Power, Employment and Accumulation: Social Structures in Economic Theory and Policy - Softcover

Stanford, Jim; Taylor, Lance; Houston, Brant

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765606313 ISBN 13: 9780765606310

Publisher: Routledge, 2001

Synopsis

This book provides an interesting and refreshing collection of economic research conducted in the broadly heterodox tradition. A variety of topical issues are addressed, including labor market inequalities, welfare reform, interest rate policies, international trade, and global financial instability. What unites these diverse essays is their common perspective that social institutions and structures "matter" to the performance of economies, and hence should receive more attention from economists. Conventional economic thought focuses unduly on the functioning of so-called "free-markets." The persistent influence of social structures, institutions and practices - and the unequal extent to which differing social constituencies are able to exert power through those structures - often receives short shrift in this traditional research. However, this volume makes a significant contribution by helping to reverse this trend. The chapters, all written by top economists from around North America, address a range of topical issues, utilizing a rich variety of methodological techniques from empirical investigations to game theory and opinion surveys. Furthermore, the book, which is dedicated to the memory of David M. Gordon, has as its unifying theme the incorporation of structural analysis into economic science - an important goal for academics and students alike.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Dedicated to the life and work of David M. Gordon, Power, Employment, and Accumulation provides an interesting and refreshing collection of economic research written by some of North America's top economists. A variety of topical issues are addressed -- labor market inequalities, welfare reform, interest rate policies, international trade, global financial (in)stability, etc. -- utilizing a rich variety of methodological techniques from empirical investigations to game theory and opinion surveys. What unites these diverse essays, however, is their common perspective that social institutions and structures "matter" to the performance of economies, and hence should receive more attention from economists.

About the Author:

BRANT HOUSTON is Executive Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. Inc. and the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting and associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He is also a co author of The Investigative Reporter's Handbook (Bedford St. Martin's 2002) and was database editor at the hartford Courant and an investigative reporter at the Kansas City Star.

JIM STANFORD is an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers and one of Canada's best-known economic commentators. He is a visiting fellow with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Ottawa and has been one of the principal authors of the "Alternative Federal Budget". He lives in Halifax with his partner and daughter.

Lance Taylor is Professor of Economics at MIT.

Houston is a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., and a former graduate student of the late David Gordon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0765606313
• ISBN 13: 9780765606310
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 300