Best of
Economics

1984

The Evolution of Cooperation


Robert Axelrod - 1984
    Widely praised and much-discussed, this classic book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists—whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals—when there is no central authority to police their actions. The problem of cooperation is central to many different fields. Robert Axelrod recounts the famous computer tournaments in which the “cooperative” program Tit for Tat recorded its stunning victories, explains its application to a broad spectrum of subjects, and suggests how readers can both apply cooperative principles to their own lives and teach cooperative principles to others.

Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality


Thomas Sowell - 1984
    Board of Education. Thomas Sowell takes a tough, factual look at what has actually happened over these decades -- as distinguished from the hopes with which they began or the rhetoric with which they continue, Who has gained and who has lost? Which of the assumptions behind the civil rights revolution have stood the test of time and which have proven to be mistaken or even catastrophic to those who were supposed to be helped?

Cities and the Wealth of Nations


Jane Jacobs - 1984
    Jacobs' other books, it offers a concrete approach to an abstract and elusive subject. That, all by itself, makes for an intoxicating experience."—New York Times

A Guide to Chemical Engineering Process Design and Economics


Gael D. Ulrich - 1984
    Introduces students to the technology and terminology they will encounter in industrial practice. Presents short-cut techniques for specifying equipment or isolating important elements of a design project. Emphasizes project definition, flow sheet development and equipment specification. Covers the economics of process design. End-of-chapter exercises guide students through step-by-step solutions of design problems. Includes four case studies from past AICHE competitions.

Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy


Murray N. Rothbard - 1984
    Those mainstream historians might deride Rothbard's history as a "conspiracy" approach, Rothbard himself is only out to show that world affairs are not random historical forces but the consequence of choices and paths chosen by real human beings. The contents of this volume include:Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign PolicyAppendix I: The Treaty that Wall Street WroteAppendix II: Who's Who for the Canal TreatyAfterwordASIN B0006QGUJS 100 pp. (pb)

Choice and Consequence


Thomas C. Schelling - 1984
    In Choice and Consequence, he ventures into the area where rationality is ambiguous in order to look at the tricks people use to try to quit smoking or lose weight. He explores topics as awesome as nuclear terrorism, as sordid as blackmail, as ineffable as daydreaming, as intimidating as euthanasia. He examines ethical issues wrapped up in economics, unwrapping the economics to disclose ethical issues that are misplaced or misidentified.With an ingenious, often startling approach, Schelling brings new perspectives to problems ranging from drug abuse, abortion, and the value people put on their lives to organized crime, airplane hijacking, and automobile safety. One chapter is a clear and elegant exposition of game theory as a framework for analyzing social problems. Another plays with the hypothesis that our minds are not only our problem-solving equipment but also the organ in which much of our consumption takes place.What binds together the different subjects is the author's belief in the possibility of simultaneously being humane and analytical, of dealing with both the momentous and the familiar. Choice and Consequence was written for the curious, the puzzled, the worried, and all those who appreciate intellectual adventure.

Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation


David F. Noble - 1984
    David Noble argues that industrial automation--more than merely a technological advance--is a social process that reflects very real divisions and pressures within our society. The book explains how technology is often spurred and shaped by the military, corporations, universities, and other mighty institutions. Using detailed case studies, Noble also demonstrates how engineering design is influenced by political, economic, and sociological considerations, and how the deployment of equipment is frequently entangled with certain managerial concerns.

Hankow: Commerce and Society in a Chinese City, 1796-1889


William T. Rowe - 1984
    The emphasis here is on the dynamism of late imperial commerce, the relation of the metropolis to the hinterland, and the corporate institutions of the city, notably its guilds. The second volume, Hankow: Conflict and Community in a Chinese City, 1796-1895, focuses on the people of Hankow.

Mises and Austrian Economics: A Personal View


Ron Paul - 1984
    17Ludwig von Mises, The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (South Holland, ...

Asymptotic Theory for Econometricians


Halbert White - 1984
    A volume in the 'Economic Theory, Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Series' edited by Karl Shell.

Mexico, The Struggle For Peace And Bread


Frank Tannenbaum - 1984
    

From Bretton Woods to World Inflation: A Study of


Henry Hazlitt - 1984
    

Hayek on Liberty


John N. Gray - 1984
    In a substantial new chapter, Gray assesses how far the historical development of the last ten years can be deployed in a critique of Hayek's thought. His reassessment is not only a provoking study of a classical philosopher. It is also a timely contribution to the debate over the future of conservatism, as Gray argues that Hayekian liberalism - 'the most well-articulated political theory of the new right' - is flawed.

The New American Poverty


Michael Harrington - 1984
    

An Economic Theorist's Book of Tales


George A. Akerlof - 1984
    Economic theory has traditionally relied upon a tacit and 'classical' set of assumptions that have gradually acquired a life of their own in defining how economists write and how they justify economic models. Similarly, these assumptions have acquired an autonomous character: they guide the way economists think about the world. In consequence, consideration of alternative assumptions has become taboo. These essays are substantively and stylistically novel because they break these taboos and bring new assumptions into economic theory. The papers apply this adventurous approach to a wide range of issues - from insurance markets and trade in underdeveloped countries to unemployment and discrimination. Some of the essays derive the implications for economic markets of costly asymmetric information. Others explore the findings of other social sciences such as anthropology, psychology and sociology.

