Description
Book SynopsisKenneth Boulding has, in the course of a long and distinguished career, made a seminal contribution to many branches of economics. This major book presents in one volume a selection of his most important recent papers and essays.
In the first part of the book, Professor Boulding pushes economics towards a more evolutionary type of theory, towards a greater interest in the real world and towards some fairly specific theoretical positions. He stresses the importance of positive-feedback as well as equilibrium processes. The second part focuses on the grants economy, that is the study of the economics of one-way transfers. In part three, he turns his attention to international economic relations particularly the economics of conflict in unilateral national defence. The final part is on ecological systems, stressing that economies are essentially an eco-system of commodities, part of the total eco-system of the world, which is undergoing a constant and irreversible evolutionary change.
Trade Review’For one who wants to read a few essays by Kenneth Boulding, this book is a rewarding introduction to the work of one of the most important economists of our age. It might also be useful in a research library.’Journal of Economic Issues
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction: a biographical autobiography. Part 2 Towards a new economics: allocation and distribution; space as a factor of production; puzzles over distribution; what went wrong with economics?; the economics of pride and shame; appropriate methodologies for the study of the economy (published in Polish only); the implications of macrodistribution for personal distribution; taxonomy as a source of error. Part 3 The grants economy: innovation and the grant economy; pathologies of the public grants economy; a second look at "Progress and Poverty". Part 4 International economic relations: international economic relations; the role of conflict in the dynamics of society; an economic assessment of unilateral national defense; unilateral national defense organizations - an economic analysis of non-economic structures; the role of organized nonviolence in achieving stable peace. Part 5 Ecological economics: the unimportance of energy; development as evolution towards human betterment; cybernetics in the evolutionary process; regions of time; population factors in development economics.
