Economic Theory

Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit and the return of the far right in Germany.

Transcending Capitalism explains why many influential mid-century American social theorists came to believe it was no longer meaningful to describe modern Western society as "capitalist", but instead preferred alternatives such as "postcapitalist" society, "postindustrial" society, or the "technological" society.

Ever since the dawn of human civilisation, we have been trying to make predictions about what's in store for us. We do this on a personal level, so that we can get on with our lives efficiently (should I hang my laundry out to dry, or will it rain?). But we also have to predict on a much larger scale, often for the good of our broader society (how can we spot economic downturns or prevent terrorist attacks?). For just as long, we have been getting it wrong.

Without question one of the most significant books in modern history, The Communist Manifesto is a brief, populist pamphlet that distils the core ideas of communism into accessible prose. Published just months before violent uprisings threatened to destabilise much of the European establishment, it outlines a view of history as a constant battle between the classes that will inevitably result in revolution.

A thrilling and vivid work of history, Class War weaves together literature and politics to chart the making and unmaking of social class through revolutionary combat. In a narrative that spans the globe and more than two centuries of history, Mark Steven traces the history of class war from the Haitian Revolution to Black Lives Matter.

From the best-selling authors of The Right Nation, a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state. Dysfunctional government: It' s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world.

We all know the book: it's been hailed as one of the most important documents on how the world economy works, or doesn't work, and it's been a colossal bestseller since it first appeared in 2014, with more than 1.5 million copies sold. Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century makes a powerful case that wealth, and accumulated wealth, tends to stay where it lands: and with the passage of time, just gets bigger…and bigger. But how many of us who bought or borrowed the book - or even, perhaps, reviewed it - have read more than a fraction of its 696 pages?

Covering diversity and equality, globalization, human rights, modern urban living and the role of work and institutions, The Sociology Book looks at the big questions of how we cooperate: What is society? What makes it tick? Why do we interact in the way that we do with our friends, co-workers, and rivals?

"La dette publique est un danger pour les générations futures", "La France n'a pas fait de réformes depuis plus de trente ans", "Notre modèle social est inefficace", "Le Code du travail empêche les entreprises d'embaucher", "Une autre politique économique, c'est finir comme le Venezuela".

How do we stay safe? Should we? What if our attempts are exposing us even more to the very risks we are avoiding? Would acceptance of danger make us more secure? Is there such a thing as foolproof? In Foolproof, Greg Ip presents a macro theory of human nature and disaster that explains how we can keep ourselves safe in our increasingly dangerous world.

Once every decade, it is "decline time" in America. In recent years, it has been the unstoppable rise of China that has spelled "finis America." What the Chinese juggernaut is today, the Soviet Union ("We shall bury you") was in the 1950s. The Vietnam decade of the 1960s was described as America’s "collective suicide attempt," while in the 1970s, the United States succumbed to Jimmy Carter’s famous "malaise," as the dollar dangerously plummeted. .

Investing in Forex market is of great advantage. The first advantage is that the Forex market is decentralized, creating the opportunity for many other participants from around the world to join in. These participants include banks, commercial banks, corporations, hedge funds, and individual traders. A Forex trader enjoys leverage better than any other trader.

Dive into an enlightening exploration of Marx's historical materialism, simplified and tailored for the 21st-century reader. "Chains & Change" isn't just a historical overview; it's a vibrant journey through the very fabric of society, revealing how Marx's ideas shape and influence the world we live in today. With engaging narratives, relatable examples, and a jargon-free approach, this book breaks down complex concepts, making them accessible to everyone, regardless of their familiarity with Marx. Discover the modern applications of Marx's ideas, from environmentalism to digital economies,...

The Communist Manifesto is an 1848 political pamphlet by the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, the Manifesto was later recognized as one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and then-present) and the conflicts of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production.

Ogni comunità ha bisogno di giustificare le proprie disuguaglianze: l'uomo deve trovare le ragioni di queste disparità per non rischiare di vedere crollare l'intero edificio politico e sociale. In questa chiave, anche molte ideologie del passato non appaiono più così irragionevoli, se paragonate al nostro presente. Conoscere la molteplicità delle traiettorie e delle biforcazioni della storia può infatti aiutarci a interrogare le fondamenta delle nostre istituzioni e a intuire le loro trasformazioni.

Ben Price reveals that our constitution and legal system were intentionally designed to give more rights to the wealthy propertied class than the rest of us, and exposes how this hamstrings our ability to effectively address a host of pressing social and environmental problems - and what we can do about it. Many of today’s most serious issues - homelessness, gun violence, fracking, prison privatization, predatory lending, and many more - resist resolution because the “rights of property” undermine the rights of people.

A manifesto for deep and radical change, Creating Freedom explores the limits placed on freedom by human nature and society. It explodes myths, calling for a profound transformation in the way we think about democracy, equality, and our own identities.

The High Priests of the Economics profession are a privileged and highly-compensated group. Their speeches are endlessly analyzed, their every public utterance transcribed and disseminated world-wide. Yet they’re often wrong. How can this be? How can a profession that sends one of these high priests to Scandinavia each year to receive a Nobel Prize for achievements in “Economic Science” be so error-prone? The answer is quite simple: Economics, and the social and soft sciences more generally, are not science in the same sense that physics and chemistry and engineering are science. In ...

Foreign aid organizations collectively spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually, with mixed results. Part of the problem in these endeavors lies in their execution. Dan Honig argues that high-quality implementation of foreign aid programs often requires contextual information that cannot be seen by those in distant headquarters. Drawing on a novel database of over 14,000 discrete development projects, Honig concludes that aid agencies will often benefit from giving field agents the authority to use their own judgments to guide aid delivery.

The recent economic crisis was a dramatic reminder that capitalism can both produce and destroy. It's a system that by its very nature encourages predators and creators, locusts and bees. But, as Geoff Mulgan argues in this compelling, imaginative, and important book, the economic crisis also presents a historic opportunity to choose a radically different future for capitalism, one that maximizes its creative power and minimizes its destructive force.