Download or read book Economic Myths and Magic written by Norman C Miller and published by . This book was released on 2024-04-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This insightful and comprehensive book uses theory and empirical studies to debunk contemporary illusions about the functionality of economies and examines the phenomena of economic magic and economic black magic. Norman C. Miller considers 11 economic myths, three of which are the theory that excessive imports reduce employment as firms are forced to downsize or shut down, that a more equal distribution of income kills incentives and reduces economic growth rates and the myth that a higher minimum wage always generates a net decrease in employment. Chapters examine the effects of advances in technology, poverty and income inequality, international trade, and trade deficits on employment and economic growth. The book concludes with discussions on three case studies demonstrating economic black magic, namely the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This creative and accessible book will be vital reading for students and scholars in economics and finance, the history of economic thought, methodology of economics, and political economy. It will also be beneficial for business owners, economists, finance practitioners, and social scientists, as well as citizens interested in the functioning of economies.
Download or read book Economic Myths and the Mythology of Economics Routledge Revivals written by E. J. Mishan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1986, Economic Myths and the Mythology of Economics is a polemical study in which the author focuses on the popular myths and misconceptions that colour our understanding of economic issues. Professor Mishan, the internationally recognised economist and expert in the field of resource allocation and cost benefit analysis, undermines the idea that economics is a science. But such are popular myths, he argues, that governments employ battalions of economists in their ongoing attempts to promote economic growth, efficiency and employment. The author challenges the validity and measurement of such concepts as economic efficiency and GNP, and questions the assumption that free competitive markets can operate effectively in a rapidly changing, high-technology society. Professor Mishan foresees in his study further expansion as an unavoidable consequence of continued innovation, while revealing the interconnecting processes by which innovative activity, designed to raise living standards, has begun to erode the moral and psychological foundations of a viable and libertarian society.
Download or read book Economic Myths and Magic written by Norman C. Miller and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-01-20 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This insightful and comprehensive book uses theoretical and empirical studies to debunk contemporary illusions about the functionality of economies and examines the phenomena of economic magic and economic black magic. Norman C. Miller considers 11 economic myths, three of which are the theory that excessive imports reduce employment as firms are forced to downsize or shut down, that a more equal distribution of income kills incentives and reduces economic growth rates and the myth that a higher minimum wage always generates a net decrease in employment.
Download or read book Economic Myths and the Mythology of Economics Routledge Revivals written by E. J. Mishan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1986, Economic Myths and the Mythology of Economics is a polemical study in which the author focuses on the popular myths and misconceptions that colour our understanding of economic issues. Professor Mishan, the internationally recognised economist and expert in the field of resource allocation and cost benefit analysis, undermines the idea that economics is a science. But such are popular myths, he argues, that governments employ battalions of economists in their ongoing attempts to promote economic growth, efficiency and employment. The author challenges the validity and measurement of such concepts as economic efficiency and GNP, and questions the assumption that free competitive markets can operate effectively in a rapidly changing, high-technology society. Professor Mishan foresees in his study further expansion as an unavoidable consequence of continued innovation, while revealing the interconnecting processes by which innovative activity, designed to raise living standards, has begun to erode the moral and psychological foundations of a viable and libertarian society.
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 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book TechGnosis written by Erik Davis and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.
Download or read book The Thirteen Great Economic Business Myths That Dominate Our Lives written by Sanford Kahn and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2007-04 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myths--these unconscious or semi-conscious beliefs have a strong influence on how we orient our behavior and actions. The ones that seem to influence us the most are directed towards our personal lives. But, there are business and economic myths as well that have a profound impact on our decisions both personally and professionally. The problem arises when some of these myths are believed to be true when in actuality they maybe false or only partly true. For example, a popular myth explored by the book, is that we live in a world that is changing quickly. This myth is widely believe to be true, but in reality is only partially true. The goal of the book is to explore some of these business and economic myths and their accuracy. It is to give you a different point of view that is somewhat out of the mainstream of popular belief.
