Download or read book Common Misconceptions of Economic Policy written by Jerry Wyant and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-09-26 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, you will find essays on common misconceptions in topics such as taxes; unemployment; inflation; income inequality; deficits and debt; Social Security; welfare; and the roles that market forces, corporations, and the government play in the economy. I do my best to write about economics in language that is easy to understand for everyday citizens - those who are unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with the language of economics. The essays in this book have been written with such a reading audience in mind. My hope is that if you have reading comprehension skills, you can understand what I am trying to say, even if you tend to shy away from the subject of economics. I am not using this book as a platform to use political labels and political talking points in order to make political statements based on a predetermined political position. My agenda is to use truth and logic in order to debunk such statements. People will find that the conclusions I reach tend to fall towards the progressive - rather than the conservative - end of what the political spectrum has become in modern times. I already know that many people who blindly follow conservative talking points will see my conclusions and denounce what I have to say, based solely on a liberal label that they attach to me, with no regard for the actual points I make. This happens all the time. They can't - or at least they choose not to - logically rebut the actual points being made. Instead, they commit several logical fallacies (Section 12 of this book) through a personal attack. But they are not alone. On those occasions when my conclusions don't coincide with commonly-held liberal positions, I get the same treatment from those who blindly follow liberal talking points. I have found that the truth does not lie on the side of anybody's talking points. I have also found that the truth cannot be found by making an attempt to balance opposing talking points. The truth can only be found through an unbiased search for the truth. That truth is rarely found straight down the center. I have concluded that it is dishonest as well as illogical to tailor an argument so that it agrees with the left, the right, or the center. The truth is what it is, regardless of labels. This book is a follow-up to Sanity and Public Policy: Separating Truth from Truisms, by Jerry Wyant.
Download or read book Second Thoughts written by Donald N. McCloskey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1993-03-04 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For this important new volume, Donald N. McCloskey has assembled twenty-four essays by leading economic historians who argue that commonly accepted perceptions of our economic past can be wrong and, therefore, misleading. The essays reevaluate various issues and events that influence today's economic thinking, thus examining the past as a way of preparing for the future. Such notable contributors as Robert Higgs, Julian and Rita Simon, Elyce Rotella, Terry Anderson, Barry Eichengreen, Price Fishback, Susan Phillips, and J. Richard Zecher address a wide range of issues, including the Teapot Dome scandal, banking regulation, "new" immigration problems, AT&T and deregulation, Third World development policies, the role of "big" government, technological innovation, and property rights. Specially written for this collection in clear, nontechnical prose, the essays that comprise Second Thoughts fully explore the role of government policy in the outcome of events. This book is an essential reference for all who are interested in how our economic past and the way we interpret it determine the directions we will choose for our future.
Download or read book Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy written by Warren Mosler and published by Davin Patton. This book was released on 2010 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here, Warren Mosler identifies and debunks seven entrenched ideas keeping the economy in a downward trajectory. In this ... book, he exposes commonly-held beliefs, such as 'deficits leave the debt burden to our children' and 'Social Security is broken,' to be economic myths. In addition to correcting these mindsets, Mosler promotes the restoration of the American economy with practical and feasible proposals. Along the way, he explains the operational realities of the monetary system in clear, down-to-earth language"--Book jacket.
Download or read book Pragmatic Capitalism written by Cullen Roche and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful and original look at why understanding macroeconomics is essential for all investors
Download or read book Macroeconomics written by AMANDA. KASHWER and published by . This book was released on 2019-07-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Myths of Capitalism written by Andrew Torre and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2014-08-14 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myths of Capitalism shows that tenets of the capitalist belief system – the sanctity of private property, the social benefits of profit, etc. – do not hold up under empirical scrutiny. It also addresses seminal issues such as: enforced scarcity resulting from technological advances in production; the historically unique and unsustainable separation of political and economic systems resulting from the 18th century democratic revolutions; the ruling-class drive to replace democratic government with a global plutocracy; and increased democratic participation as the only route to systemic change. A comprehensive primer on the capitalist system, written in layman’s language and non-polemical, this is a book for everyone, including students of economics and political science.
