This is the first book that systematically considers the academic achievements of Japanese institutionalist post-Keynesian economists in the postwar period and argues that we can learn much from their intellectual heritage. Those Japanese economists include the world-renowned figures, Shigeto Tsuru and Hirofumi Uzawa, whose inheritance came from Keynes, Marx, and institutionalism. In the era of globalization after the 1990s, economic inequality and social divide have intensified all over the world. In this situation, the academic achievements of those economists in postwar Japan should be reconsidered for the aim of establishing a new political economy. With this perspective, the book looks at what we can learn from Japanese institutionalist post-Keynesian economists In particular, the essence of research work that each of them developed is identified, focusing on the total image of the economy for contemporary capitalism. Those economists benefited from the diverse legacies of Keynes, Marx, Kalecki and institutionalist economists such as Veblen and Galbraith. When their research is examined systematically, Japanese institutionalist post-Keynesians are commonly characterized as those who developed their institutional analysis of contemporary capitalism with in-depth theoretical and empirical studies, with the aim of establishing their own political economy as the moral science of civil society. These important features provide us with insightful implications for institutional economics in the 21st century.

Shigeto Tsuru is one of Japan's most respected senior economists. In these lectures, he provides a reappraisal of institutionalism as a school of thought and discusses its relevance for the issues which the economic profession today must tackle. Tsuru reconsiders Marxian political economy as an 'institutionalist school', which provides a context for the following discussion of J. M. Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Thorstein Veblen. He goes on to present the four key elements of modern institutionalism - i.e., the open-system character of the economy; the problem of planning; the evolutionary process of modern economics; and the normative character of economics - by way of an examination of three present-day institutionalists, Gunnar Myrdal, John K. Galbraith, and K. William Kapp. Tsuru concludes with an evaluation of modern institutionalism and the future of institutional economics.

This Modern Guide advances Post-Keynesian Institutional economics, an integrative tradition—inspired by keen economic observers such as John Kenneth Galbraith, Joan Robinson, and Hyman Minsky—that bridges Institutional and Post Keynesian economics. The tradition proved its worth by addressing the global financial crisis of 2007–2009, as well as by analyzing long-term trends accompanying the evolution of investor-driven (“money manager”) capitalism, including financialization, spreading worker insecurity, and rising inequality. The book begins with the history and contours of Post-Keynesian Institutionalism, and then breaks new ground, extending recent analyses of contemporary economic problems, sharpening concepts and methods, sketching new theories, and synthesizing ideas across research traditions.

Among a vast literature on the Asian economies, the book proposes a distinctive approach, inspired by Régulation Theory, in order to understand the current transformations of the Asian economies. The book follows their transformations after the 1997 Asian crisis until the subprime crisis. During this period, the viability of their growth regime was to coherence of five basic institutional forms: the degree of competition and insertion into the world economy, the nature of labour market organization, the monetary and exchange rate regimes and finally the style for State intervention via legislation, public spending and tax. The book provides new findings. The degree of financial liberalization and opening to the world economy largely determines the severity of the 2008-2009 recession and the political-economic reactions of each Asian countries to the subprime crisis. Asian capitalisms are distinct from American and European ones, but they are quite diverse among themselves, and this differentiation has been widening during the last decade. This book will help to shed light on a de facto regional economic integration is taking place in Asia, but unsolved past political conflicts do hinder the institutionalisation of these interdependencies.

Mediterranean Capitalism Revisited brings together leading experts on the political economies of southern Europe—specifically Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal—to closely analyze and explain the primary socioeconomic and institutional features that define "Mediterranean capitalism" within the wider European context. These economies share a number of features, most notably their difficulties to provide viable answers to the challenge of globalization. By examining and comparing such components as welfare, education and innovation policies, cultural dimensions, and labor market regulation, Mediterranean Capitalism Revisited attends to both commonalities and divergences between the four countries, identifying the main reasons behind the poor performance of their economies and slow recovery from the Great Recession of 2007–2008. This volume also sheds light on the process of diversification among the four countries and addresses whether it did and still does make sense to speak of a uniquely Mediterranean model of capitalism. Contributors: Alexandre Afonso, Leiden University; Lucio Baccaro, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies; Rui Branco, NOVA University of Lisbon; Fabio Bulfone, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies; Giliberto Capano, University of Bologna; Sabrina Colombo, University of Milan; Lisa Dorigatti, University of Milan; Ana M. Guillén, University of Oviedo; Matteo Jessoula, University of Milan; Andrea Lippi, University of Florence; Manos Matsaganis, Polytechnic University of Milan; Oscar Molina, Autonomous University of Barcelona; Manuela Moschella, Scuola Normale Superiore; Sofia A. Pérez, Boston University; Gemma Scalise, University of Bergamo; Arianna Tassinari, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

While the first conference (1993) focused on methodological issues, the 13 papers of the second are more concerned with developments in theory, empirical work, and policy questions as they seek to carry on the insights of economist John Maynard Keynes into and through the 1990s. Among the themes are the relationship between microeconomic and macroeconomic levels, uncertainty and its implications for individual behavior as it underpins macroeconomic behavior, and applying post- Keynesian theory to policy questions particularly in the international arena. The proceedings of the first conference were published under a separate title, and this series begins Volume One with the second conference. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR