Description
Book SynopsisAn introductory and critical guide to how the economy works, and what this means for us.
Trade Review'Stanford is that rare breed: the teacher who changed your life. He has written a book - both pragmatic and idealistic - with the power to change the world' -- Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate and No Logo.
'Jim Stanford explains what's worth trusting in economics and what's not in an accessible way. Read this book' -- Steve Keen, Professor and Head, School of Economics, Politics & History, Kingston University, London, U.K.
'Helps us understand what the newspapers never explain: how these economic crises are a product of the inequalities and incapacity for social foresight that is capitalism's everyday economics' -- Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper
'Quite simply the best critical introduction to economics you can find' -- Frank Stilwell, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, University of Sydney, Australia
'Clear, compelling, lively and anger-provoking, all at once' -- Robert Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts-Amherst, U.S.A.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction: Why Study Economics?
Part I: Preliminaries
1. The Economy and Economics
2. Capitalism
3. Economic History
4. The Politics of Economics
Part II: The Basics of Capitalism: Work, Tools and Profit
5. Work, Production and Value
6. Working with Tools
7. Companies, Owners and Profit
8. Working for a Living
9. Reproduction (for Economists!)
10. Closing the Little Circle
Part III: Capitalism as a System
11. Competition
12. Business Investment
13. Employment and Unemployment
14. Inequality and Its Consequences
15. Divide and Conquer
16. Capitalism and the Environment
Part IV: The Complexity of Capitalism
17. Money and Banking
18. Inflation, Central Banks and Monetary Policy
19. Paper Chase: Stock Markets, Financialization
and Pensions
20. The Conflicting Personalities of Government
21. Spending and Taxing
22. Globalization
23. Development (and Otherwise)
24. Closing the Big Circle
25. The Ups and Downs of Capitalism
26. Meltdown and Aftermath
Part V: Challenging Capitalism
27. Evaluating Capitalism
28. Improving Capitalism
29. Replacing Capitalism?
Conclusion: A Baker's Dozen: Key Things to Remember
Index
