Foundations of Real-World Economics

Foundations of Real-World Economics
Author: John Komlos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2019-01-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351584707

The 2008 financial crisis, the rise of Trumpism and the other populist movements which have followed in their wake have grown out of the frustrations of those hurt by the economic policies advocated by conventional economists for generations. Despite this, textbooks continue to praise conventional policies such as deregulation and hyperglobalization. This textbook demonstrates how misleading it can be to apply oversimplified models of perfect competition to the real world. The math works well on college blackboards but not so well on the Main Streets of America. This volume explores the realities of oligopolies, the real impact of the minimum wage, the double-edged sword of free trade, and other ways in which powerful institutions cause distortions in the mainstream models. Bringing together the work of key scholars, such as Kahneman, Minsky, and Schumpeter, this book demonstrates how we should take into account the inefficiencies that arise due to asymmetric information, mental biases, unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the manipulation of demand. This textbook offers students a valuable introductory text with insights into the workings of real markets not just imaginary ones formulated by blackboard economists. A must-have for students studying the principles of economics as well as micro- and macroeconomics, this textbook redresses the existing imbalance in economic teaching. Instead of clinging to an ideology that only enriched the 1%, Komlos sketches the outline of a capitalism with a human face, an economy in which people live contented lives with dignity instead of focusing on GNP.

Real Life Economics

Real Life Economics
Author: Paul Ekins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2006-10-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134896115

The past fifty years have witnessed the triumph of an industrial development that has engendered great social and environmental costs. Conventional economics has too often either ignored these costs or failed to analyse them appropriately. This book constructs a framework within which the wider impacts of economic activity can be both understood and ameliorated. The framework places its emphasis on an in-depth understanding of real-life processes rather than on mathematical formalism, sressing the independence of the economy with the social, ecological and ethical dimensions of human life.

Real World Economics

Real World Economics
Author: Edward Fullbrook
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1843312476

An engaging, important text calling for the reform of economics and pushing for the discipline to become an honest and effective tool for democracy.

The Little Book of Economics

The Little Book of Economics
Author: Greg Ip
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2013-01-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1118391578

An accessible, thoroughly engaging look at how the economy really works and its role in your everyday life Not surprisingly, regular people suddenly are paying a lot closer attention to the economy than ever before. But economics, with its weird technical jargon and knotty concepts and formulas can be a very difficult subject to get to grips with on your own. Enter Greg Ip and his Little Book of Economics. Like a patient, good-natured tutor, Greg, one of today's most respected economics journalists, walks you through everything you need to know about how the economy works. Short on technical jargon and long on clear, concise, plain-English explanations of important terms, concepts, events, historical figures and major players, this revised and updated edition of Greg's bestselling guide clues you in on what's really going on, what it means to you and what we should be demanding our policymakers do about the economy going forward. From inflation to the Federal Reserve, taxes to the budget deficit, you get indispensible insights into everything that really matters about economics and its impact on everyday life Special sections featuring additional resources of every subject discussed and where to find additional information to help you learn more about an issue and keep track of ongoing developments Offers priceless insights into the roots of America's economic crisis and its aftermath, especially the role played by excessive greed and risk-taking, and what can be done to avoid another economic cataclysm Digs into globalization, the roots of the Euro crisis, the sources of China's spectacular growth, and why the gap between the economy's winners and losers keeps widening

Economic Life in the Real World

Economic Life in the Real World
Author: Charles Stafford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-01-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1108654231

This clearly written and engaging book brings together anthropology, psychology and economics to show how these three human science disciplines address fundamental questions related to the psychology of economic life in human societies - questions that matter for people from every society and every background. Based around vivid examples drawn from field research in China and Taiwan, the author encourages anthropologists to take the psychological dimensions of economic life more seriously, but also invites psychologists and economists to pay much more attention than they currently do to cultural and historical variables. In the end, this intrinsically radical book challenges us to step away from disciplinary assumptions and to reflect more deeply on what really matters to us in our collective social and economic life.

Real World Labor

Real World Labor
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2009
Genre: Economic development
ISBN: 9781878585554

Money

Money
Author: Sergio M. Focardi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2018-03-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 131539104X

By enabling the storage and transfer of purchasing power, money facilitates economic transactions and coordinates economic activity. But what is money? How is it generated? Distributed? How does money acquire value and that value change? How does money impact the economy, society? This book explores money as a system of "tokens" that represent the purchasing power of individual agents. It looks at how money developed from debt/credit relationships, barter and coins into a system of gold-backed currencies and bank credit and on to the present system of fiat money, bank credit, near-money and, more recently, digital currencies. The author successively examines how the money circuit has changed over the last 50 years, a period of stagnant wages, increased household borrowing and growing economic complexity, and argues for a new theory of economies as complex systems, coordinated by a banking and financial system. Money: What It Is, How It’s Created, Who Gets It and Why It Matters will be of interest to students of economics and finance theory and anyone wanting a more complete understanding of monetary theory, economics, money and banking.

What Every Economics Student Needs to Know and Doesn't Get in the Usual Principles Text

What Every Economics Student Needs to Know and Doesn't Get in the Usual Principles Text
Author: John Komlos
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0765643715

This short book explores a core group of 40 topics that tend to go unexplored in an Introductory Economics course. Though not a replacement for an introductory text, the work is intended as a supplement to provoke further thought and discussion by juxtaposing blackboard models of the economy with empirical observations.

How Markets Work

How Markets Work
Author: Robert E. Prasch
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1848443978

How Markets Work presents a new and refreshing introduction to elementary economics. The venerable theory of supply and demand is reconstituted upon plausible and defensible assumptions concerning human nature, the law, and the facts of everyday life in short the Real World . The message is that markets differ in ways that matter. Starting with a brief survey of property and contract law, the lectures develop several ideal types of markets such as credit, assets, and labor while illuminating the similarities and differences among them. Care has been taken to ensure that the reformulations presented are accessible to students and compatible with a variety of non-mainstream traditions in economic thought. Topics covered include the theory of markets, labor markets, market processes when influenced by the availability of information, and social, ethical and political considerations. Also discussed are commodity, credit and asset markets, contracts, dynamics of labor markets, and the economics of discrimination. This book is intended as an essential supplemental text for undergraduate economics students, particularly in heterodox programs, as well as for those in companion liberal arts and sociology fields looking for an accessible introduction to essential economic theory.