Download or read book Capital in the Twenty First Century written by Thomas Piketty and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-14 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In this work the author analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. He shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values if political action is not taken. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, the author says, and may do so again. This original work reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.
Download or read book Stakeholder Capitalism written by Klaus Schwab and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-01-27 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reimagining our global economy so it becomes more sustainable and prosperous for all Our global economic system is broken. But we can replace the current picture of global upheaval, unsustainability, and uncertainty with one of an economy that works for all people, and the planet. First, we must eliminate rising income inequality within societies where productivity and wage growth has slowed. Second, we must reduce the dampening effect of monopoly market power wielded by large corporations on innovation and productivity gains. And finally, the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources that is corroding the environment and affecting the lives of many for the worse must end. The debate over the causes of the broken economy—laissez-faire government, poorly managed globalization, the rise of technology in favor of the few, or yet another reason—is wide open. Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet argues convincingly that if we don't start with recognizing the true shape of our problems, our current system will continue to fail us. To help us see our challenges more clearly, Schwab—the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum—looks for the real causes of our system's shortcomings, and for solutions in best practices from around the world in places as diverse as China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore. And in doing so, Schwab finds emerging examples of new ways of doing things that provide grounds for hope, including: Individual agency: how countries and policies can make a difference against large external forces A clearly defined social contract: agreement on shared values and goals allows government, business, and individuals to produce the most optimal outcomes Planning for future generations: short-sighted presentism harms our shared future, and that of those yet to be born Better measures of economic success: move beyond a myopic focus on GDP to more complete, human-scaled measures of societal flourishing By accurately describing our real situation, Stakeholder Capitalism is able to pinpoint achievable ways to deal with our problems. Chapter by chapter, Professor Schwab shows us that there are ways for everyone at all levels of society to reshape the broken pieces of the global economy and—country by country, company by company, and citizen by citizen—glue them back together in a way that benefits us all.
Download or read book The Code of Capital written by Katharina Pistor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Capital is the defining feature of modern economies, yet most people have no idea where it actually comes from. What is it, exactly, that transforms mere wealth into an asset that automatically creates more wealth? The Code of Capital explains how capital is created behind closed doors in the offices of private attorneys, and why this little-known fact is one of the biggest reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everybody else. In this revealing book, Katharina Pistor argues that the law selectively "codes" certain assets, endowing them with the capacity to protect and produce private wealth. With the right legal coding, any object, claim, or idea can be turned into capital - and lawyers are the keepers of the code. Pistor describes how they pick and choose among different legal systems and legal devices for the ones that best serve their clients' needs, and how techniques that were first perfected centuries ago to code landholdings as capital are being used today to code stocks, bonds, ideas, and even expectations--assets that exist only in law. A powerful new way of thinking about one of the most pernicious problems of our time, The Code of Capital explores the different ways that debt, complex financial products, and other assets are coded to give financial advantage to their holders. This provocative book paints a troubling portrait of the pervasive global nature of the code, the people who shape it, and the governments that enforce it."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Cognitive Capitalism written by Yann Moulier-Boutang and published by Polity. This book was released on 2011 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that we are undergoing a transition from industrial capitalism to a new form of capitalism - what the author calls & lsquo; cognitive capitalism & rsquo;
Download or read book Capitalism Alone written by Branko Milanovic and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time in history, the globe is dominated by one economic system. Capitalism prevails because it delivers prosperity and meets desires for autonomy. But it also is unstable and morally defective. Surveying the varieties and futures of capitalism, Branko Milanovic offers creative solutions to improve a system that isn’t going anywhere.
Download or read book Redefining the French Republic written by Alistair Cole and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2006-06-12 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text investigates continuity and change in contemporary French politics, society and culture. It draws on contributions that reflect a variety of methodological approaches, ranging from theoretical speculations and modelling to the interpretation of fieldwork data.
