Book picks similar to
Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment by Istvan Hont
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Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-and What You Can Do About It
Bob Sullivan - 2007
Iron-clad cell phone contracts you can’t get out of with a crowbar. Paying big bucks for insurance you don’t need on a rental car or forking over $20 a day for supposedly “free” wireless internet. Every day we use banks, cell phones, and credit cards. Every day we book hotels and airline tickets. And every day we get ripped off.How? Here are just a few examples of how big business can get you:• You didn’t fill up the rental car with gas?Gotcha! Gas costs $7 a gallon here.• Your bank balance fell to $999.99 for one day?Gotcha! That’ll be $12. • You miss one payment on that 18-month same-as-cash loan?Gotcha! That’ll be $512 extra.• You’re one day late on that electric bill?Gotcha! All your credit cards now have a 29.99% interest rate.But not for much longer. In Gotcha Capitalism, MSNBC.com’s “Red Tape Chronicles” columnist Bob Sullivan exposes the ways we’re all cheated by big business, and teaches us how to get our money back–proven strategies that can help you save more than $1,000 a year.
The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
Gøsta Esping-Andersen - 1989
Gøsta Esping-Andersen, one of the foremost contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced Western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes three major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries. He argues that current economic processes, such as those moving toward a postindustrial order, are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to all those working on issues of economic development and postindustrialism. Its audience will include students of sociology, economics, and politics.
7 Billion: How Your World Will Change
National Geographic Society - 2011
To mark the event, National Geographic magazine commissioned seven articles that explore the fascinating issues—including demographics, food security, climate change, fertility trends, managing biodiversity—surrounding this topic, which are collected for the first time in this special ebook. Environment editor Robert Kunzig starts by sketching out a natural history of population. The issues associated with population growth seem endless: poverty, food and water supply, world health, climate change, deforestation, fertility rates, and more. In additional chapters Elizabeth Kolbert explores a new era—the “Anthropocene,” or the age of man—defined by our massive impact on the planet, which will endure long after our cities have crumbled; and takes us to the Mediterranean, where she delves into issues associated with increasing ocean acidification. In Bangladesh, Don Belt explores how the people of this crowded region can teach us about adapting to rising sea levels. In “Food Ark” we travel deep within the earth and around the globe to explore the seed banks that are preserving the variety of food species we may need to increase food production on an increasingly crowded planet. In Brazil, Cynthia Gournay explores the phenomenon of “Machisma” and shows how a mix of female empowerment and steamy soap operas helped bring down Brazil’s fertility rate and stoke its vibrant economy. Additionally we explore threats to biodiversity, and the return of cities—which may be the solution to many of our population woes. Join National Geographic on this incredible journey to explore our rapidly growing planet.
Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World
Tom Wright - 2018
The dust had yet to settle on the global financial crisis in 2009 when an unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about the financial world in the twenty-first century.
Fair Play: What Your Child Can Teach You about Economics, Values, and the Meaning of Life
Steven E. Landsburg - 1997
With the help of his daughter, Cayley, he contrasts the wisdom of parents with the wisdom of economists—not always to the credit of the latter.How should we feel about taxes that redistribute income? Ask how parents feel about children who forcibly "redistribute" other children's toys. How should we respond to those who complain that their neighbors are too wealthy? Ask how parents respond when children complain that their siblings got too much cake. By insisting that fairness can't mean one thing for children and another for adults, Landsburg shows that the instincts of the parent have profound consequences for economic justice.Along the way, Landsburg—with his customary sharp wit and challenging logic—pauses to reflect on an astonishing variety of issues in economic theory, the philosophy of parenting, the true nature of family values, and how to get the most out of life. He uses parent-child interactions to explain the economics of free trade and immigration, progressive taxation, minimum wages, racial discrimination, and the role of money. He makes the best possible philosophical cases for and against progressive taxation and weighs them against the wisdom of the playground. He explains why children are a good thing, and why economic theory tells us we don't have enough of them. He meditates on the role of authority in our lives, the effects of cultural bias, and why it's important to read poetry to your children. This lively and entertaining book will inform and delight readers who have forgotten the human side of the dismal science.
