Product Description
One positive side-effect of the recent financial market meltdown that toppled giant, century-old institutions and cost millions their jobs is that it created a strong desire among many Americans to better understand how the U.S. economy functions. In The Little Book of Economics, Greg, Ip, one of the country’s most recognized and respected economics journalists, walks readers through how the economy really works.

Written for the inquisitive layman who doesn’t want to plow through academic jargon and Greek letters or pore over charts and tables, The Little Book of Economics offers indispensible insight into how the American economy works – or, doesn’t. With engaging and accessible prose, the book

• Provides a comprehensive understanding of each aspect of our economy from inflation and unemployment to international trade and finance
• Serves as an insider’s guide to the people and institutions that control America’s economy such as the Federal Reserve and the federal budget
• Explains the roots of America’s current economic crisis and the risks the country faces in its aftermath, such as stratospheric government debt, while offering advice on overcoming these threats
• Walks readers through the basic concepts and terminology they need to understand economic news
• Punctures myths and political spin from both the left and the right with candid and often surprising insight

A must read for anyone who wants a better grasp of the economy without taking a course in economics , The Little Book of Economics is a unique and engaging look at how the economy works in all its wonderful and treacherous ways. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Wonderful (Little) Book
The book is very well written and organized.It's essentially what most people need to know about economics.In fact, I got more useful things out of this book than I did in many of my economics classes back in college.It's definitely worth the price and time to read through this.

First-rate introduction for an adult who wants to know
The Little Book series on economics, money and investment is well served by this foundation book which is written so as to be easily accessible and clear about a subject often presented as very complex.It covers the issues that matter to us in our economic lives, shedding light where sometimes we are exposed to nothing but heat.It is a primer that escapes the fury of the Krugman/DeLong or Laffer/Kudlow battle over what theory must prevail in order to correct our employment woes.

This is an ideal book for my grandchildren who are teachers and engineers but with no exposure to economics.It and Jack Bogle's Little Book on funds make a great pair of helpful reads.Both are small enough to be non-threatening to those who live by the computer.It's a way to tell them about the game the real world plays with money and how to participate.

Connects the dots between economic theory and current economic issues
Greg Ip's Little Book of Economics frames current economic issues in an
easy to read and understandable fashion. It combines economic theory
with real world conditions. Ip provides context to the credit market
crisis, the Great Recession, and to the painfully high unemployment of
recent years. The book also explains in a non-technical fashion the role
of the Federal Reserve, the factors that are considered in the
formulation of policy, and the many unconventional policies of the
Federal Reserve employed during the crisis. I have assigned this book to
my Money & Banking class at Rutgers as a complement to the regular text.
Feedback from the students has been uniformly favorable. I strongly
recommend The Little book of Economics for those with an interest in
connecting the dots between theory and practice, for students who
are looking for purpose in economic theory, and for the more general
reader looking for the forest beyond the financial news trees.

Qucik, Comprehensive, and an Excellent Read
Simply put... this is a superb read.If you are looking for that one book that tells you how the world really works, and want it done quickly, and without having to do any math with letters and funny symbols this is your book.

Great, quick primer on the subjects
As someone with a degree in Economics who hasn't worked in the field as directly as Greg Ip, I found this book to be a great review of topics I had long forgotten about. Please don't confuse this with a textbook or a deep dive into any topic. It is to Economics what a cross-country flight is to geography. A lot of overview. A lot of great scenery. You will likely find a topic or two you want to delve in to deeper. Oh, and it takes about as long to read.

Thanks Greg. ... Read more

Product Description
The final out of the World Series marks the beginning of baseball's second season, when teams court free agents and orchestrate trades with the hope of building a championship contender. The real and anticipated transactions generate excitement among fans who discuss the merit of moves in the arena informally known as the “hot stove league.” In Hot Stove Economics, economist J.C. Bradbury answers the hot stove league's most important question: what are baseball players worth? With in-depth analysis, Bradbury identifies the game’s best and worst contracts—revealing the bargains, duds, and players who are worth every penny they receive. From minor-league prospects to major-league MVPs, Bradbury examines how factors such as revenue growth, labor rules, and aging— even down to the month in which players are born—shape players' worth and evaluates how well franchises manage their rosters.He broadly applies the principles of economics to baseball in a way that is both interesting and understandable to sports fanatics, team managers, armchair economists and students alike. ... Read more

Product Description
Considered one of the founders of modern sociology, German sociologist and historian MAX WEBER (1864-1920) long studied the impact of religion on culture-is most famous work is 1905's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism-but he was also renowned as a thinker on economic issues. Here, in this classic collection of lectures first published in English in 1927 and translated by American economist Frank Hyneman Knight (1885-1972), Weber brings his keen and lively sociological eye to the history of commerce, money, and industrial endeavor, discussing:. agricultural organization and the problem of agrarian communism. the house community and the clan. the evolution of the family as conditioned by economic factors. the condition of the peasants before the entrance of capitalism. capitalistic development of the manor. stages in the development of industry and mining. the origin of the European guilds. the factory and its forerunners. forms of organization of transportation and commerce. money and monetary history. the meaning of modern capitalism. the first great speculative crisis. citizenship as an economic concept. the evolution of the capitalistic spirit. and much more. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic in its field, this pathbreaking book humanized the scientific rhetoric of economics to reveal its literary soul. Author Deirdre N. McCloskey was formerly known as Donald. Her experience in changing gender is reflected in this new edition, but the message remains the same--economics needs to move away from metaphoric rhetoric aimed at persuasion and get back to the science of facts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

I know Deirdre as Donald...but I learned non the less
I must admit that when I read this book in collage I was very closed minded because Deirdre McCloskey was Donald McCloskey before a sex change operation. She makes the claim that economics needs to get serious about its rhetoric, and back to science but with an underlining agenda. Even though this book has an agenda it is a good read as long as you ignore it

Better than the average monkey
I first read this book as an undergrad economist, well over 10 years ago now. I discovered the book, in the course of writing about the evolution of the Phillips curve. What the Phillips curve offered, initially at least, was the embodiment of empirically-based economic theory, yet it metamorphosed, into the New Classical 'expectations-augmented' model, and the New Business School model with each, in turn, becoming accepted 'truth' by mainstream economics. What could account for this shift? Clearly it was not based on anything related to 'positive' economics or empiricism, since the theory behind the 'curve' (which was no longer a curve)had long since been wrung dry of any meaningful empirical content.