Download or read book Economic Myths and the Mythology of Economics written by Edward J. Mishan and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book You re Paid What You re Worth written by Jake Rosenfeld and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This is the book to throw at your human resources director—not literally, of course—when any attempt is being made to bamboozle you about how decisions on pay have been made...It is a closely argued, thoroughly researched treatise on how we got here and how pay could be both fairer and more effective as a reward.” —Stefan Stern, Financial World “A flat-out revelation of a book by one of the nation’s top scholars of the labor market...required reading for anyone who cares about the future of work in America.” —Matthew Desmond, author of Poverty, by America “Jake Rosenfeld pulls back the curtain on the multifaceted cultural, institutional, and market forces at play in wage-setting. This timely book illuminates the power dynamics and often arbitrary forces that have contributed to the egregious inequality in the U.S. labor market—and then lays out a clear blueprint for progressive change.” —Thea Lee, President of the Economic Policy Institute Job performance and where you work play a role in determining pay, but judgments of productivity and value are highly subjective. What makes a lawyer more valuable than a teacher? How do you measure the output of a police officer, a professor, or a reporter? Why, in the past few decades, did CEOs suddenly become hundreds of times more valuable than their employees? The answers lie not in objective criteria but in battles over interests and ideals. Four dynamics are paramount: power, inertia, mimicry, and demands for equity. Power struggles legitimize pay for particular jobs, and organizational inertia makes that pay seem natural. Mimicry encourages employers to do what their peers are doing. And workers are on the lookout for practices that seem unfair. Jake Rosenfeld shows us how these dynamics play out in real-world settings, drawing on cutting-edge economics and original survey data, with an eye for compelling stories and revealing details. You’re Paid What You’re Worth gets to the heart of that most basic of social questions: Who gets what and why?
Download or read book The Deficit Myth written by Stephanie Kelton and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary theory -- the freshest and most important idea about economics in decades -- delivers a radically different, bold, new understanding for how to build a just and prosperous society. Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis. MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.
Download or read book The Private Abuse of the Public Interest written by Lawrence D. Brown and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite George W. Bush’s professed opposition to big government, federal spending has increased under his watch more quickly than it did during the Clinton administration, and demands on government have continued to grow. Why? Lawrence Brown and Lawrence Jacobs show that conservative efforts to expand markets and shrink government often have the ironic effect of expanding government’s reach by creating problems that force legislators to enact new rules and regulations. Dismantling the flawed reasoning behind these attempts to cast markets and public power in opposing roles, The Private Abuse of the Public Interest urges citizens and policy makers to recognize that properly functioning markets presuppose the government’s ability to create, sustain, and repair them over time. The authors support their pragmatic approach with evidence drawn from in-depth analyses of education, transportation, and health care policies. In each policy area, initiatives such as school choice, deregulation of airlines and other carriers, and the promotion of managed care have introduced or enlarged the role of market forces with the aim of eliminating bureaucratic inefficiency. But in each case, the authors show, reality proved to be much more complex than market models predicted. This complexity has resulted in a political cycle—strikingly consistent across policy spheres—that culminates in public interventions to sustain markets while protecting citizens from their undesirable effects. Situating these case studies in the context of more than two hundred years of debate about the role of markets in society, Brown and Jacobs call for a renewed focus on public-private partnerships that recognize and respect each sector’s vital—and fundamentally complementary—role.
Download or read book Six Myths that Hold Back America written by Frank Newman and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is China booming while the American economy lags? Despite a globally challenging economic environment, production in China has grown by an astounding 7% to 14% a year, every year, for the past 20 years. America's GDP, by contrast, fell during the serious recession of 2008-9, and is now struggling to achieve even a tepid 3% growth. Why should this be? Over time, economic thought and attitudes in the U.S. and other Western nations increasingly diverged from the underlying views in China, and significant contrasts developed. This book analyzes several key statements of "accepted" economic views in the U.S., to determine which have real basis in the U.S. financial system, and which are really just myths. The six myths: Asian nations are bankrolling the U.S. Treasury issued securities crowd out the private sector If everyone tries to save more, the nation will save more, and investment, GDP, and employment will increase If the government reduces the deficit, then national saving and investment will increase Today's deficits create great burdens of tax for our childrer If the U.S. does not get its deficit reduced soon, treasuries will face the same problems as Greece and Ireland.
Download or read book Money Myths and Change written by M.V. Lee Badgett and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-11 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does the standard of living of gay men and lesbians compare with that of heterosexuals? Do homosexuals make financial and family decisions differently? Why are the professional lives of gay men and lesbians dissimilar from those of heterosexuals? Or do they even differ? Have gay people benefited from the recent economic boom? Or have public policies denied them their fair share? Money, Myths, and Change provides new answers to these complex questions. This is the first comprehensive work to explore the economic lives of gays and lesbians in the United States. M. V. Lee Badgett weaves through and debunks common stereotypes about gay privilege, income, and consumer behavior. Studying the ends and means of gay life from an economic perspective, she disproves the assumption that gay men and lesbians are more affluent than heterosexuals, that they inspire discrimination when they come out of the closet, that they consume more conspicuously, that they enjoy a more self-indulgent, even hedonistic lifestyle. Badgett gets to the heart of these misconceptions through an analysis of the crucial issues that affect the livelihood of gay men and lesbians: discrimination in the workplace, denial of health care benefits to domestic partners and children, lack of access to legal institutions such as marriage, the corporate wooing of gay consumer dollars, and the use of gay economic clout to inspire social and political change. Both timely and readable, Money, Myths, and Change stands as a much-needed corrective to the assumptions that inhibit gay economic equality. It is a definitive work that sheds new light on just what it means to be gay or lesbian in the United States.
