusive development. However, the specific ways in which this happens across different types and forms of development, and in different contexts, remains poorly understood. This collection provides a state of the art review regarding what is currently known about the politics of inclusive development. Leading academics offer systematic reviews of how politics shapes development across multiple dimensions, including through growth, natural resource governance, poverty reduction, service delivery, social protection, justice systems, the empowerment of marginalised groups, and the role of both traditional and non-traditional donors. The volume not only provides a compTable of ContentsPART I: INTRODUCTION; PART II: THE POLITICS OF ACCUMULATION AND GROWTH; PART III: THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL AND LEGAL CITIZENSHIP: PROMOTING AND PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF THE POOR?; PART IV: THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION; PART V: THE TRANSNATIONAL POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT

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Book SynopsisThis book seeks to identify the forces which explain how and why some parts of the world have grown rich and others have lagged behind. Encompassing 2000 years of history, part 1 begins with the Roman Empire and explores the key factors that have influenced economic development in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Part 2 covers the development of macroeconomic tools of analysis from the 17th century to the present. Part 3 looks to the future and considers what the shape of the world economy might be in 2030. Combining both the close quantitative analysis for which Professor Maddison is famous with a more qualitative approach that takes into account the complexity of the forces at work, this book provides students and all interested readers with a totally fascinating overview of world economic history. Professor Maddison has the unique ability to synthesise vast amounts of information into a clear narrative flow that entertains as well as informs, making this text an invaluable resource for all students and scholars, and anyone interested in trying to understand why some parts of the World are so much richer than others.Trade ReviewPacked with historical detail and infectiously written. * Australian Economic History Review *Angus Maddison's life work... his heroic reconstruction of economic and demographic time series for countries and regions over the past two millenia of world history. * G. McN., PDR. *Table of ContentsIntroduction and Summary ; PART I CONTOURS OF WORLD DEVELOPMENT, 1-2003 AD ; 1. The Roman Empire and its Economy ; 2. The Resurrection of the West and the Transformation of the Americas ; 3. Interaction between Asia and the West, 1500-2030 ; 4. The Impact of Islam and Europe on African Development, 1-2003 A D ; PART II ADVANCES IN MACRO-MEASUREMENT SINCE 1665 ; 5. Political Arithmeticians and Historical Demographers: The Pioneers of Macro-measurement ; 6. Modern Macro-measurement: How Far Have We Come? ; PART III THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME ; 7. The World Economy in 2030 ; Statistical Appendix A ; Statistical Appendix B

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Book SynopsisThis collection of ideas and data sources provides alternatives to the trade versus technology debate and assesses the impact of international trade on US wages. It offers an appraisal of the wage distribution predicament, examining the effects of technology and globalization on the labour market.

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Book SynopsisThe essays contained in this text highlight the problems that the European pension reform process faces and how it differs from that of the US. A range of European nations are about to implement mixed social security systems that combine pay-as-you-go with an individual retirement account.

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Book SynopsisExplores East Asia's macroeconomic experience in the 1980s and the economic impact of East Asia's growth on the rest of the world. The authors explore the causes of capital flows, changes in trade balances, and exchange-rate fluctuations in East Asia and their effects on other countries.

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Book SynopsisWhile financial deregulation has taken place worldwide, this pattern is most pronounced in East Asia, where it has influenced the behaviour of exchange rates, interest rates and capital flows. This text analyzes the effects of financial deregulation and integration on East Asian markets.

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Book SynopsisThe volume of capital flow between industrial and developing countries has grown and become a major issue in a world that is increasingly globalized. In this text, Takatoshi Ito and Anne Krueger have assembled a group of scholars who address different types of capital flows.

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Book SynopsisArguing that parental actions are important sources of wealth inequality, this book examines the transmission of economic status from one generation to another by constructing a model of parental preferences. It offers evidence on the intergenerational transfer of consumption, earnings and wealth.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments 1: The Argument for Parental Priorities 2: Indifference Curve Diagrams as Models of Parental Priorities 3: Two Models of Opportunity and Intergenerational Mobility 4: How Altruism Is Influenced by Economic Status 5: Taxation and Intergenerational Mobility in the Three Models 6: The Evolution of Economic Inequality in the United States 7: The Intergenerational Dynamics of Consumption, Earnings, Income, and Wealth 8: Borrowing Constraints and the Persistence of Inequality 9: The Biological Origins of Altruism 10: Classical Discussions of Altruism 11: Intergenerational Altruism and Inequality within the Family 12: Altruism and Giving beyond the Family 13: Altruism and the Principal-Agent Problem 14: Conclusions A Guide to Mathematical Notation References Index

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Book SynopsisThe population base in both the USA and Japan is growing older and, as these populations age, they provoke unexamined economic consequences. This text explores those consequences, specifically four key areas including wealth and asset allocation over the life cycle, health care and reform.

