How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes


Book Description

Straight answers to every question you've ever had about how the economy works and how it affects your life In this Collector's Edition of their celebrated How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, Peter Schiff, economic expert and bestselling author of Crash Proof and The Real Crash, once again teams up with his brother Andrew to spin a lively economic fable that untangles many of the fallacies preventing people from really understanding what drives an economy. The 2010 original has been described as a “Flintstones” take economics that entertainingly explains the beauty of free markets. The new edition has been greatly expanded in both quantity and quality. A new introduction and two new illustrated chapters bring the story up to date, and most importantly, the book makes the jump from black and white to full and vivid color. With the help of colorful cartoon illustrations, lively humor, and deceptively simple storytelling, the Schiff's bring the complex subjects of inflation, monetary policy, recession, and other important topics in economics down to Earth. The story starts with three guys on an island who barely survive by fishing barehanded. Then one enterprising islander invents a net, catches more fish, and changes the island’s economy fundamentally. Using this story the Schiffs apply their signature take-no-prisoners logic to expose the glaring fallacies and gaping holes permeating the global economic conversation. The Collector’s Edition: Provides straight answers about how economies work, without relying on nonsensical jargon and mind-numbing doublespeak the experts use to cover up their confusion Includes a new introduction that sets the stage for developing a deeper, more practical understanding of inflation and the abuses of the monetary system Adds two new chapters that dissect the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative easing policies and the European Debt Crisis. Colorizes the original book's hundreds of cartoon illustrations. The improved images, executed by artist Brendan Leach from the original book, add new vigor to the presentation Has a larger format that has been designed to fit most coffee tables. While the story may appear simple on the surface, as told by the Schiff brothers, it will leave you with a deep understanding of How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.




Economic Growth


Book Description

How does economic growth work? Beginning with the history of leading countries over the past 2000 years, Economic Growth finds which countries have achieved sustained growth and how they did it. The effects of growth are examined on a human scale. The benefits of growth are enormous in terms of life, health, education, leisure and opportunity, while the downsides can be managed by appropriate policies. Economic Growth develops a new theory of growth. This new theory is based on careful analysis of actual growth; it covers the causes and mechanisms as well as the results of growth. This new theory extends conventional theory by operating at the industry level and by placing demand considerations at the forefront of growth. Demand growth – based on product innovation, marketing, credit and the consumer society – drives the economy forward while supply growth – based on investment and process innovation – sustains the growth in spending and incomes. Growth is not automatic but, in the right conditions, demand and supply expansion work together to generate sustained growth. Economic Growth offers a new view of growth, unique in its combination of historical depth, intellectual clarity and practical relevance. Its original insights will interest academic and professional economists, while its comprehensive treatment and lucid explanations make it an excellent guidebook for anyone interested in economic growth.




Real Life Economics


Book Description

The past fifty years have witnessed the triumph of an industrial development that has engendered great social and environmental costs. Conventional economics has too often either ignored these costs or failed to analyse them appropriately. This book constructs a framework within which the wider impacts of economic activity can be both understood and ameliorated. The framework places its emphasis on an in-depth understanding of real-life processes rather than on mathematical formalism, sressing the independence of the economy with the social, ecological and ethical dimensions of human life.




Economic Growth, second edition


Book Description

The long-awaited second edition of an important textbook on economic growth—a major revision incorporating the most recent work on the subject. This graduate level text on economic growth surveys neoclassical and more recent growth theories, stressing their empirical implications and the relation of theory to data and evidence. The authors have undertaken a major revision for the long-awaited second edition of this widely used text, the first modern textbook devoted to growth theory. The book has been expanded in many areas and incorporates the latest research. After an introductory discussion of economic growth, the book examines neoclassical growth theories, from Solow-Swan in the 1950s and Cass-Koopmans in the 1960s to more recent refinements; this is followed by a discussion of extensions to the model, with expanded treatment in this edition of heterogenity of households. The book then turns to endogenous growth theory, discussing, among other topics, models of endogenous technological progress (with an expanded discussion in this edition of the role of outside competition in the growth process), technological diffusion, and an endogenous determination of labor supply and population. The authors then explain the essentials of growth accounting and apply this framework to endogenous growth models. The final chapters cover empirical analysis of regions and empirical evidence on economic growth for a broad panel of countries from 1960 to 2000. The updated treatment of cross-country growth regressions for this edition uses the new Summers-Heston data set on world income distribution compiled through 2000.




