Understanding Capitalism: Critical Analysis from Karl Marx to Amartya Sen - Hardcover

Dowd, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745317839 ISBN 13: 9780745317830

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2002

Synopsis

Understanding Capitalism combines the essays of seven leading economists, including Robin Hahnel and John Bellamy Foster, in a critical assessment of the relationship between economic thought and the dominance of capitalism. With analyses of economists ranging from Karl Marx to Amartya Sen, the book traces the growth of the capitalist system over the past two hundred years and how economic theory has, in fact, become capitalist ideology. Relating socio-economic and analytical histories to present-day economic policy, this is a thoroughly accessible work which makes an ideal introduction to the key thinkers in economic thought past and present.Major economists and economic schools of thought are discussed in a chapter-by-chapter guide that covers Marx, Veblen, Gramsci, post-Keynesian theory, US institutionalists, Sweezy and the Monopoly Capital school, and recent Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen. Contributors include Michael Lebowitz, Carl Boggs, Michael Keaney, Frederic Lee, John Bellamy Foster and Robin Hahnel, with an introduction by the editor, Douglas Dowd.

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Dowd is a widely respected academic and political activist. He has taught at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Berkeley, and San Jose State University, among others. His most recent books include Against the Conventional Wisdom: A Primer for Current Economic Controversies and Proposals (Westview, 1997) and Capitalism and Its Economics (Pluto Press, 2000).

Review

"[Dowd] brings an admirable ability to extricate and expound what is really important with lucidity and skill." -- Noam Chomsky

Edition details

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0745317839
• ISBN 13: 9780745317830
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192