Input-Output Analysis: Foundations and Extensions


Ronald E. Miller - 1984
    The book has been fully revised and updated to reflect important developments in the field since its original publication. New topics covered include SAMs (and extended input-output models) and their connection to input-output data, structural decomposition analysis (SDA), multiplier decompositions, identifying important coefficients, and international input-output models. A major new feature of this edition is that it is also supported by an accompanying website with solutions to all problems, wide-ranging real-world data sets, and appendices with further information for more advanced readers. Input-Output Analysis is an ideal introduction to the subject for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of fields, including economics, regional science, regional economics, city, regional and urban planning, environmental planning, public policy analysis and public management.

Tell The People: Talks With James Yen About The Mass Educational Movement


Pearl S. Buck - 1984
    

Intermediate Accounting


K. Fred Skousen - 1984
    Students will see accounting as it is in the real world -- an essential component of the management function and decision-making process.

Billions for the Bankers Debts for the People


Sheldon Emry - 1984
    Learn how your slave masters control you. As it appears today, all the points made by this book, are coming to pass. Everyone should study this great book.

Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow, Volume 2: General Equilibrium


Kenneth J. Arrow - 1984
    This publication of his collected papers, to be completed in seven topical volumes, will be welcomed by economists and other social scientists and in particular by graduate students, who can draw from them the deep knowledge and taste in the selection of scientific problems that only a master can offer.This volume is concerned with the foundations of neo-classical economic analysis. General equilibrium is a theory of prices in which all of the actions of the economic agents in an economy are determined simultaneously and in a decentralized fashion. The price system, determined in competitive markets, guides actions for both firms and individual consumers. All of the complex interrelations of the economy are distilled into the determination of this price system.In these papers, Arrow examines the conditions under which such a price system would exist. He also clarifies the conditions under which the system can or cannot achieve an optimum. In the latter case, when "market failures" are present, he shows the role of a benevolent government in helping to overcome the induced inefficiencies.

The Company Store: J. B. McLachlan and the Cape Breton Coal Miners 1900-1925


John Mellor - 1984
    B. McLachlan was a fiery, idealistic Scot who came to Canada with a vision of a better world. He settled in Cape Breton, and there he worked in the coalmines beside hundreds of men and boys from all parts of the world.In the first decades of the twentieth century mine owners cared little for safety or working conditions: miners and their families were virtual serfs of the company. As their wages were squeezed lower, mine workers fought back through their union--with J. B. McLachlan at its head. The response of the authorities was fierce. The miners faced soldiers, machine guns, prison sentences, starvation, homelessness. They were betrayed by American union leaders. Throughout, J. B. McLachlan stood firm for his principles and ideals.The Company Store is the story of a remarkable Canadian, and of a little-known part of our industrial past.

Aggressive Tax Avoidance for Real Estate Investors: How to Make Sure You Aren't Paying One More Cent in Taxes Than the Law Requires


John T. Reed - 1984
    

Patrons, Clients and Friends: Interpersonal Relations and the Structure of Trust in Society


S.N. Eisenstadt - 1984
    Characterised by its voluntary and highly personal but often fully institutionalised nature, it is a type of behaviour found in almost every human society. It touches upon basic aspects of the construction and regulation of social order and is therefore closely connected to major theoretical problems and controversies in the social sciences. This book analyses some special types of these interpersonal relations - ritual kinship, patron-client relations and friendship - and the social conditions in which they develop. The authors draw upon a wide range of examples, from societies as diverse as these of the Mediterranean, Latin America, the Middle and Far East and the U.S.S.R., in their study of the core characteristics of such relationships. They look at them as mechanisms of social exchange, examine their impact on the institutional structures in which they exist, and assess the significance of the variations in their occurrence. Their analysis highlights the importance of these relationships in social life and concludes with a stimulating discussion of the ensuring tensions and ambivalences and the ways in which these are dealt with - though perhaps never fully overcome. Patrons, clients and friends is the first systematic comparative study of these interpersonal relations and makes the first attempt to relate them to central aspects of social structure. It will therefore be an important contribution to both comparative analysis and social theory and will be of interest to a wide range of social scientists.

Accumulation Crisis


James O'Connor - 1984
    He is a retired Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow, Volume 3: Individual Choice Under Certainty and Uncertainty


Kenneth J. Arrow - 1984
    The publication of his collected papers will therefore be welcomed by economists and other social scientists and in particular by graduate students, who can draw from them the deep knowledge and the discernment in selection of scientific problems that only a master can offer. The author has added headnotes to certain well-known papers, describing how he came to write them.The third volume of Kenneth Arrow's Collected Papers concerns the basic concept of rationality as it applies to an economic decision maker. In particular, it addresses the problem of choice faced by consumers in a multicommodity world and presents specific models of choice useful in economic analysis. It also discusses choice models under uncertainty, giving the basic theory and critiques of this theory based on experimental evidence and applications. Among the major papers are "Alternative Approaches to the Theory of Choice in Risk-Taking Situations," a masterly survey of subjective probability and choice theory, and "The Theory of Risk Aversion," an exposition of the theory of choice under uncertainty.

