Economics for Everyone A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism

by Stanford, Jim

• ISBN13: 9780745327501
• ISBN10: 0745327508
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

Economics is too important to be left to the economists. This brilliantly concise and readable book provides non-specialist readers with all the information they need to understand how capitalism works (and how it doesn't).

Author Biography

Jim Stanford is economist for the Canadian Auto Workers union, and economics columnist for the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction: Why Study Economics?	p. 1
Preliminaries
The Economy and Economics	p. 17
Capitalism	p. 33
Economic History	p. 40
The Politics of Economics	p. 52
The Basics of Capitalism: Work, Tools, and Profit
Work, Production, and Value	p. 65
Working with Tools	p. 76
Companies, Owners, and Profit	p. 86
Workers and Bosses	p. 99
Reproduction (for Economists!)	p. 111
Closing the Little Circle	p. 119
Capitalism as a System
Competition	p. 129
Investment and Growth	p. 140
Employment and Unemployment	p. 151
Dividing the Pie	p. 162
Capitalism and the Environment	p. 172
The Complexity of Capitalism
Money and Banking	p. 189
Inflation, Central Banks, and Monetary Policy	p. 200
Paper Chase: Stock Markets, Financialization, and Pensions	p. 214
The Conflicting Personalities of Government	p. 226
Spending and Taxing	p. 239
Globalization	p. 253
Development (and Otherwise)	p. 269
Closing the Big Circle	p. 281
The Ups and Downs of Capitalism	p. 291
Challenging Capitalism
Evaluating Capitalism	p. 305
Improving Capitalism	p. 315
Replacing Capitalism?	p. 324
Conclusion: A Dozen Big Things to Remember About Economics	p. 335
Index	p. 341
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