Political Economy

ISBN-13: 9780631233336 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 448 str.

Dan Usher; Daniel Usher

Opis

This thought-provoking introduction to economics exposes readers to the workings of the market in a democratic state. The text explains basic economic concepts from a political perspective: how the price mechanism substitutes for central authority in determining production and allocation of goods; the use of demand and supply curves to trace the impacts of tariffs, taxes, subsidies, quotas and patents; and the redistribution of income. Additionally the text explores political topics from an economic perspective, including the avoidance of anarchy and despotism; and the mutual dependence of markets, voting, public administration and law.

• Relies largely on stories and paradigms to convey important economic concepts.
  
• Explains basic economic concepts from a political perspective and explores political topics from an economic perspective.
  
• Covers topics such as the price mechanism, demand and supply curves, redistribution of income, anarchy, voting and public administration.

Recenzje

"The field of political economy has made a full comeback into the center of economic analysis. Dan Usher′s very readable text demonstrates the power of political economy analysis to address questions in welfare economics, political behavior, public administration, and legal arrangements. His conclusion, like that of the great political economists from David Hume and Adam Smith to F. A. Hayek and James Buchanan is that a market economy with private ownership in the means of production, a political system based on majority–rule voting, a rule–bound public administration, and an independent judiciary are the mutually reinforcing ingredients to a good society. Usher′s text is a welcomed addition to literature in modern political economy." Peter J. Boettke, George Mason University

Spis treści

List of Figures.

List of Tables.

Preface.

1. How Dreadful Life Used to Be.

2. Making and Taking.

3. Taste, Technology and Markets.

4. Putting Demand and Supply Curves to Work.

5. Taste.

6. Technology.

7. Associations.

8. The Common Good.

9. Voting.

10. Administration.

11. Law.

The Four Pillars.

Notes.

Author Index.

Subject Index.

O autorze

Dan Usher is a Professor of Economics at Queen′s University in Ontario, Canada. He has worked for the United Nations and taught economics in England and the United States. He is the author of many books, including The Price Mechanism and the Meaning of National Income Statistics (1968), The Measurement of Economic Growth (1980), The Economic Prerequisite to Democracy (1981), and The Welfare Economics of Markets, Voting and Predation (1993) The Uneasy Case for Equalization Payments (1995), Collected Papers, Volume I: National Accounting and Economic Theory and Volume II: Welfare Economics and Public Finance (1994), and The Welfare Economics of Markets, Voting and Predation (1993). Professor Usher has also contributed to numerous journals, including American Economic Review, Canadian Journal of Economics, Economica, Journal of Political Economy, Oxford Economics Papers, Public Choice, Public Finance, and Review of Income and Wealth American Economic Review, Economic Letters, Public Choice, and . His articles are compiled in Collected Papers, Volume I: National Accounting and Economic Theory and Volume II, Welfare Economics and Public Finance (1994).

Blurb

This thought–provoking introduction to economics exposes readers to the workings of the market in a democratic state. The text explains basic economic concepts from a political perspective: how the price mechanism substitutes for central authority in determining production and allocation of goods; the use of demand and supply curves to trace the impacts of tariffs, taxes, subsidies, quotas, and patents; and the redistribution of income. Additionally the text explores political topics from an economic perspective, including the avoidance of anarchy and despotism; and the mutual dependence of markets, voting, public administration, and law. Assuming no prior background in economics or calculus, the text relies largely on simple stories and paradigms to convey important economic concepts, preparing the student for more advanced courses and applying the lessons of economics for the citizen in a modern democratic society.