City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

The ABCs of political economy, a modern approach, Robin Hahnel

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The ABCs of political economy

bibliography

897091378

Robin Hahnel

a modern approach

1. Economics and liberating theory -- People and society -- The human center -- Natural, species, and derived needs and potentials -- Human consciousness -- Human sociability -- Human character Structures -- The relation of consciousness to activity -- The possibility of detrimental character structures -- The institutional boundary -- Why must there be social institutions? -- Complementary holism -- Four spheres of social life -- Relations between center, boundary, and spheres -- Social stability and social change -- Agents of history -- Applications -- 2. What should we demand from our economy? -- Economic justice -- Increasing inequality of wealth and income -- Different conceptions of economic justice -- Efficiency -- The Pareto principle -- The efficiency criterion -- Seven deadly sins of inefficiency -- Endogenous preferences -- Self-management -- Solidarity -- Variety -- Sustainability -- Weak versus strong versus environmental sustainability --^A workable definition of sustainable development -- Growth -- Conclusion -- 3. Efficiency and economic justice: a simple corn model -- Model 3.1: a domestic corn economy -- Situation 1: inegalitarian distribution of scarce seed corn -- Autarky -- Labor market -- Credit market -- Situation 2: egalitarian distribution of scarce seed corn -- Autarky -- Labor market -- Credit market -- Conclusions from the domestic corn model -- Generalizing conclusions -- Economic justice in the corn model -- Economic justice, exploitation, and alienation -- Occupy Wall Street -- Model 3.2: a global corn economy -- 4. Markets: guided by an invisible hand or foot? -- How do markets work? -- What is a market? -- The "law" of supply -- The "law" of demand -- The "law" of uniform price -- The micro "law" of supply and demand -- Elasticity of supply and demand -- The dream of a beneficent invisible hand -- The nightmare of a malevolent invisible foot -- Externalities: the auto industry --^Public goods: pollution reduction -- Green consumerism -- The prevalence of external effects -- Snowballing inefficiency -- Market disequilibria -- Conclusion: market failure is significant -- Markets undermine the ties that bind us -- 5. Microeconomic models -- Model 5.1: the public good game -- Model 5.2: the price of power game -- The price of patriarchy -- Conflict theory of the firm -- Model 5.3: climate control treaties -- Model 5.4: the Sraffa model of income distribution and prices -- The Sraffa model -- Technical change in the Sraffa model -- Technical change and the rate of profit -- A note of caution -- Producers and parasites -- 6. Macroeconomics: aggregate demand as leading lady -- The macro "law" of supply and demand -- Aggregate demand -- Consumption demand -- Investment demand -- Government spending -- The pie principle -- The simple Keynesian closed economy macro model -- Fiscal policy -- The fallacy of Say's Law -- Income expenditure multipliers --^Other causes of unemployment and inflation -- Myths about inflation -- Myths about deficits and the National Debt -- The balanced budget ploy -- Wage-led growth -- 7. Money, banks, and finance -- Money: a problematic convenience -- Banks: bigamy not a proper marriage -- Monetary policy: another way to skin the cat -- The relationship between the financial and "real" economies -- The financial crisis of 2008: a perfect storm -- 8. International economics: mutual benefit or imperialism? -- Why trade can increase global efficiency -- Comparative, not absolute, advantage drives trade -- Why trade can decrease global efficiency -- Inaccurate prices can misidentify comparative advantage -- Unstable international markets can cause macro inefficiencies -- Adjustment costs are not always insignificant -- Dynamic inefficiency -- Why trade usually aggravates global inequality -- Unfair distribution of the benefits of trade between countries --^Unfair distribution of the costs and benefits of trade within countries -- Why international investment could increase global efficiency -- Why international investment often decreases global efficiency -- Why international investment usually aggravates global inequality -- Open economy macroeconomics -- International currency markets -- Aggregate supply and demand in the open economy model -- Income expenditure multipliers in the open economy model -- Capital flows in the open economy model -- Monetary unions and the Eurozone -- 9. Macroeconomic models -- Model 9.1: Finance -- Bank runs -- International financial crises -- Conclusion -- Model 9.2: finance in real corn economies -- Banks in a domestic corn model -- Autarky -- Imperfect lending without banks -- Lending with banks when all goes well -- Lending with banks when all does not go well -- International finance in a global corn economy revisited -- Model 9.3: macroeconomic policy in a closed economy --^Model 9.4: macroeconomic policy in an open economy -- An IMF conditionality agreement with Brazil -- EC austerity policy and Greece -- Model 9.5: a political economy growth model -- The general framework -- A Keynesian theory of investment -- A Marxian theory of wage determination -- Solving the model -- An increase in capitalists' propensity to save -- An increase in capitalists' propensity to invest -- An increase in workers' bargaining power -- Wage-led growth -- 10. What is to be undone? The economics of competition and greed -- Myth 1: free enterprise equals economic freedom -- Myth 2: free enterprise promotes political freedom -- Myth 3: free enterprise is efficient -- Biased price signals -- Conflict theory of the firm -- Myth 4: free enterprise reduces discrimination -- Myth 5: free enterprise is fair -- Myth 6: markets equal economic freedom -- Myth 7: markets are fair -- Myth 8: markets are efficient -- What went wrong? -- Neoliberal capitalism in crisis --^11. What is to be done? The economics of equitable cooperation -- Not all capitalisms are created equal -- Keynesian reforms -- Taming finance -- Reducing economic injustice -- Beyond capitalism -- Worker and consumer empowerment -- Worker-owned cooperatives -- Market socialism -- Democratic planning -- Participatory economics -- From here to there -- The future economy -- Conclusion -- A green new deal

Political economy