Synopses & Reviews
This book is a comprehensive review of the political career of Benjamin Disraeli, providing a thorough critical analysis of one of the most ambitious and controversial leaders in British history. Disraeli and the Art of Victorian Politics explores the political journey of a man propelled by a tremendous self-belief and capacity for self-invention through the complex world of Victorian political life. Disraeli retains a powerful presence in contemporary political discourse; whether in terms of current debates concerning the direction and leadership within the Conservative party or in more general areas of social and political debate such as the nature of imperialism, the dangers posed by the centralization of government power, the scope for state intervention in the economy, the constitutional role of the monarch and the meaning of Judaism in British life. Dr Ian St John discusses Disraeli’s Conservative ideology and its relationship to his identity and his practice as a politician. The author brings to life the often sharp historiographical debates surrounding Disraeli’s career by reproducing within each chapter views from key historians – an effective way to introduce the student and general reader to the contested nature of historical understanding. This title will be a major addition to our understanding of both Disraeli and the dynamics of nineteenth-century politics.
Review
'This book is an effort to bring economics back to reality. Given the influence that economists often have on public policy, this is an important task.' —Dean Baker, Co-Director, Centre for Economic and Policy Research, Washington
Review
'This book should be required reading for students taking economic classes and for heterodox economists who want to create a better economics.' —David F. Ruccio, Professor of Economics & Policy Studies, University of Notre Dame
Review
'Promises to reshape contemporary economic discourse to the benefit of students, professors, activists, and citizens of the world.' —Frederic S. Lee, University of Missouri-Kansas City, author of ‘Post Keynesian Price Theory’ and editor of the ‘Heterodox Economics Newsletter’
Review
'Recommended. Heterodox economics collections supporting all levels of undergraduate and graduate students.' —R.B. Emmett, ‘Choice’
Synopsis
The articles in this book have been selected for their importance to the reform movement and for their accessibility to the general reader. Intelligibility is one of the movement's two keystones. "Real economic problems" concern real people, so their analysis must be made intelligible to an educated general public if real democracy is to function.
The second keystone of the post-autistic movement is pluralism. All analysis proceeds on the basis of concepts that admit only a partial view of the economy, thereby predetermining the set of possible conclusions. This requires economists to begin to develop an ethos of honesty regarding the limitations of their chosen approaches. In engaging and thought-provoking prose, the 66 chapters of this book bring these and other conflicts out into the open and place them in the context of the major issues of the 21st century.
Synopsis
An engaging, important text calling for the reform of economics and pushing for the discipline to become an honest and effective tool for democracy.
Synopsis
Economics is extremely sick. It is so locked in its past that nearly all of its introductory textbooks are modelled on one that appeared in 1948. The discipline cannot continue in its autistic state much longer. This book takes you to the heart of a fiery and many-faceted debate. It is comprised of 66 articles that have been selected based on their importance to the reform movement and for their accessibility to the general reader. ‘Real economic problems’ concern real people, so their analysis must be made intelligible to an educated general public if real democracy is to function. All economists must learn to live without the belief that there is only one right way of describing and explaining reality. This requires economists to begin the development of an ethos of honesty regarding the limitations of their chosen approaches.
Synopsis
Provides a revealing global overview of air pollution and its startling impact through graphical and visual representation of data.
Synopsis
Air pollution affects us all in a number of crucial ways, causing lasting damage to our health and our environment. Whereas primary pollution can result from local activities, the extent of the impact can be felt at spatial scales from the individual up to the whole planet, and temporal scales from minutes to decades. Consequently, pollution of our atmosphere remains a critical concern, warranting continued scientific investigation and the development of effective local and global solutions. ‘The World Atlas of Atmospheric Pollution’ clearly and engagingly summarises current understanding of the state of air pollution on city to global scales. Using high-quality graphical illustrations, the Atlas begins with a historical perspective before addressing topics such as urban and global air pollution, long-range transmission of pollution, ozone depletion and the impacts of air pollution, as well as future trends. Each chapter provides an introduction to the topic and graphical representations of the spatial and temporal distributions of air pollutants. Wherever possible, the chapters give a world-wide view of the state of our atmosphere. The illustrations are supported by explanations and other background material, allowing the reader to gain an informed insight into emission sources, the resulting atmospheric concentrations of key pol
Synopsis
' A comprehensive and lively review of Benjamin Disraeli encompassing his political career, personal life and literary aspirations. \n
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Synopsis
The first ever book on Mumbai written in the Marathi language, this is a historically fascinating and revealing urban biography of nineteenth-century India.
Synopsis
The expansion of Mumbai over the last four centuries has been documented in great detail by both contemporary writers and historians, yet this narrative stands out as an alternative, unique and authentic voice. Quite simply, it is a book about the city like no other. Govind Narayan’s Mumbaiche Varnan was the first full account of Mumbai in any language, written just before the explosive growth and renovation of the city.
Guiding the reader on a tour of the sights and sounds of an emerging city struggling to shake off colonialism and wrestling with the formation of its own budding identity, Narayan’s beguiling book offers descriptions of Mumbai’s daily life, its people and its institutions: the parts of the whole that come together to create this diverse and vivacious place. In addition to a detailed structural overview, the author provides a ground level account of the street life and market places rife with gambling and criminal activity. In every sense, this valuable text is a rare and enthralling glimpse into a fascinating period and place otherwise lost to time.
Translated into English for the first time, and fully illustrated and with a detailed glossary and biography of the author, this edition does full justice to this remarkable historical document.