While I don't recall all of the details, this book, and McCloskey's other writings on the same theme, support the idea that, while Truth (to be differentiated from trivialities, things that are true 'by definition', for example), does exist, WE HAVE NO WAY OF COMING TO RECOGNISE IT - there are no objective criteria for doing so, that is distinguishing truth from falsity. It may come as a shock to some, but there is no dissenting from this point - if you know of any such criteria, let me know.

The slightly controversial, but logical, point that follows is, therefore, to disregard Truth as a 'useful' concept, with any explanatory power. The key to the acceptance of theory (as if it were the Truth), not just in economics, lies ultimately in its 'persuasiveness', something that is engendered through the use of 'mere rhetoric'. McCloskey is not arguing that this is how things 'should' be, but how they are - in grubby, messy reality.

If you doubt this to be so, try thinking about the recent Gulf War and arguments about WMD, as an illustration - it was Bush and Blair's ability to 'persuade' people, and politicians, that made the threat from Iraq real, or 'True'. That is, the threat might have existed independent of their pronouncements, but because we had no objective means of evaluating that, their pronouncements BECAME REALITY.

This is a text about the philosophy of economics that is extremely thought-provoking. It succeeds in challenging preconceptions of what is True and how we come to know it as such, that has implications far beyond economics. For anyone with an interest in philosophy, or economics, this is well worth reading, a real eye-opener.

Lord Chimp, the relativists will inherit the world, my friend. Like it or not, there is no black or white, only shades of grey, and neither is counterintuity synonymous with absurdity.

Deirdre is correct about the misuse of significance levels
McCloskey's book deserves to be read because of the original material in her book dealing with the misuse,misapplication and misinterpretation of both statistical significance and economic significance(see pp.112-138,189)in the vast majority of articles published in economics journals, that used statistical and econometric analysis,in the time period from 1935-2005.She was the researcher who was the first to point out ,in a detailed manner ,the massive amount of errors that were being published in economics articles.Unfortunately,she makes the generalization,based on this particular body of work,that all economic analysis essentially involves researchers who base their policy analysis(the rhetoric of economics)on the misuse of mathematical,logical,and statistical procedures chosen,used,and interpreted specifically to support the a priori beliefs of the researcher.Thus,all economics is basically rhetoric,with particular techniques chosen with the aim being, not scientific discovery but, persuasion.She particularly dislikes the theoretical perspective of Paul Samuelson.It is easy to give a counter example.On p.262 of chapter 19 of the General Theory(1936),Keynes gives his major result-the absence of involuntary unemployment requires that the mpc(marginal propensity to consume)=1.If the capital stock is not at an optimal level,then this condition becomes mpc+mpi=1(where mpi equals the marginal propensity to invest).In the appendix to chapter 19,Keynes points out that this equation is missing from the macroscopic analysis provided by A C Pigou in his 1933 book,The Theory of Unemployment.Keynes then derives the following optimality condition for both the labor market and the output market in chapter 20 and again in chapter 21.That condition is that w/p=mpl/(mpc+mpi),where w is the money wage,p is the price level,and mpl is the marginal product of labor in the aggregate derived from an aggregate neoclassical production function(GT,P.283;footnotes 1 and 2).It is obvious that the classical and neoclassical theories can only hold in the special case of mpc+mpi=1.Keynes's GT thus generalizes the classical and neoclassical theories.Unless mpc+mpi=1,involuntary unemployment will exist and it will be impossible for labor,in the aggregate,to reduce the unemployment rate by cutting their money wages.There is no rhetoric and/or attempt at persuasion going on here.There is only the pure force of a logical and mathematical exposition that is based on the microeconomic foundations of purely competitive firms and industries.

relativism reborn...yet again.
The "hermeneutics" of thinkers like McClosky, Rorty, and even some of those 'austrian' economists over at GMU is certainly not a new creed. It is the age-old song of the German historicist school and epistemological relativism. Okay, so it has a new coat of paint, updated with a few contemporary insights. McClosky targets economics with hermeneutic "propositions", seeking to unravel the modern methodological basis for the science (positivism/empiricism) and propose a new criterion to judging economic propositions (or any proposition whatsoever).

To McClosky, truth and falsehood are irrelevant categories -- what matters is only whether or not something is persuasive. Thus, rhetoric claims prime importance. Consider this telling excerpt from the book: "The very idea of Truth--with a capital T, something beyond what is merely persuasive to all concerned--is a fifth wheel. . . . If we decided that the qualitity theory of money or the marginal productivity theory of distribution is persuasive, interesting, useful, reasonable, appealing, acceptable, we do not need to know that it is True (p. 47)." Or, in comparing economic science to literary criticism, McClosky writes: "[Rhetoric] believes that science advances by healthy conversation, not adherenence to a methodology. . . . Life is not so easy that an economist can be made better at what he does merely by reading a book (p. 174)."

Surely, to anyone except those with a Ph.D. in philosophy, this must strike one as totally counterintuitive and absurd. Are we really ready to concede that there is no objective truth? All right -- let us do so, for the sake of argument.

But then we must of course inquire into the status of McClosky's own propositions. It is simply contradictory to make validity-claiming proposition averring that validity-claiming propositions cannot exist. Furthermore, such a claim implies a performative contradiction, as any argument presupposes the proponent's understanding of the meaning of truth and falsehood simply in order to say "I propose such and such, and you can either agree or prove me wrong." A proposition gains axiomatic status if it must be presupposed in the course of refutation. Argumentation has such axiomatic status. It is nothing but nonsense to argue that you cannot argue.

In fact, McClosky and other hermeneuticians are _so_ wrong that they can only say what they say _because_ it is wrong. For to them, there is no objective truth criterion for any proposition whatsoever. And yet, the use of language itself is a form of action, and surely there is a difference between McClosky's pronouncements and, say, the clacking of buttons on the keyboard as he writes it out (well, she was a he when this book was originally written and published, back when i read it -- i really don't know what pronoun to use). The most elementary tools of logic, like junctors and quantors, and the Laws of Identity and Contradiction, have their roots in action. these laws could never be undone by anyone, for in order to deny that they are in fact laws of reality, one would have to presuppose their validity. Accounting for the structure of elementary logical propositions (like "Hamburgers are a food") is the fact that in each and every action, a person must identify a situation and categorize it one way or another if choice is to be possible. Thus, while one could certainly say "and" means something other than "and", one could not deny its realist praxeological-ontological meaning, rooted in reality and action, without stumbling headlong into contradiction. Thus, at the _very least_, the existence of language presupposes the existence of truth categories and this could never be denied by anyone using language. Evidently, then, some common ground exists for people. McClosky's entire position is full of hot air.

