How should we address today’s big problems, and what we can take from icons of economics past? How would John Maynard Keynes have resolved today’s debt problem, or how would Adam Smith have assessed the European carbon emission trading market? This book applies the ideas of ten renowned economists (Marx, Minsky, Keynes, Knight, Bergmann, Veblen, Sen, Myrdal, Smith, Robinson) to real world economic problems, directly or indirectly related to the causes and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. Each chapter presents an economist, and structures the ‘problem’, the ‘insight’ (the economist’s idea), the ‘economist’ (short bio), and two ‘practices’ offering real-world alternatives. This book presents a lively and original approach that will be of interest to economists and non-economists alike, discussing key elements of an economics for a postcapitalist economy and connecting policy insights to real-world problems of today.

"Irene van Staveren's latest book is a perfect blend of theoretical economics, history of thought and contemporary policy making. Van Steveren mixes biographical details and theoretical contributions from ten notable economists with a focus on present day economic problems, especially those that have arisen since the financial crisis-cum-recession of 2008-09. The book is perfect for students who want to learn non-mainstream approaches to economics while also focusing on problems that exist in the here and now." - Philip Pilkington, Macroeconomist at GMO LLC and author of The Reformation in Economics How should we address today's big problems, and what we can take from icons of economics past? How would John Maynard Keynes have resolved today's debt problem, or how would Adam Smith have assessed the European carbon emission trading market? This book applies the ideas of ten renowned economists (Marx, Minsky, Keynes, Knight, Bergmann, Veblen, Sen, Myrdal, Smith, Robinson) to real world economic problems, directly or indirectly related to the causes and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. Each chapter presents an economist, and structures the 'problem', the 'insight' (the economist's idea), the 'economist' (short bio), and two 'practices' offering real-world alternatives.This book presents a lively and original approach that will be of interest to economists and non-economists alike, discussing key elements of an economics for a postcapitalist economy and connecting policy insights to real-world problems of today.

Reporting on cutting-edge advances in economics, this book presents a selection of commentaries that reveal the weaknesses of several core economics concepts. Economics is a vigorous and progressive science, which does not lose its force when particular parts of its theory are empirically invalidated; instead, they contribute to the accumulation of knowledge. By discussing problematic theoretical assumptions and drawing on the latest empirical research, the authors question specific hypotheses and reject major economic ideas from the “Coase Theorem” to “Say’s Law” and “Bayesianism.” Many of these ideas remain prominent among politicians, economists and the general public. Yet, in the light of the financial crisis, they have lost both their relevance and supporting empirical evidence. This fascinating and thought-provoking collection of 71 short essays written by respected economists and social scientists from all over the world will appeal to anyone interested in scientific progress and the further development of economics.

This book examines the history of economic thought and of political economy over the past 250 years. It presents an accessible introduction to the lives and ideas of some of economics' most prominent theoreticians, including at least one representative of each major school of economic thought. Additionally, learning objectives, summaries, key takeaways, and revision questions are included to facilitate learning and self-assessment. The concise nature of this book makes it an easy-to-use guide to the early pioneers of political economy (Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Walras), the 20th century innovators of economics (Keynes, Schumpeter, Hayek, Friedman, Solow), or the more recent research in the discipline (Nash, Sen, Stiglitz, Krugman). Those interested in the history of economic thought will find this book to be an invaluable resource.

In this "bracingly iconoclastic” book (New York Times Book Review), a renowned economics scholar breaks down the fight to end global poverty and the rights that poor individuals have had taken away for generations. In The Tyranny of Experts, renowned economist William Easterly examines our failing efforts to fight global poverty, and argues that the "expert approved" top-down approach to development has not only made little lasting progress, but has proven a convenient rationale for decades of human rights violations perpetrated by colonialists, postcolonial dictators, and US and UK foreign policymakers seeking autocratic allies. Demonstrating how our traditional antipoverty tactics have both trampled the freedom of the world's poor and suppressed a vital debate about alternative approaches to solving poverty, Easterly presents a devastating critique of the blighted record of authoritarian development. In this masterful work, Easterly reveals the fundamental errors inherent in our traditional approach and offers new principles for Western agencies and developing countries alike: principles that, because they are predicated on respect for the rights of poor people, have the power to end global poverty once and for all.

Tomas Sedlacek has shaken the study of economics as few ever have. Named one of the "Young Guns" and one of the "five hot minds in economics" by the Yale Economic Review, he serves on the National Economic Council in Prague, where his provocative writing has achieved bestseller status. How has he done it? By arguing a simple, almost heretical proposition: economics is ultimately about good and evil. In The Economics of Good and Evil, Sedlacek radically rethinks his field, challenging our assumptions about the world. Economics is touted as a science, a value-free mathematical inquiry, he writes, but it's actually a cultural phenomenon, a product of our civilization. It began within philosophy--Adam Smith himself not only wrote The Wealth of Nations, but also The Theory of Moral Sentiments--and economics, as Sedlacek shows, is woven out of history, myth, religion, and ethics. "Even the most sophisticated mathematical model," Sedlacek writes, "is, de facto, a story, a parable, our effort to (rationally) grasp the world around us." Economics not only describes the world, but establishes normative standards, identifying ideal conditions. Science, he claims, is a system of beliefs to which we are committed. To grasp the beliefs underlying economics, he breaks out of the field's confines with a tour de force exploration of economic thinking, broadly defined, over the millennia. He ranges from the epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament to the emergence of Christianity, from Descartes and Adam Smith to the consumerism in Fight Club. Throughout, he asks searching meta-economic questions: What is the meaning and the point of economics? Can we do ethically all that we can do technically? Does it pay to be good? Placing the wisdom of philosophers and poets over strict mathematical models of human behavior, Sedlacek's groundbreaking work promises to change the way we calculate economic value.

Economics is the strangest and most dubious as also frustrating animal of social sciences and humanities. The debate on what it is and what its strengths and weaknesses are in understanding and changing the economy and society for the better, is never ending. This book cuts through this noise for econ-undergrads with social concerns. It is crafted to be stuffed with peripatetic hops, skips and intellectual and emotional jumps about the nature and character of the brain circuits of economics in terms of its methodological, political, sociological, anthropological, historical, feminist, ethical, ecological, spiritual, literary, technical, corporate and other underpinnings. Diverse stories are told as alerts or nudges for the undergrads, who as aspirant youth have, in general, hyperbolic discounting attitude towards social change. The mind and heart of the undergrad reading this book will hopefully be ignited so as to endeavour to find out the purpose of economic education and how economics should be learnt in order to rectify the failures of our current socio-economic system. The seriously academic undergrad may also be inspired to pursue the long-range objective of doing integrated studies and research for maximised understanding and holistic policy making, which is, of course, easier to say than do.