Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy

Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy PDF 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.

Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy

Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy PDF Author: Tim Harford
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1408709139
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

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.

50 Facts Everyone Should Know About Crime and Punishment in Britain

50 Facts Everyone Should Know About Crime and Punishment in Britain PDF Author: Adam Lynes
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447343832
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Are you the kind of person who watches crime drama and real-life crime documentaries on television? Are you fascinated by the twists and turns of justice and the law? But how much do you really know about key issues in crime, crime control, policing and punishment in the UK? This exciting, dynamic and accessible book, written by leading experts, presents 50 key facts related to crime and criminal justice policy in Britain. Did you know that, contrary to public belief, in the UK a life sentence does actually last for life? And that capital punishment in the UK was abolished for murder in 1965 but the Death Penalty was a legally defined punishment as late as 1998? Offering thought-provoking insights into the study of crime, this fascinating “go to” book is packed with facts and figures revealing the myths and realities of crime in contemporary Britain.

50 Facts Everyone Should Know About Crime and Punishment in Britain

50 Facts Everyone Should Know About Crime and Punishment in Britain PDF Author: Adam Lynes
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447343824
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Are you the kind of person who watches crime drama and real-life crime documentaries on television? Are you fascinated by the twists and turns of justice and the law? But how much do you really know about key issues in crime, crime control, policing and punishment in the UK? This exciting, dynamic and accessible book, written by leading experts, presents 50 key facts related to crime and criminal justice policy in Britain. Did you know that, contrary to public belief, in the UK a life sentence does actually last for life? And that capital punishment in the UK was abolished for murder in 1965 but the Death Penalty was a legally defined punishment as late as 1998? Offering thought-provoking insights into the study of crime, this fascinating “go to” book is packed with facts and figures revealing the myths and realities of crime in contemporary Britain.

Nine Crises

Nine Crises PDF 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.

Britain's Economic Performance

Britain's Economic Performance PDF Author: Tony Buxton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134751834
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
This new and substantially revised edition of Britain's Economic Performance provides a unique assessment of the current state of the supply-side of the economy. Written by a team of highly experienced, policy oriented applied economists, this volume will be a valuable source of reference, analysis and guidance for students and policy-makers.

Managing the Economy, Managing the People

Managing the Economy, Managing the People PDF Author: Jim Tomlinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191089281
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This study offers a distinctive new account of British economic life since the Second World War, focussing upon the ways in which successive governments, in seeking to manage the economy, have sought simultaneously to 'manage the people': to try and manage popular understanding of economic issues. In doing so, governments have sought not only to shape expectations for electoral purposes but to construct broader narratives about how 'the economy' should be understood. The starting point of this work is to ask why these goals have been focussed upon (and differentially over time), how they have been constructed to appeal to the population, and, insofar as this can be assessed, how far the population has accepted these narratives. The first half of the book analyses the development of the major narratives from the 1940s onwards, addressing the notion of 'austerity' and its particular meaning in the 1940s; the rise of a narrative of 'economic decline from the late 1950s, and the subsequent attempts to 'modernize' the economy; the attempts to 'roll back the state' from the 1970s; the impact of ideas of 'globalization' in the 1900s; and, finally, the way the crisis of 2008/9 onwards was constructed as a problem of 'debts and deficits'. The second part of the book focuses on four key issues in attempts to 'manage the people': productivity, the balance of payments, inflation, and unemployment. It shows how, in each case, governments sought to get the populace to understand these issues in a particular light, and shaped strategies to that end.

Something Will Turn Up

Something Will Turn Up PDF Author: David Smith
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1782830952
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
As the prevailing winds of the global economy have changed, so Britain has been buffeted from boom to bust and back again. But how much is our country's economic landscape shaped by the huge forces of international capital - and the hope that 'something will turn up' - and how much by the individual men and women at the heart of our economic policy? David Smith forged his career as Britain's leading economic journalist during the country's traumatic transition from the 'workshop of the world' in the Midlands where he grew up, to an economy built on the sometimes shaky foundations of services and the City. Something Will Turn Up is his account of the chancellors, prime ministers, Bank of England governors and senior officials he has encountered and interviewed over the last five decades, and their impact on the realities of modern British life since the war. Smith leads us through the mire of government policy and long-term trends with wit and clarity to paint a vivid, personal picture of how we got to now - and where we might go from here.

Britain's Economic Growth 1920-1966

Britain's Economic Growth 1920-1966 PDF Author: A.J. Youngson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136589236
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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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.

Government Publications of ...

Government Publications of ... PDF Author: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 874

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Book Description


Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security ?

Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security ? PDF Author: National Defense University (U S )
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
On August 24-25, 2010, the National Defense University held a conference titled “Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security?” to explore the economic element of national power. This special collection of selected papers from the conference represents the view of several keynote speakers and participants in six panel discussions. It explores the complexity surrounding this subject and examines the major elements that, interacting as a system, define the economic component of national security.