Of course, McClosky levels many challenges to scientific orthodoxy of empiricism in the social sciences. All well and good -- empiricism is an empty doctrine, completely inadequate as a methodological basis for economics. But McClosky has simply chosen the wrong target. Empiricism claims that all a priori knowledge is merely analytic (in fact, it is doubted if analytical propositions qualify as knowledge at all). All facts of reality must be observable, and all truth-claims must be verifiable (or are least falsifiable) by experience. With this approach, an economist would be left willy-nilly unable to _know_ anything, since they must concede that experience could have yielded a different result. But if McClosky's purpose was to attack the foundations of objective truth in economic science, why choose empiricism? would it not have been more prudent to target the extremist-rationalist thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises or Murray Rothbard? Such proponents of economics as a realistic science of a priori laws whose validity is not contingent on experience, would seem to be the antithesis of the hermeneutics position. The irony of it all is that McClosky's own methodological position is impotent to take down empiricism, much less rationalism which goes essentially unchallenged.

The refutation of hermeneutics vindicates rationalism, leaving us with no choice but to regard hermeneutics at a vacuous doctrine. This is a book of less-than-zero scientific value. If you are looking for good writings on rationalist economic science, see Ludwig von Mises, _Human Action_; idem, _Epistemological Problems of Economics_; Murray Rothbard, _Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market_; Hans-Hermann Hoppe, _Economic Science and the Austrian Method_. This book should not be taken seriously, but laughed and ridiculed as contradictory garbage.

The Deirdre is in the Details
Deirdre McCloskey hangs out with the "wrong" crowd.She is immersed in the work of a varied group of thinkers, the likes of Paul Feyerabend, Stanley Fish and Richard Rorty - collectively often referred to as Postmodernists, although Deidre McCloskey refers to the "movement" as "Anti-Modernism" (p. 183).The common thread that unites all these thinkers is opposition to rationality - or is it to science?Or maybe just a skepticism about naïve-modernism?

Because McCloskey is an economist (and a brilliant and eccentric writer), she's not prone to adopt the radicalism of Postmodernism - her take on those ideas is opposition to naïve Modernism, but without repudiating either science, rationalism or empiricism.

Basically, McCloskey attacks Modernism, or Positivism, a simplistic view of the world according to which science is a unique channel to truth, one in which things are "proven" rather then argued, in which, if you can't count it you don't know it, where mathematics is god and a mere argument - one not backed by "the facts" - is worthless, "mere" rhetoric.McCloskey offers "Ten Commandments of Modernism" in science (pp. 143-144), including such dictates as "Prediction and control is the point of science" (the first commandment), and "Only the observable implications (or predictions) of a theory matter to its truth" (the second commandment).

My problem is, I doubt anyone has ever been a "naïve Modernist" in McCloskey's sense.I only believe in two of McCloskey's commandments, and even those with misgivings.The strongest opponents of the Postmodernists, scientists like Paul Gross and Norman Levitt, historians like Richard Evans, philosophers like Daniel Dennett - certainly are no naïve Modernists.Even according to McCloskey herself, Milton Friedman's essay "The Methodology of Positive Economics", despite being "the central document of modernism in economics" (McCloskey's phrase), is "more postmodernist than you might suppose", and even Karl Popper is a "transitional figure"(pp. 144-145).So what's all the fuss about?Who is McCloskey after? When it comes to an example, McCloskey parades a research paper (by economists Richard Roll and Stephen Ross), stating:

"One should not reject the conclusions derived from firm profit maximization on the basis of sample surveys in which managers claim that they trade off profits for social good" (quoted on p. 146)

Is that so unreasonable?

Compare McCloskey's three chapters against methodology and for rhetoric with chapter four of 'Intellectual Impostures' by the bete noir of Postmodernists, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont.Their prose and argument is more lucid; the ideas are very similar.And as a critic of Modernist prose and scientism (and McCloskey's charge about those point is substantial), it is strange that she marshals with apparent approval the writing of someone like Stanley Fish, who writes: 'All utterances are... produced and understood within the assumption of some socially conceived and understood dimension of assessment... all facts are discourse specific... and therefore no one can claim for any language a special relationship to the facts as they "simple are".' (Quoted on p.108).

If the central argument of McCloskey's book is not all that surprising, the book is nonetheless worth reading for McCloskey's almost incidental insights.Her attack on the insignificance of statistical significance (chapter 8), is more developed here than in her "Secret Sins of Economics", and it is rather disturbing that so many economists have fallen into the trap of thinking that an arbitrary statistical test necessarily has real life meanings (chapter 8).Her discussion of the justifications for the existence of a downward sloping demand curve must make anyone interested in economics think twice: "Some economists have tried to subject the law to a few experimental tests" she writes "After a good deal of throat-clearing they have found it to be true for clearheaded rats and false for confused humans" (p. 25).

McCloskey's insight into and analysis of actual rhetoric is also fun, for example, on a classic paper by Ronald Coase:

"When claiming the ethos of the Scientist the young Coase was especially fond of "tend to", the phrase becoming virtual anaphora on p. 46 (Coase 1937), repeated in all six of the complete sentences on the page and once in the footnotes. (p. 89)

McCloskey also does some popularization of economics, almost in the matter of course.She makes the ideas of economists comprehensible for neophytes like me; Her summery of Robert Fogel's thesis about American railroad is masterly, and she actually translates the main points of a breakthrough article by John Muth from economistic into English (pp. 54-58).

McCloskey does all these things as after thoughts - but it's there that her genius really comes through. ... Read more

Product Description
This text makes available the relatively recent developments in general equilibrium analysis - developments which until now could be found only as papers in the professional journals. It summarizes the most important results of these papers, and in so doing provides an overview of competitive equilibrium theory with respect to problems of existence and uniqueness, stability, welfare properties and comparative statics. The material has been presented so as to render it accessible to readers with minimal mathematical background without sacrificing the logical rigor inherent in the subject matter.

