Economic Theory

In Putinomics, Chris Miller examines the making of Russian economic policy since Vladimir Putin took power in 1999. Miller argues that Putin's economic strategy has functioned far more effectively than most Westerners realize. While acknowledging that part of Putin's successes - above all, quadrupling per capita GDP in just a decade and a half - can be attributed to cashing in on high oil prices, Miller details the government policies that have also been fundamental to Russia's growth.

Just as Thomas Piketty offered a sweeping critique and progressive reassessment of capitalism, former World Bank Group chief financial officer Bertrand Badré looks at the destructive role finance played in the global economic crisis of 2007–2008 and offers a bold prescription for making it a force for good. Badré says that finance is inherently neither good nor bad. It's just a tool—the most powerful tool on earth. Used correctly, it can be at the heart of the way we address many of the world's biggest problems, ranging from climate change to the eradication of poverty to building much-needed infrastructure. He describes innovations in financial tools and approaches that are already happening around the world and looks at the role regulation can play in channeling the power of finance in a positive direction. He details options for strengthening international cooperation for financial stability and prosperity and overcoming the blinkered nationalism currently on the rise. And he tells what is working and what needs to change in financing the sustainable development of the world.

In responding to the financial crash of 2008, both the Bush administration and the Obama administration have relied on prescriptions developed by John Maynard Keynes, the most important economist since Marx. But should we be relying on Keynes? What did Keynes actually say? Did he make his case? Hunter Lewis concludes that he did not. If Keynes was wrong then so are the economic policies of virtually all world governments today.

Beginning in January 2009, The Payoff lays bare Washington’s culture of power and plutocracy. It’s the story of the 20-month struggle by Senator Ted Kaufman and Jeff Connaughton, his chief of staff, to hold Wall Street executives accountable for securities fraud, stop stock manipulation by high-frequency traders, and break up too-big-to-fail megabanks. This book takes us inside their dogged crusade against institutional inertia and industry influence as they encounter an outright reluctance.

The power of economic thinking can be explained by seven core principles, which are accountability, investments, economy, incentive, freedom of choice, nondiscrimination, and one price.

The central message of the Austrian school of economics, writes Mark Skousen in this wide-ranging audiobook, is that economics is about human beings. That outlook has direct implications for financial markets and personal investing. And this is why the Austrian school has had a huge impact Wall Street. A Viennese Waltz Down Wall Street, then, is a tutorial on both economics and investment that sheds new light on both fields. Consider the opening metaphor of the dance.

For over a decade now, the American economy has been on a rollercoaster - an economic boom between 2003 and 2008, followed by a severe economic downturn, and with a historically slow and weak recovery from 2009 until the present. The recession of 2008-2009 had its origin in years of monetary mismanagement by the Federal Reserve System and misguided economic policies emanating from Washington, DC.

As individuals, companies, and countries struggle to recover from the economic crisis, many are narrowly focused on forecasts for the next week, month, or quarter. Yet they should be asking what the global economy will look like in the years to come—where will the long-term risks and opportunities arise? These are the questions that Daniel Altman confronts in his provocative and indispensable book.

Jede politische Ökonomie umkreist die Fragen nach der Evolution von Ungleichheit, der Konzentration von Wohlstand und den Chancen für ökonomisches Wachstum. Aber befriedigende Antworten gab es bislang kaum. Thomas Piketty untersucht Daten aus 20 Ländern, mit Rückgriffen bis ins 18. Jahrhundert, um die entscheidenden ökonomischen und sozialen Muster freizulegen. Seine Ergebnisse setzen die Agenda für eine neue Diskussion über Wohlstand und Ungleichheit.

Here we find the roots of growing public resentment. Despite headlines heralding growth and prosperity, most Americans have fallen behind. They’re working harder year upon year not to get ahead but merely to stay apace. For them, the American dream appears to be slipping farther and farther away. Beneath the resentment is something else: The misleading statistics that shape our understanding of reality are steering powerful policymakers to make misguided decisions at the federal, state, and local levels alike. And, for most Americans, the results continue to be catastrophic.

The financial crisis that crested in 2008 destroyed the credibility of the economic thinking that had guided policymakers for a generation. But what will take its place? In How the Economy Works, one of our leading economists provides a jargon-free exploration of the current crisis, offering a powerful argument for how economics must change to get us out of it. Roger E. A. Farmer traces the swings between classical and Keynesian economics since the early 20th century, gracefully explaining the elements of both theories.

Revolution & Counter Revolution is an account of what happened in Prussia, Austria, and other German states during 1848, describing the impact on both middle-class and working-class aspirations and on the idea of German unification. Events in Austria and Prussia are discussed, along with the role of the Poles and Czechs and Panslavism, which Engels was against.

Evolving from the premise that customers have always behaved more like cats than Pavlov's dogs, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? examines how emerging media have undermined the effectiveness of prevailing mass marketing models. At the same time, emerging media have created an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to redefine how they communicate with customers by leveraging the power of increasingly interconnected media channels.

Conventional wisdom holds that Western economies are on the threshold of fast-and-furious technological development. Fredrik Erixon and Bjorn Weigel refute this idea, bringing together a vast array of data and case studies to tell a very different story. With expertise spanning academia and the business world, Erixon and Weigel illustrate how innovation is being hampered by existing government regulations and corporate practices.

Judicial decisions assessing the constitutional rights of students in the nation’s public schools have consistently generated bitter controversy. The Schoolhouse Gate gives a fresh, lucid, and provocative account of the historic legal battles waged over education and illuminates contemporary disputes that continue to fracture the nation.

In this selection from The Fortune Book Club, two Pace University Business professors show you how to apply economics to business decision-making. Other programs from the Portable M.B.A. series are available in management, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

The Social Currency addresses the idea that money is a social construct, and therefore so is poverty. The book showcases several communities that confronted their financial disadvantages by creating their own currency. These economic activists challenged the idea that money, by definition, had to be created and controlled by the government, locally instituting the printing of money in the process.

This audiobook was born from the idea to create a crash course that could help a beginner avoid common mistakes and get the foot on the market without falling. It is not a secret that the best investors apply different techniques than those who are struggling. The aim of the audiobook is to spread the right information and to give a proper overview of what works and what does not work when investing in the stock market.

File your taxes on a postcard? Impossible! Guess again, says Steve Forbes, in his important new audiobook Flat Tax Revolution. In fact, countries around the world have freed their taxpayers to do just that - and we can, too, with a simple flat tax that will slash tax rates, spur economic growth, and put the IRS out of business

Who is the richest person in the world, ever? Does where you were born affect how much money you'll earn over a lifetime? How would we know? Why, beyond the idle curiosity, do these questions even matter? In The Haves and the Have-Nots, Branko Milanovic, one of the world's leading experts on wealth, poverty, and the gap that separates them, explains these and other mysteries of how wealth is unevenly spread throughout our world, now and through time.