Download or read book After the Deluge written by Julian Bourg and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Madame de Pompadour's famous quip, 'Apr_s nous, le deluge, ' serves as fitting inspiration for this lively discussion of postwar French intellectual and cultural life. Over the past thirty years, North American and European scholarship has been significantly transformed by the absorption of poststructuralist and postmodernist theories from French thinkers. But Julian Bourg's seamlessly edited volume proves that, historically speaking, French intellecutal and cultural life since World War Two has involved much more than a few infamous figures and concepts. Motivated by a desire to narrate and contextualize the deluge of 'French theory, ' After the Deluge showcases recent work by today's brightest scholars of French intellectual history that historicizes key debates, figures, and turning points in the postwar era of French thought. Relying on primary and archival sources, contributors examine, among other themes: left-wing critiques of the Left, the internationalizing of thought, the institutional and affective conditions of cultural life, and the religious imagination. They revive neglected debates and figures, and they explore the larger impact of political quarrels. In an afterword, preeminent French historian Fran_ois Dosse heralds the arrival of a new generation, a historiographical sensibility that brings fresh, original perspectives and a passion for French history to the contemporary French intellectual arena. After the Deluge adds significant depth and breadth to our understanding of postwar French intellectual and cultural history.
Download or read book Silicon and the State written by Gunnar Trumbull and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-04-21 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1990s, French officials viewed with some concern the emerging and innovative high-technology sectors of the U.S. and British marketplace. Fearful of falling too far behind, the French government implemented a vast array of policies—from tax incentives for investing in risky high-tech start-ups to new standards for electronic signatures—designed to promote the commercialization of new economy technologies in France. The efforts have turned French innovation policy on its head. Traditional government and bank-financed research and development were replaced by private venture capital. Professionals in France's technical elite—long accustomed to a secure career track in prestigious laboratories and industrial conglomerates—began moving into risky entrepreneurial ventures. New technologies, once developed exclusively by France's national champions of the marketplace, such as Ariane, Airbus, and Renault, began to be commercialized by technology start-ups. Efforts to promote the new economy, however, have proved politically and socially contentious. Many French policymakers and public intellectuals fear that regulatory liberalization might threaten or undermine state sovereignty. Gunnar Trumbull investigates France's experience in adapting to the requirements of innovation in the new information and communications technology (ICT) sectors by focusing on events over a six-year period, from 1996 to 2002. This short stretch of time proved a crucible for French leaders and businesspeople: it saw dramatic efforts at regulatory reform; a boom in technology start-ups, venture capital, and initial public offerings; the spread of the Internet; and then a collapse in the Internet market, accompanied by a broader economic decline. The new challenges of the ICT revolution were confronted, and new policies and practices were tested and stressed. The author describes France's new technology policy as both boldly new and familiarly French. He commends the French state for continuing to play a central role in shaping France's new economy and argues that the new reforms actually reinforce the role and autonomy of the state. Acknowledging that the government's solutions have not been elegant, Trumbull asserts that they nonetheless offer a workable accommodation of French values to the requirements of competitiveness in the new economy sectors and provide a model for others. Silicon and the State provides important new insight into the way France has worked to reconcile its traditions of state engagement and social solidarity with the challenges the country faces from new economy technologies.
Download or read book Varieties of Capitalism written by Peter A. Hall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 557 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.
Download or read book Capital and Ideology written by Thomas Piketty and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 1105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system. Thomas Piketty’s bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system. Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity. Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new “participatory” socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power. Capital and Ideology is destined to be one of the indispensable books of our time, a work that will not only help us understand the world, but that will change it.
Download or read book The New Spirit of Capitalism written by Luc Boltanski and published by Verso. This book was released on 2005 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century after the publication of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism , a major new work examines network-based organization, employee autonomy and post-Fordist horizontal work structures.