General Equilibrium Theory and Welfare Economics...

· is organized about the theme of general equilibrium, to which such topics as existence and stability of competitive equilibrium, and welfare economics easily lend themselves.
· presents mathematics as it is needed, rather than relegating it to appendixes.
· provides, for clarity simple, two-dimensional illustrations.
... Read more

Product Description
Geoff Tily argues that Keynes was primarily concerned with monetary policy, not fiscal policy. Viewed as a coherent whole, Keynes's work was concerned with the appropriate technique and infrastructure for the management of money at low rates of interest. More specifically, his rejection of the gold standard led ultimately to his proposal for an international clearing union to support domestic debt-management and monetary policies aimed at cheap money. His ideas became reality. With the start of the Great Depression, governments across the world began a (short-lived) era of the deliberate management of money. While many others have argued that 'Keynesian' economics is a misrepresentation of Keynes's theory, Tily argues that 'Keynesian' economics also permitted a gross misrepresentation of his economic policies. 'Keynesian' economics was a different theory opposed, and indeed rival, to Keynes's work. With the policy perspective restored, an alternative presentation of Keynes's economics, based on post-Keynesian economics, is permitted. In this revised edition, Geoff Tily argues that the economics profession has distorted and betrayed Keynes's legacy.In virtually all interpretations -- especially that taught to students -- Keynes is portrayed as concerned only with government expenditure as a means to cure economic crisis. Yet Keynes's central aim was the prevention of economic crisis. His prescription to do so concerned monetary not fiscal policy. From the moment the great depression began, Keynes began to influence greatly the monetary policy of the world. Countries, led by the UK and US, put in place capital controls and mechanisms to manage exchange rates, and changes to debt management and credit policies that permitted the orderly management of money at low long-term and short-term interest rates on what should have been a permanent basis. The Bretton Woods negotiations went some way to re-enforce and formalise these policies, but did not go far enough. The current crisis is rooted in the dismantling of the remnants of the Bretton Woods architecture and the liberalisation of finance that began even before 1970.Tily argues that we should not be surprised that the neglect of Keynes's policies is leading to a crisis of similar magnitude to the depression that motivated the development and implementation of those policies in the first place. It is to the same policies that we must turn, as the crisis becomes a reality. ... Read more

Product Description
Labor Economics, 5e is a well-received text that blends coverage of traditional topics with modern theory and developments into a superb Labor Economics book. The Fifth Edition builds on the features and concepts that made the first four editions successful, updating and adding new content to keep the text on the cusp of recent events in the Labor Economics field.The new edition continues to be the most concise book in the market, enabling the instructor to teach all relevant material in a semester-long class. Despite the book’s brevity, the instructor will find that all of the key topics in labor economics are efficiently covered in the Fifth Edition.Thanks to updated pedagogy, new end-of-chapter material, and even stronger instructor support, the Fifth Edition of Labor Economics remains one of the most relevant textbooks in the market. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent, accessible
This was a good textbook for labor economics, very accessible. It describes the theory in good detail then goes on to give examples of what happens in the real world.If I wasn't buying for class, I would still have bought an earlier edition.

On time and in condition as stated
The book arrived in brand new condition, as it was stated.It also did not receive any damages in the shipping and came on time for my shipping selection.

Great Condidtion
This book was in great condition when I received it. It was in the shrink wrap and was shipped fast.Unfortunately I did not need it for the class so I had to return it but the return was quick and easy.I recieved a refund within 2 weeks!

On time but conditions not as expected
Maybe I didn't read the little words on one side, or I was buying this book too much in a hurry. But the book was an international version that was not supposed to be sold in the US.The pages are made of a cheaper material so not very pleasant.I really only need the book for few references, but if you need to use this book for longer and extense use, I would go to a bookstore and buy a new version with better material.

Without question the BEST Labor Economics text ever!
This is truly an amazing work, which shows so many models of labor market phenomena at the undergraduate level that an undergraduate's economics education is incomplete without it.This book is essential reading for both undergraduates and policymakers who want to learn labor economics, economics in general, or have a deeper understanding of public policy issues.The best features are its unmatched explanations of human capital models, labor market discrimination models, and labor union models -- which will change the way you think of these issues and give deeper understanding.The book is both concise, deep, a quick and fun read, and makes Nobel-prize winning material accessible to any undergraduate or policy maker. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent introductory or review book to theoretical asset pricing
This book is purposefully light on math compared to typical Ph.D.-level microeconomics/asset pricing books and more advanced topics aren't developed in detail.Still, the essentials are there and this book does a fantastic job of linking together concepts and explaining the foundational material.It also serves as a nice review book. Excellent job Mr. Lengwiler (I hope that you write more books!).

Very accessible
In my quest to read as many books on financial economics as possible, I came across this one from Lengwiler. I have a relatively modest math background, so I appreciate Lengwiler's approach. The book is heavy on intuition, rarely resorting to econ-math jargon (though without warning, it occasionally does so). For me, this has been a valuable supplement not only to LeRoy and Werner Principles of Financial Economics but also to Mas-Colell, Whinston, and Green's Microeconomic Theory. It offers straightforward explanations of mathematical concepts in ways that are often missing from the canonical texts.

Excellent introduction to General Equiibrum Asset Pricing
This is not meant to be a textbook though there are some exercises following each chapter. The book is very easy to read and must be read as an uptodate introduction to General Equilibrium models and asset pricing as used inFinancial Economics, Macro Economics etc. The ideas are developed without resorting to anything more than undergraduate level Linear Algebra, Optimization and Microeconomics. Reading this book has helped to put into perspective the financial economic theory learned over several courses and levels. The book should be compulsory reading for Graduate and Doctoral students. ... Read more

Product Description

This book presents an original exposition of general equilibrium theory for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level students of economics. It contains detailed discussions of economic efficiency, competitive equilibrium, the first and second welfare theorems, the Kuhn-Tucker approach to general equilibrium, the Arrow-Debreu model, and rational expectations equilibrium and the permanent income hypothesis. Truman Bewley also treats optimal growth and overlapping generations models as special cases of the general equilibrium model. He uses the model and the first and second welfare theorems to explain the main ideas of insurance, capital theory, growth theory, and social security. It enables him to present a unified approach to portions of macro- as well as microeconomic theory. The book contains problems sets for most chapters.