Transformation of American Capitalism


John R. Munkirs - 1984
    John Munkirs. however, argues that the American economy has "centralized private sector planning." Assessing 138 major industries and 5 major market areas, the author shows how firms in a given industry are technologically, financially, and administratively interdependent. He then demonstrates how industries are both structurally and functionally interdependent and how a series of economic planning instruments evolved over the years that both allow and may even necessitate regional, national, and international private sector planning.

The Political Economy: Readings In The Politics And Economics Of American Public Policy


Joel Rogers - 1984
    It integrates selections from the very finest new and classical works of political and economic analysis, by distinguished scholars, into a comprehensive overview of the American political system.

The Idea of Economic Complexity


David Warsh - 1984
    

Power and Privilege: Labor Unions in America


Morgan O. Reynolds - 1984
    

The Village Labourer


J.L. Hammond - 1984
    Powerless to stop them, driven to poverty and despair, unable to support their families, and reliant on the charity of the poor rates, there was widespread anger across rural England in 1830. Despite the peaceable nature of most of the so-called riots, the Government and ruling class reacted ferociously, and Special Commissions handed out numerous sentences of imprisonment, transportation, and even death. The Hammond's book is a forceful and moving indictment of hierarchical British society where the upper class was prepared to use the Government and the Law to maintain their privileged position and brutally crush all opposition.

Conversations with Economists


Arjo Klamer - 1984
    A collection of interviews with 11 of the nation's leading economic theorists providing an introduction to current issues in economic theory and to the ways in which economists think.

Free Banking in Britain


Lawrence H. White - 1984
    This book explores how this could work in practice by examining how this has worked historically, specifically in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century. After building a theory of free banking, its central chapters explore the history of Scotlands experience of free banking and the contemporary policy debate over the question of whether Parliament should allow free banking in England. The final chapters bring the debate forward and examine how free banking could work in modern times. The result is a significantly revised and update edition of a book about privately issued currency.

No Free Lunch: Food & Revolution in Cuba Today


Medea Benjamin - 1984
    

The Deindustrialization of America


Barry Bluestone - 1984
    Paperback: 336 pagesPublisher: Basic Books (Short Disc) (February 1984)

Resources, Values, and Development: Expanded Edition


Amartya Sen - 1984
    Resources, Values and Development contains many of Amartya Sen's path-breaking contributions to development economics, including papers on resource allocation in nonwage systems, investment planning, shadow pricing, employment policy, and welfare economics.

Monetary Politics: The Federal Reserve and the Politics of Monetary Policy


John T. Woolley - 1984
    Far from being politically independent, the Federal Reserve is shown to be sensitive to a wide range of political influences.

Museums: Managers of Consciousness


Hans Haacke - 1984
    Haacke is determined to persuade the reader that museums, and the art world in general, are an industry and their product is consciousness. "Whether museums contend with governments, power-trips of individuals, or the corporate steamroller, they are in the business of molding and channeling consciousness. Even though they may not agree with the system of beliefs dominant at the time, their options not to subscribe to them and instead to promote an alternative consciousness are limited. The survival of the institution and personal careers are often at stake. But in non-dictatorial societies, the means of the production of consciousness are not all in one hand. The sophistication required to promote a particular interpretation of the work is potentially also available to question that interpretation and to offer other versions. As the need to spend enormous sums for public relations and government propaganda indicates, things are not frozen. Political constellations shift and unincorporated zones exist in sufficient numbers to disturb the mainstream."

Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow, Volume 4: The Economics of Information


Kenneth J. Arrow - 1984
    The publication of his collected papers will therefore be welcomed by economists and other social scientists and in particular by graduate students, who can draw from them the deep knowledge and the discernment in selection of scientific problems that only a master can offer. The author has added headnotes to certain well-known papers, describing how he came to write them.This volume begins with Arrow's papers on statistical decision theory, which served as a foundation for his work on the economics of information. As he writes in his preface, "Statistical method was an example for the acquisition of information. In a world of uncertainty, it was no great leap to realize that information is valuable in an economic sense." The later, applied papers, which operationalize the theory of the early ones, include essays on the demand for information, the economic value of screening devices, and the effect of incomplete information on the structure of organizations, futures markets, and insurance.

1980 Unemployment and the Unions


Friedrich A. Hayek - 1984
    

The Hitler Book: A Schiller Institute Study


Helga Zepp-Larouche - 1984
    

Ricardo, Marx, Sraffa: The Langston Memorial Volume


Robert Langston - 1984
    

Microeconomic Analysis


Hr Varian - 1984