Download or read book Economic Myths written by Patrick Luciani and published by Pearson Addison Wesley, c2004 [i.e. 2003]. This book was released on 2004 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appropriate for Economic Issues courses or as a supplement for Principles of Economics courses. Improving on the distinct base laid down by the third edition,Economic Myths,Fourth Edition, continues to teach economics by focusing on issues rather than theory. Moving economics out of the classroom and effectively placing it within the context of the real world, this book takes a stance on controversial economic issues, inciting lively debate and analytic thinking in the classroom. By dispelling economic illusions, the text is the perfect complement to introductory economics textbooks, encouraging students to reflect carefully on public policy and other economic issues that are confronted daily. Topics covered range from minimum wage and pay equity to the environment and free trade.
Download or read book Economics and World History written by Paul Bairoch and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1995-09 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Bairoch deflates twenty commonly held myths about economic history. Among these myths are that free trade and population growth have historically led to periods of economic growth, and that colonial powers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries became rich through the exploitation of the Third World. Bairoch shows that these beliefs are based on insufficient knowledge and wrong interpretations of the history of economies of the United States, Europe, and the Third World, and he re-examines the facts to set the record straight. Bairoch argues that until the early 1960s, the history of international trade of the developed countries was almost entirely one of protectionism rather than a "Golden Era" of free trade, and he reveals that, in fact, past periods of economic growth in the Western World correlated strongly with protectionist policy. He also demonstrates that developed countries did not exploit the Third World for raw materials during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as some economists and many politicians have held. Among the many other myths that Bairoch debunks are beliefs about whether colonization triggered the Industrial Revolution, the effects of the economic development of the West on the Third World, and beliefs about the 1929 crash and the Great Depression. Bairoch's lucid prose makes the book equally accessible to economists of every stripe, as well as to historians, political scientists, and other social scientists.
Download or read book Six Myths that Hold Back America written by Frank N. Newman and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is China booming while the American economy lags? Despite a globally challenging economic environment, production in China has grown by an astounding 7% to 14% a year, every year, for the past 20 years. America’s GDP, by contrast, fell during the serious recession of 2008-9, and is now struggling to achieve even a tepid 3% growth. Why should this be? Over time, economic thought and attitudes in the U.S. and other Western nations increasingly diverged from the underlying views in China, and significant contrasts developed. This book analyzes several key statements of “accepted” economic views in the U.S., to determine which have real basis in the U.S. financial system, and which are really just myths. The six myths: Asian nations are bankrolling the U.S. Treasury issued securities crowd out the private sector If everyone tries to save more, the nation will save more, and investment, GDP, and employment will increase If the government reduces the deficit, then national saving and investment will increase Today’s deficits create great burdens of tax for our childrer If the U.S. does not get its deficit reduced soon, treasuries will face the same problems as Greece and Ireland
Download or read book America s Free Market Myths written by Joseph Shaanan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-26 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes and refutes thirteen ideas involving free market principles and the US economic system, arguing that these (mostly familiar) ideas are myths. The myths are deeply ingrained in the United States' self-image and in political discourse, and are hailed as indisputable, scientifically grounded truths. Unfortunately, an economy dominated by giant corporations bears little resemblance to a free market. So why is so much effort and expense devoted to disseminating these stories? The answer is simple. The different myths generate the recommendation that the system's rewards should flow upward to corporations and a small group of wealthy and politically influential people. The myths help entrench existing economic and political power while distancing America from a more productive and widely beneficial form of capitalism.
Download or read book The War on Prices written by Ryan A. Bourne and published by . This book was released on 2024-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was inflation's recent spike exacerbated by corporate greed? Do rent controls really help the needy? Are U.S. health care prices set in a wild west marketplace? Do women get paid less than men for the same work, and pay more than men for the same products? The War on Prices is an eye-opening book that peels back the curtain on all these burning questions and more, as top economists debunk popular misconceptions about inflation, prices, and value.Market prices are under siege. The war on prices is waged most obviously with damaging government price controls and the harmful effects of central bank monetary mismanagement. Yet these bad policies are propped up by widespread, misguided beliefs about inflation's causes, price controls' effects, and the morality of market prices among the public.Breaking down these complex issues into three distinct sections--inflation, price controls, and value--this book both sheds light on longstanding contentions and brings economic theory and evidence to bear in today's contentious debates. Threaded through the book is a revealing truth: too many of us misunderstand the origin, role, and worth of prices in our economy. The old insult goes that "economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing." This book shows that good economists--and soon, you--can appreciate the value of market prices in keeping our economy humming.