Customer Reviews (2)

Decent. A bit too slow for my taste.
This book is a competent textbook on the basics of General Equilibrium and Overlapping Generations models. It is adequate for graduate and undergraduate students of economics. But is it simply put, boring and takes too much time and examples to teach GE theory. There are shorter and better books out there, like the Mas-Colell's microeconomics textbook. So, I don't recommend this book for students looking to learn GE theory.

The importance today of microeconomy.
This book is relevant for the actual society, because it represents the sense of general equilibrium, what it depends by the markets andthe individual preference of client. The explication is particullary simple and I don't have the difficulties existent in other texts. ... Read more

Product Description
A beautifully written and engaging look at the cutting edge where economics meets complexity theoryIn this cogently and elegantly argued analysis of why human beings persist in engaging in behavior that defies time-honored economic theory, Ormerod also explains why governments and industries throughout the world must completely reconfigure their traditional methods of economic forecasting if they are to succeed and prosper in an increasingly complicated global marketplace.

"It is accessible and even entertaining. . . Mr. Ormerod not only writes about capital, but also points to a way it may at last be understood." -New York TimesAmazon.com Review
In Hollywood, William Goldman's famous dictum that nobodyknows anything is accepted as gospel. Nobody can tell you how much amovie will gross before it's released, no matter how big the stars oradvertising budget. Compare the box-office receipts of twosummer-of-'99 horror movies, if you have any doubt about this law:The Blair Witch Project, with no stars and a small budget,earned far more money than the very expensive, star-driven TheHaunting. Yet, in economics, it's assumed that everything boilsdown to an engineering calculation: Maintain girders A, B, and C, andthe roof will never cave in.

Paul Ormerod, author of The Death ofEconomics (1994), offers a different idea: "In the currentstate of scientific knowledge, it is simply not possible to carry outforecasts which are systematically accurate over a period of time." The title Butterfly Economics comes from the idea in chaostheory that a butterfly flapping its wings here could cause ahurricane on the other side of the world. It's not that chaos isguaranteed in economics; it's just that we never know when it'lloccur, or what will cause it. "Small changes can have bigconsequences, and vice versa," Ormerod notes. His arguments range farafield. He talks about crime and family structure, biology, fashion,and many other topics seemingly unrelated to economics. But it comesdown to this: No matter how you analyze it, human behavior issurprisingly random. And no economic model can account for all of itat any given time.

Butterfly Economics will, of course, be of most use to thosewith professional interest in the titular topic (economics, that is,not butterflies). But anyone seeking a good read on the vagaries oflife might want to give this one a shot. Any author who can analyzethe behavior of ants and Hollywood studio executives in successivebreaths deserves a wide audience. --Lou Schuler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Dismal science not so dismal after all
Butterfly Economics should be required reading in Washington DC. It makes a compelling case that classical (equilibrium-based) economics is being supplanted by a much more realistic - and interesting - complex systems
theoretical foundation. The net result is that short-term Government interventions are not particularly likely to produce their intended results - and that long-term programs should be more thoroughly conisdered with respect to the dynamics of their impact. The book is very well-written and very accessible with numerous well-chosen examples and figures.Strongly recommend

lucid and remarkably readable
I bought into this book- which systematically tears down a series of theories on economic modeling- until the second to last chapter.At this point, Ormerod presents a fairly cursory overview of his own theory of interacting agents, and though his presentation isn't so heavy-handed as to come across as a sales pitch, I feel that I'm expected to view this as the culmination of economic theory.Just as in the models he discards, there seem to be some brash oversights and simplifications in his own thinking.

For example, he repeatedly insists that it's sufficient to study just the U.S. economy because it is by far the most important economy in the world (that's changing already), and arrogantly dismisses Thomas Malthus' prediction that economic growth would ultimately be curbed by overpopulation (it already is in some parts of the world).He points to 170 years of evidence showing that continued growth is inevitable in a capitalist system, but bases this on assumptions that world pollution isn't getting worse (?!) and that 170 years is sufficient duration of time for which to make conclusions (when just a few chapters earlier he cited an anecdote about 200 years being nothing on the geologic scale and the past can't always predict the future).

These exceptions aside, I'm generally reverential towards this work, and Ormerod's ability to lucidly explain fundamental but often counterintuitive concepts in economics.For example, the book begins with a description of behavior in an ant population, and the tendency of ants to influence each others' behaviors in a way that makes the group population seem incomprehensible.He repeatedly recalls this example throughout the text to describe how interacting agents affect our economy and lead to unpredictable results (for example, the success of the inferior VHS format vs. Betamax).Surprisingly, he praises the effectiveness of business studies, despite their lack of theory and analytical rigor, for emphasizing an empirical understanding of how things actually work and pragmatic search for a good vs. perfect strategy.He offers some compelling recommendations on fiscal management- for example, that we should encourage speculation on foreign exchange so that exchange rates converge closer to an actual value vs. drift away to extreme under or overvaluation.

I don't ever read economics texts, don't follow the stock market, but found this to be an utterly compelling book.I believe that it has not only influenced my understanding of social and economic behavior, and I expect to re-read this in a few years' time.

Making the dismal science more exciting
This short treatise examines the models of economic performance from the viewpoint of an external observer, and shows how many of these models fail to accurately account for fundamental human behaviors.In contrast, he puts forth models derived from the life sciences (ecology and animal behavior) and softer social sciences such as sociology and psychology, and shows how they are often better at explaining human behavior than mathematical equations.

The writing style is straightforward and very concise, yet not simplistic.The book requires minimal knowledge of economics to understand, but does require at least a high-school level knowledge of American and world history.The amount of math is appreciable, but the hard stuff is left in appendices, with graphs used in the main text.One plus of the book is it references many other influential texts in the social sciences.Overall, a good and quite quick read.

Takes on big questions with small examples
Butterfly Economics starts off a seemingly obscure academic study of ants finding food, and from this simple beginning, Omerod ends up taking on big questions such as "What are the limits of economic theory?" and even bigger, "What role should government play in the economy?".It's a pretty impressive journey and for the most part, Ormerod keeps it lively and interesting.

Omerod cites a study, which found that a colony of ants searching for food from two identical, replenished piles does not settle on one pile, despite the fact that ants leave chemical scents to help other ants find the food they have just located.One would think that it would be only a matter of time before all the ants would chose a single pile to get food, but in fact, the probability of a single ant choosing either pile oscillates unpredictably.This unpredictable beahvior is actually reproduced by a simple mathematical model.The important thing about this mathematical model is that it sets up rules for individual ant behavior, but simply cannot be summed up to explain the entire colony.Omerod goes on to show that this approach often provides better explanation of the economy.

Omerod goes on to elaborate his ideas through diverse subjects crime statistics, the unpredictable nature of Hollywood hit movies, divorce rates, economic forecasts, and the distribution of the size of businesses over time.For the most part, Omerod's writing make this an interesting rather than tedious read, and most of his explanations are pretty lucid.There were a few times I had to read things a second or third time to understand, and a couple times, Omerod's simplifications resulted in confusing leaps in his explanations.However, one should realize Omerod took on a task with a high degree of difficulty and just about nailed it.

Omerod argues for a more biological approach to understanding economies, rather than a more mechanical approach.In addition, Omerod shows that short term prediction of economies is fraught with difficulties and demonstrate spectacular failures, while long term economic behavior is rather well understood.Omerod argues, convincingly in my opinion, that the role of government in formulating policy, should be aimed at changing long term goals, rather than taking short term corrective actions.

Food for thought but not a full meal
Ormerod's basic point here, that economics is chaotic and tends to generate unpredictable changes even in the absence of external shocks, is well taken.I really liked the discussion of the ant experiment.I agree with Ormerod that there is entirely too much dependence on complex equations and theory in economics, without showing enough connection to real world data.Ormerod makes the excellent point that governments should do less intervention in trying to manage business cycles and pay more attention to the structural framework for the economy.There is no single best economic policy, since the effects of a policy depend enormously upon the context in which the policies are enacted.The book is worth reading for this analysis alone.

The book has some significant problems.The most important of these is that Ormerod believes that economic statistics such as GDP reflect economic reality.This is far from being the case. Our present economic system is engaged in a wholesale looting of presently available resources at the expense of the future.This is not sustainable on a time span of decades, never mind centuries.GDP and most other conventional economic statistics fail to take this into account. More realistic measures such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare or the Genuine Progress Indicator tend to show that there has been little or no real economic growth since the 1970s. Ormerod says that trying to correct for such things as the cost of pollution and depletion of resources simply introduces a new set of arbitrary assumptions.However, in my opinion our inability to be exact hardly means that we should take zero as our best estimate of these costs.Negative externalities can be usefully ignored only when they are small compared to the total size of the economy; that is not the case today.

Ormerod dismisses those who are skeptical of the benefits of economic growth, stating that such benefits are readily apparent.It is true, of course, that when starting from very low levels increase in material standards of living can benefit people greatly.It is far less clear that in rich societies more wealth brings such great benefits.In the U.S. our material wealth per capita has increased since the 1960s.But how much better off are we, really?In the 1960s U.S. a man of modest education could afford a house in the suburbs, a non-working wife, and several children.That's the lifestyle my parents had then.Today it takes two people working to achieve that sort of lifestyle, and being able to afford several children is out of the question.I've seen research that shows families in the 1950s actually had more disposable income than typical families today.A lot of the apparent material wealth of today is fueled by mountains of debt.Certainly people are no happier today than they were then.My personal experience is at variance with what Ormerod believes is obvious to anyone.

In places Ormerod contradicts himself.For example, in the last chapter he argues that when a deep recession is apparent, measures should be brought in by government to reduce the possibility of massive job loss.I thought Ormerod's earlier point had been that this sort of tinkering by government is self-defeating. I don't understand why he thinks it would work better here.

I would suggest reading Ormerod for his good points, but pairing this work with others to address the questions he dismisses.I recommend Daly's "Beyond Growth," Kunstler's "The Long Emergency," and Diamond's "Collapse." ... Read more

Product Description
This work provides a unified and simple treatment of dynamic economics using dynamic optimization as the main theme, and the method of Legrange multipliers to solve dynamic economic problems. The author presents the optimization framework for dynamic economics in order that readers can understand the approach and use it as they see fit. Instead of using dynamic programming, the author chooses instead to use the method of Legrange multipliers in the analysis of dynamic optimization because it is easier and more efficient than dynamic programming, and allows readers to understand the substance of dynamic economics better. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An alternative to Lucas, Sargent and recursive methods
Most grad students are taught to solve dynamic equilbrium problems using recursive methods.Two of the prominent books that I am familiar with are:
* Thomas Sargent's Dynamic Macroeconomics
* Lucas and Stokey's Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics

(Note: I see that Sargent has another volume out, Recursive Macroeconomic Theory, with Lars Ljungqvist.)

Chow's book presents a Lagrangian method for dynamic optimization.This is a far easier approach than recursive methods, as anyone who is familiar with simple calculus will attest.Chow presents the method then --and this is the real value of this book-- systematically applies it to familiar market equilibrium, financial, business cycle, game theory, and growth models (all dynamic, of course).

BENEFITS:
* Chow's Lagrangian method removes mathematical obstacles to understanding important macroeconomic models
* Chow is a good writer, and this book is far easier to understand than the two books listed above
* This is a great reference for grad students looking for foundations for your own research ... Read more

Product Description
This work from one of the most influential economists of the modern era, shaped economic thought and policies for decades to come. Out from "The General Theory" arose the Keynesian school of economics.

In this work, Keynes argued that the level of employment in a modern economy was determined by three factors: the marginal propensity to consume (the percentage of any increase in the income that people chose to spend on goods and services), the marginal efficiency of capital (the cut-off rate used to see whether investments are worthy, which are dependent on anticipated rates of return) and the rate of interest.

This work has enormous implications to the present day in understanding the policies and processes that have shaped the current economic environment.

This edition from Signalman Publishing has been produced and formatted specifically for the Amazon Kindle. It includes a hyper-linked Table of Contents and is fully footnoted with all notes hyper-linked within the text.Additionally, all the equations include the greek character set as displayed in the original version. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

WARNING:Be careful of some versions.
The Management Laboratory Press (2009) and some other recent editions of Keynes's General Theory lack footnotes and an index (which would be handy for referring to Keynes's initial definitions). The MLP edition is also full of disappointing typos that seem to be due to inaccurate scanning. It doesn't divide the chapters into books I through VI, making Keynes's internal referencing confusing. One thing I do appreciate about this edition, however, is the inclusion of Keynes's prefaces for the German, Japanese, and French editions -- they give perspective on how Keynes believed his theory would apply to the situations in those countries.

