Through innovative use of little used archival material, Rothenberg finds that the relevant economic magnitudes - farm commodity prices, wages for day and monthly farm labor, and the determinants of rural wealth holding - behaved as if they had been formed in a market. This ground breaking discovery reveals how an agricultural economy that lacked both an important export staple and technological change could experience market-led growth. To understand this impressive economic development, Rothenberg discusses a number of provocative questions.

The unprecedented Covid-19 crisis revealed the scale and scope of a new type of economy taking shape in front of our very eyes: the digital economy. This book presents a concise theoretical and conceptual framework for a more nuanced analysis of the economic and sociological impacts of the technological disruption that is taking place in the markets of goods and services, labour markets, and the global economy more generally. This interdisciplinary work is a must for researchers and students from economics, business, and other social science majors who seek an overview of the main digital economy concepts and research. Its down-to-earth approach and communicative style will also speak to businesses practitioners who want to understand the ongoing digital disruption of the market rules and emergence of the new digital business models. The book refers to academic insights from economics and sociology while giving numerous empirical examples drawn from basic and applied research and business. It addresses several burning issues: how are digital processes transforming traditional business models? Does intelligent automation threaten our jobs? Are we reaching the end of globalisation as we know it? How can we best prepare ourselves and our children for the digitally transformed world? The book will help the reader gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the digital transformation, something that is essential in order to not only reap the plentiful opportunities being created by the digital economy but also to avoid its many pitfalls. Chapters 1, 3 and 5 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Frank Machovec argues that the assumption of perfect information has done untold economic damage. It has provided the rationale for active state intervention and has obscured the extent to which entrepreneurial activity depends upon the exploitation of asymmetric information.

There has been immense worldwide excitement about the potential of Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) businesses to help impoverished societies escape poverty. Unfortunately, many BoP firms are locked in a "survival trap" that keeps them small, inefficient, and unprofitable. Now, Eric Kacou identifies breakthrough business models, operational techniques, and leadership approaches that can help BoP businesses grow rapidly, successfully, and profitably. Drawing from his immense on-the-ground experience in Africa’s most challenging business environments, Kacou shows how companies can overcome the Survival Trap mindset that breeds dependence, mistrust, and failure. Next, he takes readers inside the Rwandan metamorphosis: the economic miracle that CNN’s Fareed Zakaria calls Africa’s biggest success story. Kacou shows how to address the needs of all core stakeholders. He concludes with integrated recommendations for local entrepreneurs, global businesses, governments, and international organizations: guidance that can truly launch a "virtuous cycle" of prosperity creation. For all entrepreneurs, policymakers, NGO professionals, and leaders who want to make BoP businesses work.

This volume considers how the work of Polanyi can contribute to our understanding of the relationship between market and society.

Farmers markets are much more than places to buy produce. According to advocates for sustainable food systems, they are also places to “vote with your fork” for environmental protection, vibrant communities, and strong local economies. Farmers markets have become essential to the movement for food-system reform and are a shining example of a growing green economy where consumers can shop their way to social change. Black, White, and Green brings new energy to this topic by exploring dimensions of race and class as they relate to farmers markets and the green economy. With a focus on two Bay Area markets—one in the primarily white neighborhood of North Berkeley, and the other in largely black West Oakland—Alison Hope Alkon investigates the possibilities for social and environmental change embodied by farmers markets and the green economy. Drawing on ethnographic and historical sources, Alkon describes the meanings that farmers market managers, vendors, and consumers attribute to the buying and selling of local organic food, and the ways that those meanings are raced and classed. She mobilizes this research to understand how the green economy fosters visions of social change that are compatible with economic growth while marginalizing those that are not. Black, White, and Green is one of the first books to carefully theorize the green economy, to examine the racial dynamics of food politics, and to approach issues of food access from an environmental-justice perspective. In a practical sense, Alkon offers an empathetic critique of a newly popular strategy for social change, highlighting both its strengths and limitations.