Economic Conditions

by A B Atkinson , Language: English

Governments all round the world are facing problems with their public finances. At a time of austerity, how much should spending be cut and how much should taxes be raised? Does the national debt represent a burden for future generations? Should taxes on the rich be raised? This book examines how the tools of public economics can be applied to answer such key questions and to suggest alternatives to the austerity policies currently being pursued.
The fiscal problems faced are not simply the result of the post-2008 economic crisis but reflect a deep-seated fault line in modern economies.

by James Allan , Language: English

Part lament, part provocative call-to-action, Democracy in Decline charts how democracy is being diluted and restricted in five of the world’s oldest democracies – the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. James Allan targets four main, interconnected causes of decline – judicial activism, the transformation and growth of international law, the development of supranational organizations, and the presence of undemocratic elites. He presents a convincing argument that the same trends are occurring whether the country has a constitutional bill of rights (United States and Canada), a statutory bill of rights (the United Kingdom and New Zealand), or no bill of rights at all (Australia).

by Thomas Heberer , Language: English

Mountainous Liangshan Prefecture, on the southern border of Sichuan Province, is one of China’s most remote regions. Although Liangshan’s majority ethnic group, the Nuosu (now classified by the Chinese government as part of the Yi ethnic group), practiced a subsistence economy and were, by Chinese standards, extremely poor, their traditional society was stratified into endogamous castes, the most powerful of which owned slaves. With the incorporation of Liangshan into China’s new socialist society in the mid-twentieth century, the Nuosu were required to abolish slavery and what the Chinese government considered to be superstitious religious practices.

by Gregory C Chow , Dwight H Perkins , Language: English

The Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Economy is an advanced-level reference guide which surveys the current economic situation in China and its integration into the global economy. An internationally renowned line-up of scholars contribute chapters on the key components of the contemporary economy and their historical foundations.

by Pete Dolack , Language: English

The path to a better world can’t be found without knowledge of history. /It’s Not Over/ analyzes attempts to supplant capitalism in the past in order to draw lessons for emerging and future movements that seek to overcome the political and economic crises of today. This history is presented through the words and actions of the men and women who made these revolutions, and the everyday experiences of the millions of people who put new revolutionary ideas into practice under the pressures of enormous internal and external forces.

by Xiaoxi Li , Biliang Hu , Language: English

In recent years, a financial crisis not encountered for almost half a century broke out globally, deeply affecting the economy of China. This book covers topics in relation to the financial crisis in China, such as how the financial crisis intensifies discussion on ‘the China Model’, the comprehensive interpretation on the scale, structure and effects of the 4 trillion economic stimulus plan and the development of rural finance in China under circumstances of world-wide financial upheaval.

by James R Gorrie , Language: English

A controversial look at the impending Chinese economic collapse—the history behind it, its contemporary causes, and its dire implications for the global economyAll the experts agree: the 21st century belongs to China. Given America’s looming insolvency and the possibility of the collapse of the U.S. dollar, who can doubt that China is poised to take over the role of economic superpower? Written by political economist and leading financial journalist James Gorrie, this book offers a highly controversial, contrarian view of contemporary China.

by David C Korten , Language: English

Today’s economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression. However, as David Korten shows, the steps being taken to address it do nothing to deal with the reality of a failed economic system. It’s like treating cancer with a bandage. Korten identifies the deeper sources of the failure: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating ""wealth"" without producing anything of real value: phantom wealth. Our hope lies not with Wall Street, Korten argues, but with Main Street, which creates real wealth from real resources to meet real needs.

by Lawrence E Mitchell , Language: English

American businesses today are obsessed with the price of their stock, and no wonder. The consequences of even a modest decrease can be so dire that some executives would rather damage their corporation’s long-term health than allow quarterly returns to fall below projections. But how did this situation come about? When did the stock market become the driver of the American economy? Lawrence E. Mitchell identifies the moment in American history when finance triumphed over industry. He shows how the birth of the giant modern corporation spurred the rise of the stock market and how, by the dawn of the 1920s, the stock market left behind its business origins to become the very reason for the creation of business itself.

by William Hurst , Language: English

While millions in China have been advantaged by three decades of reform, impressive gains have also produced social dislocation. Groups that had been winners under socialism find themselves losers in the new order. Based on field research in nine cities across China, this fascinating study considers the fate of one such group – 35 million workers laid off from the state-owned sector. The book explains why these lay-offs occurred, how workers are coping with unemployment, what actions the state is taking to provide them with livelihoods and re-employment, and what happens when workers mobilize collectively to pursue redress of their substantial grievances.

by Michael Zakim , Gary John Kornblith , Language: English

Most scholarship on nineteenth-century America’s transformation into a market society has focused on consumption, romanticized visions of workers, and analysis of firms and factories. Building on but moving past these studies, Capitalism Takes Command presents a history of family farming, general incorporation laws, mortgage payments, inheritance practices, office systems, and risk management—an inventory of the means by which capitalism became America’s new revolutionary tradition.This multidisciplinary collection of essays argues not only that capitalism reached far beyond the purview of the economy, but also that the revolution was not confined to the destruction of an agrarian past.

by James M Blaut , Language: English

by Scott B Sumner , Language: English

Economic historians have made great progress in unraveling the causes of the Great Depression, but not until Scott Sumner came along has anyone explained the multitude of twists and turns the economy took. In The Midas Paradox: Financial Markets, Government Policy Shocks, and the Great Depression, Sumner offers his magnum opus—the first book to comprehensively explain both monetary and non-monetary causes of that cataclysm. Drawing on financial market data and contemporaneous news stories, Sumner shows that the Great Depression is ultimately a story of incredibly bad policymaking—by central bankers, legislators, and two presidents—especially mistakes related to monetary policy and wage rates.

by W Brian Arthur , Language: English

Economics is currently undergoing its most profound change since the 1800s. Instead of seeing the economy as a perfectly ordered, rational system, economists are beginning to see it as an ecology of actions, forecasts, strategies, and technologies that are always changing and adapting. This new vision helps answer questions economics couldn’t answer before. Why does the stock market show moods and a psychology? Why do high-tech markets tend to lock in to the dominance of one or two very large players? How do economies form, and how do they continually alter in structure over time? In the 1980s and 90s, economist and complexity theorist W.

by Eric Helleiner , Language: English

The 2008 financial crisis was the worst since the Great Depression and many voices argued that it would transform global financial governance. Analysts anticipated a "Bretton Woods moment", referring to the 1944 conference that established the postwar international financial order. Widespread expectations of change were then reinforced by the creation of the G20 leaders’ forum, extensive debates about the dollar’s global role, the launching of international financial regulatory reforms, and the establishment of the Financial Stability Board.B

by Ralph Warner , Bethany K Laurence , Language: English

Stay in business even through tough times with these simple, quick steps to small business survival.Small businesses are vulnerable in tough economic times. Undercapitalized and with little experience coping with the legal and practical issues that come up during recession, many businesses fail as their profit margins drop and clients pay late – if at all.Save Your Small Business, written by a business owner who has survived three decades of challenges and economic downturns, provides 10 no-nonsense strategies designed to protect your personal assets from creditors and survive the current recession.