Libertarianism in One Lesson: Why Libertarianism Is the Best Hope for America's Future
David Bergland - 2005
With insight and candor, Bergland answers the most common questions about the freedom philosophy: What exactly is libertarianism? Does libertarianism work in the "real world"? The book lays out the central premise of libertarianism -- "you own yourself" -- and reveals how that deceptively simple statement has an enormous impact on the relationship between government and individuals. Bergland explains where libertarians stand on Social Security, gun rights, the War on Drugs, poverty, the environment, taxes, terrorism, and more. In a fast-paced Q&A chapter, he contrasts the conservative, liberal, and libertarian positions on major issues. Finally, he punctures the muddled thinking that encourages people to turn to government to solve problems. "The best brief introduction to libertarianism available. Bergland is anxious to provide as persuasive and comprehensive a case as he can, and wastes no time getting to the point... He has even adapted it so it can be readily used in classrooms, and sprinkles the book with short sections differentiating among liberal, conservative, and libertarian positions on current issues."--Brian Wilson, radio talk show host
The Primal Prescription: Surviving The "Sick Care" Sinkhole
Doug McGuff - 2015
health care system is in a state of disrepair, but the rabbit hole goes deeper than even the staunchest critics may realize. In Primal Prescription, authors Doug McGuff and Robert Murphy combine their expertise in economics and medicine to offer a shocking, disturbing, and ultimately enlightening view into America’s health care system. You’ll discover the real history of what went wrong with U.S. health care and insurance, and why current efforts to clean up the mess are only making things worse.But far from leaving you feeling helpless at the dismal—and sometimes deadly—state of affairs, Primal Prescription equips you with both the knowledge to understand the health care conundrum and the tools for navigating your way out of it. McGuff and Murphy offer an evidence-based “game plan” for taking control of your own medical care, protecting yourself and your loved ones regardless of what the future holds for the rest of the nation.Whether you’re currently tangled in America’s broken health care system or simply trying to avoid its clutches, Primal Prescription is a must-have resource for taking your health into your own hands.
Fauci: The Bernie Madoff of Science and the HIV Ponzi Scheme that Concealed the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic
Charles Ortleb - 2019
While mistaken members of the media like Rachel Maddow have called Anthony Fauci "a great American," Dr. Fauci will soon take in his place in history as the chief operator of a Ponzi scheme that has plunged the world into a dystopian medical darkness of fraud, deceit, and neglect. This little book is an explosive chapter from The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up Volume Two with a new afterword that explores the extensive damage Fauci's Ponzi scheme has done to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome community, people stigmatized with "HIV/AIDS," and everyone suffering from the viruses that Fauci's cover-up has been concealing from the world: the HHV-6/7/8 family of viruses. The list of the potential victims of Fauci's Ponzi scheme includes virtually everyone. Even the health of millions of doctors and nurses has been put at risk. These the elements of Fauci's scientific Ponzi scheme: 1. Nosological fraud. (That's the branch of medicine dealing with the classification of disease. It is ground zero for public health fraud.) 2. Epidemiological fraud. 3. Virological fraud. 4. Treatment fraud. (Treatments that harm more than they heal or conceal more than they reveal.) 5. Public health policy fraud. 6. Concealment of negative scientific data and paradigm-challenging anomalies. 7. Use of an elite network of "old boys" and pseudo-activist provocateurs to censor critics and whistleblowers. 8. Chronic obscurantism. 9. If necessary, vigilantism and witch-hunts against any intellectuals, scientists, or citizens who constitute any form of resistance to the Ponzi scheme. Fauci and his puppets at NIH have created a real mess. Like Bernie Madoff, Anthony Fauci is rich, famous, and powerful as a result of his scientific Ponzi scheme. And Fauci is a clever manipulator who will continue to try and hide the nature of his scientific Ponzi scheme from the public the way Bernie Madoff hid his financial records. But luckily, this brilliant and uncompromising work of journalism will enlighten members of Congress and the media as they begin extensive investigations of the Fauci Ponzi scheme.
The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century
Immanuel Wallerstein - 1975
Countless authors have sung its praises. Aside from splendid surroundings, unlimited library and secretarial assistance, and a ready supply of varied scholars to consult at a moment's notice, what the center offers is to leave the scholar to his own devices, for good or ill. Would that all men had such wisdom. The final version was consummated with the aid of a grant from the Social Sciences Grants Subcommittee of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research of McGill University.
ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism
Yves Smith - 2010
But these are all symptoms. Until we isolate and tackle fundamental causes, we will fail to extirpate the disease. ECONned is the first book to examine the unquestioned role of economists as policy-makers, and how they helped create an unmitigated economic disaster.Here, Yves Smith looks at how economists in key policy positions put doctrine before hard evidence, ignoring the deteriorating conditions and rising dangers that eventually led them, and us, off the cliff and into financial meltdown. Intelligently written for the layman, Smith takes us on a terrifying investigation of the financial realm over the last twenty-five years of misrepresentations, naive interpretations of economic conditions, rationalizations of bad outcomes, and rejection of clear signs of growing instability.In eConned, author Yves Smith reveals:--why the measures taken by the Obama Administration are mere palliatives and are unlikely to pave the way for a solid recovery--how economists have come to play a profoundly anti-democratic role in policy--how financial models and concepts that were discredited more than thirty years ago are still widely used by banks, regulators, and investors--how management and employees of major financial firms looted them, enriching themselves and leaving the mess to taxpayers--how financial regulation enabled predatory behavior by Wall Street towards investors--how economics has no theory of financial systems, yet economists fearlessly prescribe how to manage them
Introduction to International Political Economy
David N. Balaam - 1995
This comprehensive introduction to international political economy clearly shows students how politics and economics come together in today's global environment. The text demonstrates how an understanding of IPE can help students make sense of global news, business investments, and government policies - by presenting the theories, institutions, and relationships found in IPE in simple ways that retain the complexity of the world issues and intellectual problems addressed. *New - Revised chapters throughout - Takes into account the number of important IPE events, especially the growing discussion of and concern about economic globalization, the financial crises in Asia and elsewhere, and the advent of a single currency in Europe, the Euro. *New - A survey of four theoretical perspectives - Rational choice; feminist; green; and post-modern. - Provides students with theories that challenge and enrich the traditional study of IPE. *New - Coverage of global security structure (Ch. 9) - Uproots the discussion from the previous focus on the Cold War. - Asks students to consider security as a
ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age
André Gunder Frank - 1998
In a bold challenge to received historiography and social theory he turns on its head the world according to Marx, Weber, and other theorists, including Polanyi, Rostow, Braudel, and Wallerstein. Frank explains the Rise of the West in world economic and demographic terms that relate it in a single historical sweep to the decline of the East around 1800. European states, he says, used the silver extracted from the American colonies to buy entry into an expanding Asian market that already flourished in the global economy. Resorting to import substitution and export promotion in the world market, they became Newly Industrializing Economies and tipped the global economic balance to the West. That is precisely what East Asia is doing today, Frank points out, to recover its traditional dominance. As a result, the "center" of the world economy is once again moving to the "Middle Kingdom" of China. Anyone interested in Asia, in world systems and world economic and social history, in international relations, and in comparative area studies, will have to take into account Frank's exciting reassessment of our global economic past and future.
Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment
Jane P. Mallor - 1997
The cases in the 15th edition are excerpted and edited by the authors. The syntax is not altered, therefore retains the language of the courts. As in recent previous editions, the 15th edition includes a mix of actual AND hypothetical cases. This text is our most research-based Business Law text.
Crunch: If the Economy's Doing So Well, Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (BK Currents)
Jared Bernstein - 2008
In "Crunch" he answers these as well as dozens of others he has fielded from working Americans by email, on blogs, and at events where he speaks. Chances are if there's a stumper you've always wanted to ask an economist, it's solved in this book.
John F. Kennedy on Leadership: The Lessons and Legacy of a President
John A. Barnes - 2005
They face monumental decisions in unpredictable times; their actions have implications far beyond their own organizations; and they are judged mercilessly and incessantly by both their constituents and the media. Professionals, then, would do well to study the leadership traits that made Kennedy one of the most respected, beloved, and influential world leaders in modern history. John F. Kennedy on Leadership analyzes what made Kennedy, both before and during his Presidency, a unique and dominant force who would serve as the standard by which future leaders would be judged. Readers will learn the value of: * Planning and decision making: Consult widely, then act. * Crisis management: Don’t let events manage you. * Building a team: Find your own "Bobby." * Independence: Don’t follow the crowd. * Mistakes: Learn from them and move on. This timely (and timeless) book will be of interest to anyone involved in leadership.