Author: Tim Harford
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1408709139
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
Based on the series produced for the BBC World Service Who thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down? The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost every one of the planet's seven billion people. It delivers astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it. Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what's going on. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend? From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next. Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We'll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We'll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we'll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.
Author: Arthur James Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1356
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Book Description
Author: Till Geiger
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351954776
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
Many accounts of British development since 1945 have attempted to discover why Britain experienced slower rates of economic growth than other Western European countries. In many cases, the explanation for this phenomenon has been attributed to the high level of defence spending that successive British post-war governments adhered to. Yet is it fair to assume that Britain's relative economic decline could have been prevented if policy makers had not spent so much on defence? Examining aspects of the political economy and economic impact of British defence expenditure in the period of the first cold war (1945-1955), this book challenges these widespread assumptions, looking in detail at the link between defence spending and economic decline. In contrast to earlier studies, Till Geiger not only analyses the British effort within the framework of Anglo-American relations, but also places it within the wider context of European integration. By reconsidering the previously accepted explanation of the economic impact of the British defence effort during the immediate post-war period, this book convincingly suggests that British foreign policy-makers retained a large defence budget to offset a sense of increased national vulnerability, brought about by a reduction in Britain's economic strength due to her war effort. Furthermore, it is shown that although this level of military spending may have slightly hampered post-war recovery, it was not in itself responsible for the decline of the British economy.
Author: William Keegan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781785903045
Category : Financial crises
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
A collapsing pound, spiralling oil prices, near-rationing of electricity... over the past half-century, Britain's economy has lurched from one crisis to another, though it somehow always survives - or at least it has done until now. Veteran financial journalist William Keegan has seen it all, from the 1967 devaluation to the three-day week, from Black Wednesday to the global financial crash of 2007-08. In a career that has seen him hop from Fleet Street to the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street and back again, he has nurtured connections with Chancellors of the Exchequer, Governors of the Bank of England, influential economists and Fleet Street legends. Now, in this lively and wide-ranging account, he takes us on a tumultuous journey through the past fifty years of our economic history - and looks ahead to explain why Brexit poses the biggest existential threat the British economy has yet faced. Peppered with anecdotes and memories from the author's illustrious career. Nine Crises offers a fresh insight into Britain's past, present future for economic expert and novice alike.
Author: Friedrich List
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 422
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Book Description
Author: Sir Robert Henry Rew
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 144
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Book Description
Author: A.J. Youngson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136589309
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
Professor Youngson's book is an ubiased review of Britain's past experience and present difficulties. Few sacred cows are spared. There is no pretence that fundamental problems were resolved at the time of its first publication in 1967. Many econmic historians fail in their assessment of Britian's economic prospects as there is a tendency to look only at recent events to explain current problems. Youngson saw that this was short sighted. An economy, like an airliner, cannot suddenly change its course; it is subject to persistent forces and tendencies; it is powerfully affected by what has happened in the recent and sometimes in the not so recent past. Therefore to understand the problems of today we must know somthing of how persistent they are , and about what solutions have already been tried. This book provides a thorough examination of Britain's economic growth from 1920-1966 and contextualises Britain's situation within its true historical perspective. This book was first published in 1967.
Author: Dambisa Moyo
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141924330
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
How the West was Lost charts how over the last 50 years the most advanced and advantaged countries of the world have squandered their dominant position through a sustained catalogue of fundamentally flawed economic policies. It is these decisions that, along the way, have resulted in an economic and geo-political see-saw, which is now poised to tip in favour of the emerging world. By forging closer ties with the emerging economies, rethinking trade barriers, overhauling their tax systems to encourage savings rather than ravenous consumption, and specifically addressing the three essential ingredients for growth (capital, labour and technology) it might yet still be possible for the West to firmly get back in the race.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography, National
Languages : en
Pages : 1420
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Book Description
Author: Henry Hazlitt
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 0307760626
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
With over a million copies sold, Economics in One Lesson is an essential guide to the basics of economic theory. A fundamental influence on modern libertarianism, Hazlitt defends capitalism and the free market from economic myths that persist to this day. Considered among the leading economic thinkers of the “Austrian School,” which includes Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others, Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, an economist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of The Freeman magazine, an influential libertarian publication. Hazlitt wrote Economics in One Lesson, his seminal work, in 1946. Concise and instructive, it is also deceptively prescient and far-reaching in its efforts to dissemble economic fallacies that are so prevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy. Economic commentators across the political spectrum have credited Hazlitt with foreseeing the collapse of the global economy which occurred more than 50 years after the initial publication of Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt’s focus on non-governmental solutions, strong — and strongly reasoned — anti-deficit position, and general emphasis on free markets, economic liberty of individuals, and the dangers of government intervention make Economics in One Lesson every bit as relevant and valuable today as it has been since publication.