It is a shame that there are so many editions of this book that are incomplete and/or contain errors from bad scans and a lack of quality control. Before buying any edition, make sure that it at least has Keynes's footnotes, divides the chapters into books I through VI, and has an accurate subject index.

If you try to read the General Theory, be ready for a challenge. It is a work of abstract economic theory written for economists of Keynes's time. It will seem strange and archaic even to modern economists because Keynes is meticulous about many things that we now take for granted.

To get the most out of reading it, I recommend checking out Paul Krugman's introduction beforehand. Krugman's intro offers the reader an idea of what to expect from the General Theory and it also presents a bit of a critique, outlining some successes and failures. It was written for a recent edition (Palgrave MacMillan 2007) and can be currently found for free on Krugman's unofficial online archive.

For an assessment of Keynes's magnum opus, I'll defer to Milton Friedman's December 31, 1965 essay from Time magazing ("We Are All Keynesians Now"):

"In Washington the men who formulate the nation's economic policies have used Keynesian principles not only to avoid the violent cycles of prewar days but to produce a phenomenal economic growth and to achieve remarkably stable prices. In 1965 they skillfully applied Keynes's ideas--together with a number of their own invention--to lift the nation through the fifth, and best, consecutive year of the most sizable, prolonged and widely distributed prosperity in history...

"Washington's economic managers scaled these heights by their adherence to Keynes's central theme: the modern capitalist economy does not automatically work at top efficiency, but can be raised to that level by the intervention and influence of the government. Keynes was the first to demonstrate convincingly that government has not only the ability but the responsibility to use its powers to increase production, incomes and jobs. Moreover, he argued that government can do this without violating freedom or restraining competition. It can, he said, achieve calculated prosperity by manipulating three main tools: tax policy, credit policy and budget policy. Their use would have the effect of strengthening private spending, investment and production."

(Of course, this was written before Friedman made his prediction about stagflation, which Keynes did not foresee. Regardless, the strength of Keynes's basic argument endures and, along with the contributions of Friedman and others, provides a solid understanding for many aspects of macroeconomics.)

voodoo economics.A ouijii board is just as useful.
Rubbish, that has been discredited by history, if not scores of economists.This bum, contrary to some of the reviewers here, was discredited following the stagnation of the 70's, and puzzingly is being embraced again.The pursuit of something fresh and novel and "progressive" trumped, in Keynes' mind, sound principals and irrefutable historic fact.If you want to see the success of Keynesian economics, just see for yourself the rubble created from nearly all of the 20th century, from the early Progressive era of WWI through today---the Great Depression, the steady inflation since the 30s, the boom-bust cycles whipsawing more wildly with each cycle...And in contrast, observe the Austrian Economics at work during the Depression of 1920-21 when President Harding resisted the siren song of deficit spending and under-consumption theory, and instead cut gvmt spending, opend-up free trade, cut tax rates (especially corporate rates)---and the Depression ended in 18 months.Coolidge continued these great policies, and voila!---we had the roaring twenties, the greatest era of expanded standard of living, not just for the US, but for the entire world. Before the wild hey-day of Keynesian deficit spending and ready money and credit, America practiced essentially the Austrian Economics practices (although the theory wasn't articulated yet) and it begat the greatest era of increased standard of living in history---even greater than Great Britain of the 19th century (following her repeal of the Corn Laws' severe impediments to free trade).
I agree with the one reviewer, that if everyone read Henry HAzlit's "Economics in One Lesson," with its clear, concise writing to the layman, then they would never again feel that the subject of economics was uncomprehensible, dense and mysterious. I would suggest a great political philosophical text as well---Frederic Bastiat's "The Law," which is the political science equivalent of Hazlit's great classic, in its brevity and startling clarity.

Classic, but too many typos
This is a classic book.However, the too many typos look like they resulted from scanning in the text and then not proof reading - the publisher does a diservice to the book.

Be careful with the version you are purchasing, some have many errors
There are a lot of comments about the quality of the specific version of Keynes' classic "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money".I researched this using the Look Inside feature and found some notable differences in versions. Many publishers (such as "CreateSpace", BN) clearly used scanned copies of the original work and optical character recognition (OCR) software which results in many errors within the text. Specifically:
- within the equations, they use a "D" instead of the mathematical Delta character used in the original.
- incorrectly using or not using subscripts within the equations (i.e "Pwr" instead of "P" with subscript "wr").
- Many of the equations use the wrong greek math symbol altogether.
- In chapter 20, an important equation is rendered completely wrong.
- Other areas where the OCR created errors: "| Noreover" should be "Moreover"
- In chapter 15, one equation shows "MY=OP" where it should be "MV=OP".

Honestly, the quality of these versions is atrocious. Plus, in these cases, the footnotes are not even shown! Good lord.

The version from Signalman Publishing was found to be free of these errors. Other versions may be ok as well, but for now, the best version out there that I have found is from Signalman (link here: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money).

Management Laboratory Press Edition
When I opened the package I was surprised how nice the book looks like. I have seen a couple version, but this one is really the nicest one. So if you are looking to impress somebody this is your book. :) Well, besides that it is nicely done. I think I don't need to say much about the content sine we all know the story of this classic masterpiece. Five stars from me! ... Read more

Product Description
Andreu Mas-Colell has been doing pioneering work using differential topology in the analysis of general equilibrium. This work is regarded as outstanding and one of the major contributions to the development of rigorous economic theory in the last twenty years. The articles he has written have been difficult and technically demanding. In this book he brings this work together to show its scope and its power. He presents the analysis in a way which makes it accessible to the broader range of economic theorists and advanced students. This book has been long awaited as a seminal contribution to the subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent summary of advances in general equilibium
Making use of differential topology, Andreu Mas-Collel's book is an excellent synthesis of new techniques in general equilbrium theory. Traditionally, general equilibrium theory has been dominated by convexityanalysis. The existence have been driven by assumptions such as convexpreferences. Mas-Collel shows another possible route from which toanalyze markets : conditions on derivatives. Amongst other acheivements,the book discusses how using a differentiable approach can allow for simplecalculations on the number of equilibria (using index theory). Countingthe number of equilibria is an area where the traditional convexityapproach has been remarkably unsuccessful. The theory is elegant andstraight-forward.

