The Quality of Society, Volume II: Essays on the Unified Theory of Capitalism

ISBN-13: 9783030795641 / Angielski / Twarda / 2021 / 223 str.

Adolfo Figueroa

Spis treści

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contents

1. Introduction To Unified Theory Of Capitalism

Foundations And Findings

Unified Theory Of Capitalism Vs Prevailing Economic Theories

References

2. Scientific Economic Laws Of Capitalism

Science Is Epistemology

Beta-Propositions As Economic Laws

Equilibrium Laws

Causality Laws

Internalizing Physics And Biology Into Economic Process

On The “Law Of Supply And Demand”

The Nature Of Scientific Laws In Economics

Unified Theory Of Capitalism Vs Standard Economics

The Engineering Of Economics

Conclusions

References

3. European Colonialism And Capitalist Development

The Old World And The New World

A Brief History Of European Colonialism

Colonialism And The Capitalist Divide

Some Regional Differences

The Collapse Of European Colonialism

Conclusions

Appendix: European Colonial Legacy In Third World Countries

References

4. Hobsbawm’s Question On Peasantry

Andean Peasant Economy: The Geographical And Social Context

Peasant Farming Vs Capitalist Farming In The Andean Highlands

A Static Sigma Model Of The Andean Peasant Economy

A Dynamic Model

An Evolutionary Model: From Peasant To Wage Labor

From Peasant To Part-Time Peasant

The Effect Of Climate Change

The Effect Of Growth In Illegal Activities

Answering Hobsbawm and Amending The Standard Theories

Conclusions

References

5. On Economic Behavior of Workers

Standard Theories of Consumer Behavior

Human Drives in Workers Behavior

A Static Model

A Dynamic Model

Confronting Predictions with Facts

Conclusions

References

6. Market Prices In The Anthropocene Age

Markets Under Neoclassical Theory

Pricing of Exhaustible Natural Resources: Its Refutation

Pricing of Exhaustible Natural Resources under Unified Theory of Capitalism

Extraction Costs vs Degradation Costs

Markets Under Unified Theory of Capitalism

Market System as Institution of Capitalism

Conclusions

References

7. Inequality, Power Relations, And Democracy

Unified Theory of Capitalism: How It Explains The Real World

Economic Growth as Evolutionary Process

Why Inequality Under Capitalism is Not Self-Regulating

The Global Capitalist System as a Sigma Society

Theory and Facts Confrontations

Lessons from History

Conclusions

Appendix: Income Inequality is Higher in Sigma than in Epsilon Societies

References

8. Toughest Challenge Of Economics: Human Society Isn’t Immortal

Risks of Human Society Collapse

Economic Growth Process is Evolutionary, Not Mechanical

Economic Growth in The Global Capitalist System

A Collapse Model of Unified Theory

Deriving New Public Policies

Technological Innovations

Endosomatic vs Exosomatic Ways of Life

Meta-Policies to Change Public Policies

Workers Democracy: Its Requirements

Covid-19 Pandemic as First Warning of Collapse

Conclusions

References

List of Tables                                                                                     

Author Index

Countries Index

Subjetc Index

O autorze

 Adolfo Figueroa holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, USA. He is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Catholic University of Peru. He has published several books with Palgrave: The Quality of Society, Economics of the Anthropocene Age, Rules for Scientific Research in Economics, and Growth, Employment, Inequality, and the Environment. During his distinguished academic career, Figueroa served as a visiting professor at American, European, and Latin American universities. And he participated in several international collaborative research projects (at the University of Oxford, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and other institutions). As a professional economist, he worked as consultant to several international organizations (including the World Bank, ILO, UNDP, FAO, and IFAD), doing fieldwork in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Blurb

This book articulates a unified theory of capitalism as an attempt to provide a comprehensive scientific theory of this social system. A unified theory of capitalism is not the combination of the predominant economic theories—neoclassical, classical, and Keynesian—so as to make them compatible. It is not a composite economic theory. It is a new economic theory. Predictions of the theory’s models were consistent with eight basic empirical regularities of capitalism dealing with economic growth, income inequality, employment level, and environment degradation. Therefore, the unified theory can be accepted as a good approximation of the real capitalist world. But the models were constructed at a high level of abstraction. Also problematic  was the need to work out more fully the public policy implications of the theory. It is, therefore, no wonder that essays on the unified theory to answer these questions are a natural outcome of a new scientific endeavor attempting to reach a unity of knowledge in economics. 

 Adolfo Figueroa holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, USA. He is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Catholic University of Peru. He has published several books with Palgrave: The Quality of Society, Economics of the Anthropocene Age, Rules for Scientific Research in Economics, and Growth, Employment, Inequality, and the Environment. During his distinguished academic career, Figueroa served as a visiting professor at American, European, and Latin American universities. And he participated in several international collaborative research projects (at the University of Oxford, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and other institutions). As a professional economist, he worked as consultant to several international organizations (including the World Bank, ILO, UNDP, FAO, and IFAD), doing fieldwork in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.