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Book SynopsisAn analysis of international trade and investment in the 1990s. The text lays out a US trade strategy for the future, examines the influence of the World Trade Organization, argues for and against economic globalization, and offers a critique of US multilateral and regional free trade.

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Book SynopsisIn this up-to-date study of the Israeli economy, Assaf Razin and Efraim Sadka cover the entire economic history of the state, focusing on links between Israel's economic growth, its integration into world markets, its tax and welfare systems, and the political conflicts in the Middle East. The authors present the first detailed economic analysis of the Palestinian uprising, showing how the unrest has led to a fall in Arab employment in Israel and serious economic loss to the occupied territories with some loss to Israel. They also examine how the uprising has affected Israel's financial standing internationally and the inflow of foreign aid. Razin and Sadka see promise for Israel's economy in the waves of immigration from the former Soviet Union, despite the current difficulties in absorbing the immigrants; in the coexistence of a flourishing and highly competitive private sector with a relatively large public sector, which is undergoing privatization; and in a tax structure that encou

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The reader comes away persuaded that GNP, although an imperfect summary indicator of the state of an economy, plays an outsize role in contemporary conceptions of economic policy and performance." * Foreign Affairs *“This book asks a profoundly important question: What counts as progress? Since the mid-twentieth century, the answer has been the narrow one: economic growth as measured by GDP. Although there have been genuine gains from higher incomes and innovation, this has undermined progress by undervaluing many kinds of work, increasing inequality to a socially intolerable degree, and hastening climate change and environmental degradation. Macekura argues convincingly that we need a better future and better measures.” -- Diane Coyle, University of Cambridge“The Mismeasure of Progress is a highly readable and informative book about the champions and critics of the idea of economic growth over the last several decades. Macekura writes with the kind of urgency and engagé spirit that makes this book not only good scholarship but an important public intervention.” -- Quinn Slobodian, Wellesley College"What he brings is a unified story about the critics of GDP and the System of National Accounts told from the 1940s on, and particularly including the perspective of the economists and statisticians working on or in developing economies.” * Enlightened Economist *"Macekura does an impressive job surveying the critique of ‘growth as progress’ from the earliest days to the present, and then showing how it was largely ignored. His argument is beautifully written and compelling." * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Meaning and Measurement of Economic Growth 1 Standard of Living, GNP, and the Narrowing of National Statistics 2 Decolonization and the Limits of Economic Measurement 3 The Growth Critics 4 The Growth Paradigm in Crisis 5 The Search for Alternatives 6 Revival and Debate at the End of the Twentieth Century Conclusion: History, Narrative, and Contemporary Growth Critics Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAsking the question Do deficits matter?, this text answers both yes and no. Yes, because fiscal policy affects generational distribution, national saving and the level of government spending. And no, because the deficit is an inaccurate measure with little economic content.

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Book SynopsisIn this study of newborn weight and economic growth in Boston, Dublin, Edinburgh, Montreal and Vienna between 1850 and 1930, W. Peter Ward explores the relation between infant size, economic development, and living standards of working-class women in the industrializing West.

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Book SynopsisConsumer Culture Reborn focuses on consumption as the point at which economy and culture combine. The book draws the often polarised discourses of political economy and cultural studies closer together in a historical context as a means of understanding our social situations as we approach the end of the millenium. Taking as its central theme the ability of the capitalist mode of production to transform the material and social world which sustains it, the book focuses on some of the ways in which this transformational impulse has altered the means by which ordinary people reproduce their life and their patterns of life. Neither a history book, nor simply a book of theory, Consumer Culture Reborn fuses elements of economic, social and cultural theory in an historical perspective.Table of ContentsPreface: The soul of things, Part I Preliminaries: perspectives on capital, consumption and culture, Part II The social transformations of capital, Bibliography, Index

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