Download or read book The Myth of Disenchantment written by Jason Ananda Josephson Storm and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.
Download or read book Globalization and the Myths of Free Trade written by Anwar Shaikh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-01-24 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an international team of contributors this book is a critical examination of the ongoing enterprise of neoliberalism; its history, theory, practice, and most of all, of its outcomes.
Download or read book Ancient Economy in Mythology written by Morris Silver and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1991 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient mythology and its striking themes have always fascinated scholars and the general populace alike. Mythological interpretations have proven valuable to historians and theologians for centuries, and more recently, structuralist and Freudian interpretations have dominated the field. Ancient Economy In Mythology is the first to explore the economic component in mythology. Original articles by scholars from diverse fields--ancient languages and history, philosophy, anthropology, and economics--uncover and utilize evidence in myths to throw light on ancient economies and reveal the role played by myths in shaping and justifying economic policies in ancient societies. The book's articles fall into four major economic themes: Primary Production and Distribution in Myth; Dynamics and Statics of Socioeconomic Roles in Myth; Resource Extraction and Royal Myths; and International Trade in Myth. These fresh and sometimes controversial papers will be of interest to ancient historians, economic historians, anthropologists, religious and Biblical scholars, Assyriologists, Classicists, Indo-Europeanists, and the general educated public.
Download or read book The Entrepreneurial State written by Mariana Mazzucato and published by Public Affairs. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Companies like Google and Apple heralded the information revolution, and opened the doors for Silicon Valley to grow into an engine of dazzling technological development, that today champions the free market that engendered it against the supposedly stifling encroachment of government regulation. But is that really the case? In this sharp and controversial expose, The Entrepreneurial State, Mariana Mazzucato debunks the pervasive myth that the state is a laggard, bureaucratic apparatus at odds with a dynamic private sector. Instead she reveals in case study after case study that, in fact, the opposite is true: the state is our boldest and most valuable innovator. The technology revolution would never have happened without support from the US Government. The breakthroughs--GPS, touch-screen displays, the Internet, and voice-activated AI--that enabled legendary Apple products to be smart successes were, in fact, all developed with support from the state. Mazzucato reveals that many successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs integrated state-funded technological developments into their products and then reaped the rewards themselves. The algorithm behind Google’s search engine was initially sponsored by NASA. And 75% of NMEs--new, often-ground-breaking drugs not derivative of existing substances--trace their research to National Institutes of Health (NIH) labs. The American government, it turns out, has been enormously successfully at stimulating scientific and technological advancement. But by 2009, just some months following the Great Recession--the US government, constrained by austerity measures, started disinvesting from its holdings in research fields like health, energy, electronics. The trend is likely to continue, and the repercussions of these policies could wreak havoc on our technology and science sectors. But Mazzucato remains optimistic. If managed correctly, state-sponsored development of Green technology, for instance, could be as efficacious as suburbanization & post-war reconstruction in the mid-twentieth century, and unleash a wide-spread golden age in the global economy. The limitations of natural resources and the threat of global warming could become the most powerful driver of growth, employment, and innovation within just one generation--but to be successful, the Green Revolution will depend on the initiatives of proactive governments. By not admitting the State’s role in economic and technological progress, we are socializing only the risks of investing in innovation, while privatizing the rewards in the hands of only a few businesses. This, Mazzucato argues, hurts both future of innovation and equity in modern-day capitalism. For policy-makers, Silicon Valley start-up founders, venture-capitalists, and economists alike, The Entrepreneurial State stirs up much needed debate and offers up a brilliant corrective to spurious beliefs: to thrive, American businesses have always and will need to depend on the support of our country’s most audacious entrepreneur, the state.
Download or read book Money written by Mellor, Mary and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2019-07-03 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does money mean? Where does it come from and how does it work? In this highly topical book, Mary Mellor, an expert on money, examines money’s social, political and commercial histories to debunk longstanding myths such as money being in short supply and needing to come from somewhere. Arguing that money’s immense social value means that its creation and circulation should be a matter of democratic choice, she sets out a new finance system, based on green and feminist concerns, to bring radical change for social good.