About the Author
'Etched in this portrait of death and ruin are the outlines of a remembered city. Its shape peers through the images of the creaking infrastructure, eroded institutions… As a record of Mumbai’s nineteenth century history, as a text of urban consciousness, Mumbaiche Varnan is superb.' —from the Foreword by Gyan Prakash, Professor of History at Princeton University
'Essential: Ranganathan has done everyone interested in Indian history, and in Mumbai in particualr, a great service by translating and editing Govind Narayan's 1863 masterpiece… An explanatory foreword from noted historian Gyan Prakash rounds out the translation of this indispensable 19th century text.' —S. L Hoglund, ‘Choice’
'Ramanathan’s brief biography and bibliography add to the value of this window on nineteenth century Bombay, and his inclusion of photographs of the mid-nineteenth century aptly illustrate some of Govind Narayan’s observations. In all, this is a valuable resource for those who wish to explore urban life in mid-nineteenth century India through the eyes of a sh
Table of Contents
1. The Rand Portcullis and post-autistic economics - Edward Fullbrook
2. The social and intellectual organization and construction of economics - Kyle Siler
3. Psychological autism, institutional autism and economics - James G Devine
4. Why neoclassical economics explains nothing at all - Steve Fleetwood
5. A science too human? Economics - Bernard Guerrien
6. Economics: the disappearing science? - Alan Shipman
Part 2: The faux Nobel Prize
7. Beautiful mind, non-existent prize - Yves Gingras
8. An igNobel scandal - Alex Millmow
9. The Nobel Prize in economics – a barrier to new thinking - Peter Söderbaum
Part 3: Realism versus illusion
10. Seven theses for a theory of realist economics - Jacques Sapir
11. How reality ate itself: orthodoxy, economy and trust - Jamie Morgan
12. Towards a realistic epistemology for economics - Claude Mouchot
13. Neutrality is overrated - Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra
14. Economic history and the rebirth of respectable characters - Stephen T Ziliak
15. Revisiting The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought - Robert Heilbroner and William Milberg
16. Modernist and pre-modernist explanation in economics - Kevin Quinn
17. Game Theory: A refinement or an alternative to neo-classical economics? - Matthew McCartney
18. Towards a post-autistic managerial economics - Sashi Sivramkrishna
Part 4: Pluralism versus monism
19. Three arguments for pluralism in economics - J E King
20. Pleas for pluralism - Esther-Mirjam Sent
21. ‘Efficiency’: whose efficiency? - Richard Wolff
Part 5: Saving the planet from neoclassical economics
22. The ‘illth’ of nations and the fecklessness of policy: an ecological economist’s perspective - Herman E. Daly
23. Ecological economics is post-autistic - Robert Costanza
24. Priceless benefits, costly mistakes: what’s wrong with cost–benefit analysis? - Frank Ackerman
25. Is GDP a good measure of economic progress? - Olivier Vaury
26. Living in an affluent society: it is so ‘more-ish’ - Shaun Hargreaves Heap
Part 6: Case histories
27. Kicking away the ladder - Ha-Joon Chang
28. Japan, refutation of neoliberalism - Robert Locke
29. Liberalisation and social structure: the case of labour intensive export growth in South Asia - Matthew McCartney
30. Policy relevance in the Latin American School of Economics - Ana Maria Bianchi
31. Driving a car with no steering wheel and no road map: Neoclassical discourse and the case of India - Matthew McCartney
32. Dynamic versus static efficiency - Matthew McCartney
Part 7: Is anything worth keeping in microeconomics?
33. Is anything worth keeping in standard microeconomics? - Bernard Guerrien
34. In defence of basic economic reasoning - Bruce J Caldwell
35. Doctrine-centred versus problem-centred economics - Peter Dorman
36. Yes, there is something worth keeping in microeconomics - Deirdre McCloskey
37. Response to Guerrien’s essay - Jacques Sapir
38. Theoretical substance should take priority over technique - Geoffrey M Hodgson
39. Two perspectives to Guerrien’s question - Steve Keen
40. Superior analysis requires recognition of complexity - Anne Mayhew
41. What should be retained from standard microeconomics - Julie A Nelson
42. Comment on Guerrien’s essay - Geoff Harcourt
43. For Guerrien … and beyond - Gilles Raveaud
44. Teaching post-autistic economics to students of politicalscience - Poul Thøis Madsen
45. Can we please move on? A note on the Guerrien debate - James K Galbraith
46. Once again on microeconomics - Bernard Guerrien
Part 8: Some big ideas
47. Two feasible future scenarios: a high-tech utopia and a hightech dystopia - Trond Andresen
48. The political economy of destructive power - Mehrdad Vahabi
49. Capabilities: from Spinoza to Sen and beyond - Jorge Buzaglo
50. Thermodynamics and economics - Dietmar Lindenberger and Reiner Kümmel
Part 9: Putting ethics into economics
51. Ethics In economic theory - Charles K Wilber
52. Ethics and economic actors - Charles K Wilber
53. Social being as a problem for an ethical economics - Jamie Morgan
54. When social physics becomes a social problem: economics, ethics and the new order - Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra
55. The economist’s long farewell - Robert E Lane
Part 10: Student voices
56. Politics versus economics: keeping it real - Daniel Gay
57. Form and content in neoclassical theory - Asatar Bair
58. Of textbooks: in search of method - Nathaniel N Chamberland
59. Consumer sovereignty re-examined - Goutam U Jois