Download or read book Capitalism written by Jürgen Kocka and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capitalism has been a controversial concept. In the second half of the 20th century, many historians have either not used the concept at all, or only in passing. Many regarded the term as too broad, holistic and vague or too value-loaded, ideological and polemic. This volume brings together leading scholars to explore why the term has recently experienced a comeback and assess how useful the term can be in application to social and economic history. The contributors discuss whether and how the history of capitalism enables us to ask new questions, further explore unexhausted sources and discover new connections between previously unrelated phenomena. The chapters address case studies drawn from around the world, giving attention to Europe, Africa and beyond. This is a timely reassessment of a crucial concept, which will be of great interest to scholars and students of economic history.
Download or read book France in Crisis written by Timothy B. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-11-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of French Politics written by Robert Elgie and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of French Politics provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of the French political system through the lens of political science. The Handbook is organized into three parts: the first part identifies foundational concepts for the French case, including chapters on republicanism and social welfare; the second part focuses on thematic large-scale processes, such identity, governance, and globalization; while the third part examines a wide range of issues relating to substantive politics and policy, among which are chapters on political representation, political culture, social movements, economic policy, gender policy, and defense and security policy. The volume brings together established and emerging scholars and seeks to examine the French political system from a comparative perspective. The contributors provide a state-of-the-art review both of the comparative scholarly literature and the study of the French case, making The Oxford Handbook of French Politics an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the foundations of contemporary political life in France.
Download or read book Economic Management and French Business written by M. Maclean and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-10-02 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is it that the modest pace of change which typified the French economy a century ago gave way after 1945 to a new, revived capitalism and a superior economic performance? Maclean traces the development of French economic and business life in the context of the European and international economy over the past fifty years. She examines the main economic trends and events: from nationalization to privatization; from war with Germany to reconciliation and ever-greater union; from the franc to the euro; and from national champions to mega-mergers with foreign companies. Maclean argues that the new French capitalism of the twenty-first century is the product of an ideological struggle in which the forces of modernization triumphed over the old guard of French nationalism.
Download or read book Capitalism on Edge written by Albena Azmanova and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wake of the financial crisis has inspired hopes for dramatic change and stirred visions of capitalism’s terminal collapse. Yet capitalism is not on its deathbed, utopia is not in our future, and revolution is not in the cards. In Capitalism on Edge, Albena Azmanova demonstrates that radical progressive change is still attainable, but it must come from an unexpected direction. Azmanova’s new critique of capitalism focuses on the competitive pursuit of profit rather than on forms of ownership and patterns of wealth distribution. She contends that neoliberal capitalism has mutated into a new form—precarity capitalism—marked by the emergence of a precarious multitude. Widespread economic insecurity ails the 99 percent across differences in income, education, and professional occupation; it is the underlying cause of such diverse hardships as work-related stress and chronic unemployment. In response, Azmanova calls for forging a broad alliance of strange bedfellows whose discontent would challenge not only capitalism’s unfair outcomes but also the drive for profit at its core. To achieve this synthesis, progressive forces need to go beyond the old ideological certitudes of, on the left, fighting inequality and, on the right, increasing competition. Azmanova details reforms that would enable a dramatic transformation of the current system without a revolutionary break. An iconoclastic critique of left orthodoxy, Capitalism on Edge confronts the intellectual and political impasses of our time to discern a new path of emancipation.
Download or read book Corporations Classes and Capitalism written by John Scott and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-08 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1985, Corporations, Classes and Capitalism raises some crucial questions – how important are large multinational companies? Who really controls the economy? Is government policy able to influence business activities? John Scott examines the transformation of industrial property over the last hundred years and, through the use of extensive empirical data, relates this transformation to the actual structure of control over business decision-making. The book considers the rival theories of industrial society and capitalist society and argues that neither provides a satisfactory account of the development of industrial capitalism. Building on these theories, and the critical debates they have generated, John Scott develops an alternative model of corporate control – control through a constellation of interests. He argues that this new form of impersonal possession has emerged in Britian, America, Australia and Canada but is not so strongly developed in other economies. This book will be of interest to students of sociology, political science, and economics.