Download or read book Myth and Measurement written by David Card and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From David Card, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Alan Krueger, a provocative challenge to conventional wisdom about the minimum wage David Card and Alan B. Krueger have already made national news with their pathbreaking research on the minimum wage. Here they present a powerful new challenge to the conventional view that higher minimum wages reduce jobs for low-wage workers. In a work that has important implications for public policy as well as for the direction of economic research, the authors put standard economic theory to the test, using data from a series of recent episodes, including the 1992 increase in New Jersey's minimum wage, the 1988 rise in California's minimum wage, and the 1990–91 increases in the federal minimum wage. In each case they present a battery of evidence showing that increases in the minimum wage lead to increases in pay, but no loss in jobs. A distinctive feature of Card and Krueger's research is the use of empirical methods borrowed from the natural sciences, including comparisons between the "treatment" and "control" groups formed when the minimum wage rises for some workers but not for others. In addition, the authors critically reexamine the previous literature on the minimum wage and find that it, too, lacks support for the claim that a higher minimum wage cuts jobs. Finally, the effects of the minimum wage on family earnings, poverty outcomes, and the stock market valuation of low-wage employers are documented. Overall, this book calls into question the standard model of the labor market that has dominated economists' thinking on the minimum wage. In addition, it will shift the terms of the debate on the minimum wage in Washington and in state legislatures throughout the country. With a new preface discussing new data, Myth and Measurement continues to shift the terms of the debate on the minimum wage.
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 Myth written by Robert Alan Segal and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Very Short Introduction explores different approaches to myth from several disciplines, including science, religion, philosophy, literature, and psychology. In this new edition, Robert Segal considers both the future study of myth as well as the impact of areas such as cognitive science and the latest approaches to narrative theory.
Download or read book How Capitalism Saved America written by Thomas J. Dilorenzo and published by Forum Books. This book was released on 2005-08-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here’s the real history of our country. How Capitalism Saved America explodes the myths spun by Michael Moore, the liberal media, Hollywood, academia, and the rest of the anticapitalist establishment. Whether it’s Michael Moore or the New York Times, Hollywood or academia, a growing segment in America is waging a war on capitalism. We hear that greedy plutocrats exploit the American public; that capitalism harms consumers, the working class, and the environment; that the government needs to rein in capitalism; and on and on. Anticapitalist critiques have only grown more fevered in the wake of corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom. Indeed, the 2004 presidential campaign has brought frequent calls to re-regulate the American economy. But the anticapitalist arguments are pure bunk, as Thomas J. DiLorenzo reveals in How Capitalism Saved America. DiLorenzo, a professor of economics, shows how capitalism has made America the most prosperous nation on earth—and how the sort of government regulation that politicians and pundits endorse has hindered economic growth, caused higher unemployment, raised prices, and created many other problems. He propels the reader along with a fresh and compelling look at critical events in American history—covering everything from the Pilgrims to Bill Gates. And just as he did in his last book, The Real Lincoln, DiLorenzo explodes numerous myths that have become conventional wisdom. How Capitalism Saved America reveals: • How the introduction of a capitalist system saved the Pilgrims from starvation • How the American Revolution was in large part a revolt against Britain’s stifling economic controls • How the so-called robber barons actually improved the lives of millions of Americans by providing newer and better products at lower prices • How the New Deal made the Great Depression worse • How deregulation got this country out of the energy crisis of the 1970s—and was not the cause of recent blackouts in California and the Northeast • And much more How Capitalism Saved America is popular history at its explosive best.
Download or read book Magic and Mayhem written by Derek Leebaert and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the nation commits itself to a renewed military effort in Afghanistan, Georgetown foreign relations professor Leebaert explains why we have so often stumbled in our foreign policy. He analyzes the follies and failures of "emergency men, " the political appointees, intellectuals, and policy entrepreneurs of the national security establishment, from the Best and Brightest architects of the Vietnam debacle to the neo-con masterminds of the Iraq War.
