Description
Book SynopsisBusiness papers are in a triumphant mood, buoyed by a conviction that the economic stagnation of the last quarter century has vanished in favor of a new age of robust growth. This book challenges the economic orthodoxies of the political right and center, popularized by such economists as Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman.
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1998 "This is a good and useful book. At a time when mediocre economic performance is celebrated as though it were excellent ... Plenty of Nothing is for people who are tired of being treated like fools... The revolutionary thought that policy does matter, for good or evil, is a prime contribution of this book, though it is a mark of the degraded state of economic discourse that it is needed at all."--James K. Galbraith, Dissent "Thomas Palley has presented us with a timely book ... a necessary book... It reminds us that we do not have to accept Wall Street's version of the choices we face."--Robert E. Prasch, Review of Political Economy "A useful and often insightful treatise on policy debates and recent economic debates in the United States. He ably documents and explains 'the downsizing of the American dream.'"--James Devine, Science & Society "Thomas I. Palley has written an important book in a clear and persuasive style. He understands the economic plight of working American families. He explains what caused that plight and what can be done about it... His analysis is rigorous. His conclusions are correct. His policies are the right stiff. He discusses the kind of family policy we need for the next millennium."--William M. Dugger, Review of Social Economy
Table of ContentsList of FiguresList of TablesPrefaceCh. 1Debunking Economic Naturalism3Ch. 2Making Sense of the Economy and Economics14Ch. 3Plenty of Nothing: An Overview24Ch. 4The State of the American Dream49Ch. 5The Logic of Economic Power, Part I: Diagnosing the Problem70Ch. 6The Logic of Economic Power, Part II: Policies for Prosperity87Ch. 7The Triumph of Wall Street: Finance and the Federal Reserve104Ch. 8From New Deal to Raw Deal: The Attack on Government126Ch. 9Free Trade and the Race to the Bottom156Ch. 10International Money: Who Governs?176Ch. 11Structural Keynesianism and Globalization194Ch. 12Recipe for a Depression202Epilogue: Ending Economic Fatalism214Notes215References223Index229