The presentation is clear. The book begins with anintroduction to differential topology giving the less mathematicallysophisticated reader enough background in concepts like transversality tounderstand the economics results which are proved later in the book.Concepts are developped slowly and in an intelligent manner withequilibrium theories occurring later in the book. On the whole, this bookis a great contribution to economics and ought to be required reading forall economic theorists.

This book is the best book ever written on economics.
Economics has been rigorized and advanced by the brilliant work of Debreu and Mas-Collel relating differential topology to the structure of the pseudo-equilbrium manifold. This book is an incredible summary andextension of that project, critical to our understanding of the economy. ... Read more

Product Description
This revised Economics A Level study guide is intended to give students the best possible chance of success. It is designed for use both throughout the course as a supplement to studies and as a revision guide for the final approach to examinations. The focus of the book is on the techniques needed to pass with the best possible grades. The guide offers syllabus analysis, a study checklist, study objectives and key point summaries as well as illustrative and practice questions. Also included is a complete mock exam with suggested answers. ... Read more

Product Description

The economic crisis has created a host of problems for working people: collapsing wages, lost jobs, ruined pensions, and the anxiety that comes with not knowing what tomorrow willbring. Compounding all this is a lack of reliable information that speaks to the realities of workers. Commentators and pundits seem more confused than anyone, and economists—the so-called "experts"—still cling to bankrupt ideologies that failed to predict the crisis and offer nothing to explain it.

In this short, clear, and concise book, Fred Magdoff and Michael D. Yates explain the nature of the economic crisis. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the authors demonstrate that this crisis is not some aberration from a normally benign capitalism but rather the normal and even expected outcome of a thoroughly irrational and destructive system. No amount of tinkering with capitalism, whether it be discredited neoliberalism or the return of Keynesianism and a "new" New Deal, can overcome the core contradiction of the system: the daily exploitation and degradation of the majority of the world's people by a tiny minority of business owners.

While the current economic maelstrom has laid bare the web of greed, corruption, and propaganda that are central to capitalism, only an aroused public, demanding the right to health care, decent employment, a secure old age, and a clean and healthy environment, can lead the United States and the world out of the worst crisis since the Great Depression and toward a system of production and distribution conducive to human happiness. This book is aimed primarily at working people, students, and activists, who want not just to understand the world but to change it.

Customer Reviews (5)

The system is broken - get a new one.
In analysing the bursting of the 2008 sub-prime-inflated housing bubble which plunged the global economy into the biggest tailspin since the 1930s Depression, Magdoff and Yates pass deserved judgement on the banks who knowingly lent money to people they knew could not pay and then fraudulently palmed off the toxic loans to others for a profit.Their victims were not those who made all the money as the bonus culture and CEO greed of Wall Street barely paused for breath during the crisis.

The massive state intervention to revive the economy is also seen as aiding and abetting the corporate criminals, throwing good public money after bad private money in the short term, and failing to address long term corporate behaviour change in the long run, a recipe for a disastrous future reprise.

Magdoff and Yates go beyond just fingering a few greedy bankers and lack of regulation, however, locating the root of the problem in capitalism's shift away from the productive economy to the financial economy in search for ever greater, and riskier, profits bringing in its train increased "speculative frenzy, excessive borrowing and greed", signalling no end to the sorry record of America's seven post-war recessions and 33 recessions/depressions since the mid-1850s.

Magdoff and Yates' book is slim, and somewhat dry to read, but convincing.Their unashamedly Marxist analytical framework squarely locates the problem of economic crisis in the heart of capitalism and its inevitable boom/bust cycles.For Magdoff and Yates, the solution is for the working class to own and control the banks and the rest of the economy, to democratically plan for social need and not for the lavish private gain of the Wall Street gamblers and corporate rich.Most commentators do not go this far.It's time they did.

Unpacking the economic crisis
Finally a book that explains how the US economy collapsed, in easy to understand language accessible to Americans most affected by the current recession - the unemployed and people who have recently lost their homes. Amazingly while much of Marx's work has been discredited, Magdoff and Yates also demonstrate that no one before or since has understood or described capitalism quite so clearly as K.M. did. The chapter "What Makes Capitalism Tick" is priceless. It describes in elegantly simple language how profit originates from paying workers less than the value of their work - and how economic prosperity based on complex financial instruments that don't produce anything of tangible value is doomed to collapse.

The authors provide a timeline leading up to the American economic collapse that starts in April 2007. They also give cause for optimism in their final chapter, with a list of 10 reforms (in housing, public transportation, environmental sustainability, health, education, labor and responsive government) that will immediately improve the ability of all Americans to weather what may be a very long economic recession.

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, author of THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT

A strong pick for those seeking understanding
The economic crisis won't hit the rich the hardest, but rather the people who live paycheck to paycheck. "The ABCs of the Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know" is a guide to the basics of the current crisis, and how America has gotten where it is today. Presenting underlying economic concepts in layman's terms, "The ABCs of the Economic Crisis" is invaluable. A strong pick for those seeking understanding.

Finally a coherent explanation of the crises for the non-economist
Of all the talk about CDO's, credit default swaps, IMF, neo-liberism, financalization, the subprime morgate crises - this book puts it all into perspective in laymen's terms.There is a lot of serious critique of the capitalist system in here well worth the read for anyone an all sides of the political spectrum.This should be required reading for anyone interested in staying up to date with the current economic system.The Monthly Review has always been ahead of the learning curve, the conclusion gives a brief answer to correct a lot of the contradictions of contemporary capitalism - but lacks in urgency and revolution.Still an excellent read, GET IT NOW!It will probably really anger you.

Finally, a sane analysis of the current crisis...
Easily the most cogent and persuasive account of the economic bloodletting that afflicts the US today. Marxian in orientation, this very-recently published book offers the best analysis for understanding the economic bomb that just exploded over the last year or so.

It's a wonder why most people still have an allergy at considering there's wisdom on the Left. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that I would like to see some positive proposals from The Monthly Review crowd. Greater legal emphasis on worker-owned co-operatives? How much and what to outlaw on Wall Street?

Paul ... Read more