THE WEALTH OF NETWORKS...

With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.

In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.

Yochai Benkler is the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, Yale University.

Visit Dr. Benkler's http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page">wiki

THE MORAL ECONOMY...

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Why do policies and business practices that ignore the moral and generous side of human nature often fail?

Should the idea of economic man—the amoral and self-interested Homo economicus—determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments, and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding “no.” Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may “crowd out” ethical and generous motives and thus backfire.

But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy, or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good. Using historical and recent case studies as well as behavioral experiments, Bowles shows how well-designed incentives can crowd in the civic motives on which good governance depends.

Samuel Bowles directs the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute and is the author of Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions, and Evolution; A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution (with Herbert Gintis);andThe New Economics of Inequality and Redistribution.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF ECONOMICS...

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A lively, inviting account of the history of economics, told through events from ancient to modern times and the ideas of great thinkers in the field

What causes poverty? Are economic crises inevitable under capitalism? Is government intervention in an economy a helpful approach or a disastrous idea? The answers to such basic economic questions matter to everyone, yet the unfamiliar jargon and math of economics can seem daunting. This clear, accessible, and even humorous book is ideal for young readers new to economics and for all readers who seek a better understanding of the full sweep of economic history and ideas.

Economic historian Niall Kishtainy organizes short, chronological chapters that center on big ideas and events. He recounts the contributions of key thinkers including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and others, while examining topics ranging from the invention of money and the rise of agrarianism to the Great Depression, entrepreneurship, environmental destruction, inequality, and behavioral economics. The result is a uniquely enjoyable volume that succeeds in illuminating the economic ideas and forces that shape our world.

Niall Kishtainy, former economic policy advisor to the UK government and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, is guest teacher, department of economic history, London School of Economics, and author of The Economics Book and Economics in Minutes. He lives in London, UK.

T.R. MALTHUS...

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Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population remains one of the most influential works of political economy ever written. Most widely circulated in its initial 1798 version, this is the first publication of his benchmark 1803 edition since 1989. Introduced by editor Shannon C. Stimson, this edition includes essays on the historical and political theoretical underpinnings of Malthus’s work by Niall O’Flaherty, Malthus’s influence on concepts of nature by Deborah Valenze, implications of his population model for political economy by Sir Anthony Wrigley, an assessment of Malthus’s theory in light of modern economic ideas by Kenneth Binmore, and a discussion of the Essay’s literary and cultural influence by Karen O’Brien. The result is an enlarged view of the political, social, and cultural impact of this profoundly influential work.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) was an English cleric and scholar.Shannon C. Stimson holds the Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University. Her books include After Adam Smith: A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy, Ricardian Politics

HARD TIMES...

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An analysis of the enduring social costs of the post-2008 economic crisis

2008 was a watershed year for global finance. The banking system was eventually pulled back from the brink, but the world was saddled with the worst slump since the 1930s Depression, and millions were left unemployed. While numerous books have addressed the financial crisis, very little has been written about its social consequences.

Journalist Tom Clark draws on the research of a transatlantic team led by Professors Anthony Heath and Robert D. Putnam to determine the great recession’s toll on individuals, families, and community bonds in the United States and the United Kingdom. The ubiquitous metaphor of the crisis has been an all-encompassing “financial storm,” but Clark argues that the data tracks the narrow path of a tornado—destroying some neighborhoods while leaving others largely untouched. In our vastly unequal societies, disproportionate suffering is being meted out to the poor—and the book’s new analysis suggests that the scars left by unemployment and poverty will linger long after the economy recovers.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have shown more interest in exploiting the divisions of opinion ushered in by the slump than in grappling with these problems. But this hard-hitting analysis provides a wake-up call that all should heed.

Tom Clark writes daily editorials on politics, economics, and social affairs for The Guardian in London. Anthony Heath is professor of sociology, University of Manchester, and emeritus professor at the University of Oxford.

NUDGE...

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Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nobel laureate Richard Thaler and legal scholar and bestselling author Cass Sunstein explain in this important exploration of choice architecture that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.

In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society. Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful “choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take—from neither the left nor the right—on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.

Richard H. Thaler, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics, is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.  His latest book is Misbehaving:  The Making of Behavioral Economics.  Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School and most recently the author of Impeachment:  A Citizen’s Guide.

As above, so below 3...

As within, so without.
The Emerald Tablet. 3.000 Bc

As above, so below 2...

Phrase:

as above, so below

Wikipedia has an article on:

as above, so below

1. (occultism) What happens on one level of reality also happens on every other level; the microcosm and macrocosm behave alike.

As above so below 1...

Etymology:

The concept was first laid out in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing."

Coriolis Effect on Economy...

Coriolis Effect in Economy...As above so below...

so economic policies will at the end change the intended direction...

Muhammed Yunus...

Henry George...

J.A. HOBSON

T.B. VEBLEN must read...

T. Veblen...

T. Veblen...

Invention is the mother of necessity.

— Thorstein Veblen

Warren Buffett...

If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.

— Warren Buffett

Veblen Effect...

The Theory of Leisure Class...