University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Economics and Business: Economics--General Theory and Principles

World Without Wall Street?

François Morin; Krzysztof Fijalkowski; Michael Richardson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

As the aftershocks of the latest economic meltdown reverberate throughout the world, and people organize to physically occupy the major financial centers of the West, few experts and even fewer governments have dared to consider a world without the powerful markets that brought on the crash. Yet, as François Morin explains in A World Without Wall Street?, this is the very step that needs to be taken as quickly as possible to avoid a perpetual future of dehumanizing working conditions, devastated ecosystems, and the submission of public policies to private interests.

In this insightful and radical take on global finance, Morin recommends nothing less than a revolutionary reconstruction of the international monetary system. More, he recommends that the laws of societies be reformed so that the power of management may be shared among all of the actors involved in production, not concentrated in the hands of the few. This shift, argues Morin, will transform the monetary system into a common good for all of humanity, rich or poor. With Wall Street at the center of the very power structure that needs to be dismantled, Morin takes broad aim at the purely speculative financial games and arcane instruments by which the global economy and its citizens are held captive. In this very timely and provocative book, Morin bravely offers a way forward—instead of simply triaging a hemorrhaging system, he persuasively asks us to consider a subversive reinvention.

Travelling Goods, Travelling Moods

Christian Huck; Stefan Bauernschmidt — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Looking at cultural appropriation from around the world, this volume uses the field of cultural studies—heavily influenced by both economics and sociology—as a lens through which to view the paradigm of transcultural consumption. The editors present a variety of consumptive phenomena including: the introduction of Chinese foods to the United States, Ford cars in Germany, and American schoolbooks in the Philippines. Rejecting the idea that these interactions were simply forms of “Americanization,” Travelling Goods, Travelling Moods fills a gap in consumer studies and enriches the debate about cultural transfer.

Innovation Policy and the Economy, 2012

Josh Lerner; Scott Stern — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

There is considerable debate regarding the implications of technological change for economic policy and the appropriate policies and programs regarding research, innovation, and the commercialization of new technology. This debate has intensified as policy makers have focused on new sources of innovation and growth in light of the continuing economic downturn and the associated focus on enhancing employment and growth. Innovation Policy and the Economy provides an ongoing forum for the presentation of research on the interactions among public policy, the innovation process, and the economy. Papers in this volume include a consideration of the complex set of innovation-policy challenges that arise in managing publicly funded research, an examination of the increasingly visible role of philanthropic funding for science, a look at the increasingly contentious issue of public funding of growth-oriented entrepreneurship, and two papers that turn their attention to the evaluation of recent federal policy changes as the result of the America Invents Act and the America Competes Act.

Trade-Offs

Harold Winter — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

When economists wrestle with issues such as unemployment, inflation, or budget deficits, they do so by incorporating an impersonal, detached mode of reasoning. But economists also analyze issues that, to others, typically do not fall within the realm of economic reasoning, such as organ transplants, cigarette addiction, overeating, and product safety. Trade-Offs is an introduction to the economic approach to analyzing these controversial public policy issues.

Harold Winter provides readers with the analytical tools needed to identify and understand the trade-offs associated with these topics. By considering both the costs and benefits of potential policy solutions, Winter stresses that real-world decision making is best served by an explicit recognition of as many trade-offs as possible. This new edition incorporates recent developments in policy debates, including the rise of “new paternalism,” or policies designed to protect people from themselves; alternative ways to increase the supply of organs available for transplant; and economic approaches to controlling infectious disease.

Intellectually stimulating yet accessible and entertaining, Trade-Offs will be appreciated by students of economics, public policy, health administration, political science, and law, as well as by anyone who follows current social policy debates.

Squeezed Middle

Sophia Parker — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

The issue of living standards is arguably the biggest challenge facing economists and politicians in the United States and the United Kingdom today. The product of a year-long fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, The Squeezed Middle brings together leading experts from both sides of the Atlantic to ask what the UK can learn from the US experience of stagnating wages and rising living costs.

American workers have not benefited from growth for an entire generation: adjusting for inflation, the average American worker today earns as much as the average American worker did in 1975. During the last decade British workers have had a similar experience—they can no longer assume that when the economy grows their wages will grow with it. With contributions from a number of leading economic and policy thinkers, this collection analyzes the impact of different policies on those with low to middle incomes and explains what lessons the UK can learn from America’s so-called lost generation. A timely and crucial book, it is essential reading for anyone concerned about the living standards crisis and will have great relevance to policy makers and researchers in the UK, United States, and beyond.