Absentee Ownership and its Discontents: Critical Essays on the Legacy of Thorstein Veblen

10 Essays presented at the International Thorstein Veblen Association conference in Istanbul (2012): “Veblen, Capitalism and Possibilities for a Rational Economic Order.” Quotes below from the book:

“Most American economists in the early 20^th century studied in Germany and were taught that John Stuart Mill’s 1848 Principles of Political Economy was the high-water mark of classical thought. However, Mill’s reformist philosophy turned out to be “not a goal but a half-way house” toward the Progressive Era’s reforms [generally the 1890s to 1920s following the excesses of The Guilded Age]. … But the classical approach to political economy continued to evolve, above all through Thorstein Veblen.” – Michael Hudson

“The Veblenian critique calls for anger, but not despair. On the political front, his critique of the … social order has helped move three generations to take political action against it: first the New Dealers of the 1930s and 1940s, next the counterculture youth of the 1960s and the 1970s and now the egalitarian protesters of the New Millennium. So far they have failed … [and] the stakes have increased after each failure.” — William M. Dugger (Foreword)

Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), and an Honorary Professor of Economics at Peking University in China. He gives speeches, lectures and presentations all over the world for official and unofficial groups reflecting diverse academic, economic and political constituencies. His website and blog can be found at michael-hudson.com. Many of his interviews and public appearances can be seen on YouTube. He lives in New York City.