Fully Grown


Book Description

Vollrath challenges our long-held assumption that growth is the best indicator of an economy’s health. Most economists would agree that a thriving economy is synonymous with GDP growth. The more we produce and consume, the higher our living standard and the more resources available to the public. This means that our current era, in which growth has slowed substantially from its postwar highs, has raised alarm bells. But should it? Is growth actually the best way to measure economic success—and does our slowdown indicate economic problems? The counterintuitive answer Dietrich Vollrath offers is: No. Looking at the same facts as other economists, he offers a radically different interpretation. Rather than a sign of economic failure, he argues, our current slowdown is, in fact, a sign of our widespread economic success. Our powerful economy has already supplied so much of the necessary stuff of modern life, brought us so much comfort, security, and luxury, that we have turned to new forms of production and consumption that increase our well-being but do not contribute to growth in GDP. In Fully Grown, Vollrath offers a powerful case to support that argument. He explores a number of important trends in the US economy: including a decrease in the number of workers relative to the population, a shift from a goods-driven economy to a services-driven one, and a decline in geographic mobility. In each case, he shows how their economic effects could be read as a sign of success, even though they each act as a brake of GDP growth. He also reveals what growth measurement can and cannot tell us—which factors are rightly correlated with economic success, which tell us nothing about significant changes in the economy, and which fall into a conspicuously gray area. Sure to be controversial, Fully Grown will reset the terms of economic debate and help us think anew about what a successful economy looks like.




Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth


Book Description

The conditions for sustainable growth and development are among the most debated topics in economics, and the consensus is that institutions matter greatly in explaining why some economies are more successful than others over time. This book explores the relationship between economic conditions, growth, and inequality.




The 4% Solution


Book Description

Foreword by President George W. Bush With contributions from world renowned economists and Nobel prizewinners, The 4% Solution is a blueprint for restoring America’s economic health The United States is reaching a pivotal point in its economic history. Millions of Americans owe more on their homes than they are worth, long-term unemployment is alarmingly high, and the Congressional Budget Office is projecting a sustainable growth rate of only 2.3%—a full percentage point below the average for the past sixty years. Unless a turnaround comes quickly, the United States could be mired in debt for years to come and millions of Americans will be pushed to the sidelines of the economy. The 4% Solution offers clear and unflinching ideas on how to revive America’s economy. It sets a positive economic goal and asks some of the top economic minds on how to achieve it. With a focus on removing government constraints, The 4% Solution defines the policies that will allow Americans to save, invest, and create the jobs that the United States needs. The 4% Solution draws on the best minds in the business, including five Nobel laureates: · Robert E. Lucas, Jr., on the history and future of economic growth · Gary S. Becker on why we need immigrants in order to grow · Edward Prescott on the cost (to growth) of the welfare state · Vernon Smith on why housing leads us into and out of recessions · Myron Scholes on why we need to innovate in order to grow the economy




Measuring Economic Growth and Productivity


Book Description

Measuring Economic Growth and Productivity: Foundations, KLEMS Production Models, and Extensions presents new insights into the causes, mechanisms and results of growth in national and regional accounts. It demonstrates the versatility and usefulness of the KLEMS databases, which generate internationally comparable industry-level data on outputs, inputs and productivity. By rethinking economic development beyond existing measurements, the book's contributors align the measurement of growth and productivity to contemporary global challenges, addressing the need for measurements as well as the Gross Domestic Product. All contributors in this foundational volume are recognized experts in their fields, all inspired by the path-breaking research of Dale W. Jorgenson. Demonstrates how an approach based on sources of economic growth (KLEMS – capital, labor, energy, materials and services) can be used to analyze economic growth and productivity Includes examples covering the G7, E7, EU, Latin America, Norway, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India and other South Asian countries Examines the effects of digital, information, communication and integrated technologies on national and regional economies




Economic Growth, second edition


Book Description

The long-awaited second edition of an important textbook on economic growth—a major revision incorporating the most recent work on the subject. This graduate level text on economic growth surveys neoclassical and more recent growth theories, stressing their empirical implications and the relation of theory to data and evidence. The authors have undertaken a major revision for the long-awaited second edition of this widely used text, the first modern textbook devoted to growth theory. The book has been expanded in many areas and incorporates the latest research. After an introductory discussion of economic growth, the book examines neoclassical growth theories, from Solow-Swan in the 1950s and Cass-Koopmans in the 1960s to more recent refinements; this is followed by a discussion of extensions to the model, with expanded treatment in this edition of heterogenity of households. The book then turns to endogenous growth theory, discussing, among other topics, models of endogenous technological progress (with an expanded discussion in this edition of the role of outside competition in the growth process), technological diffusion, and an endogenous determination of labor supply and population. The authors then explain the essentials of growth accounting and apply this framework to endogenous growth models. The final chapters cover empirical analysis of regions and empirical evidence on economic growth for a broad panel of countries from 1960 to 2000. The updated treatment of cross-country growth regressions for this edition uses the new Summers-Heston data set on world income distribution compiled through 2000.




Why Economies Grow


Book Description

America takes for granted that new technologies drive economic growth. Madrick argues that technological innovation has never been the cause of economic growth: it is a necessary condition but hardly a sufficient one. Madrick's surprising thesis is that the process of growth is more complex than most pundits, business journalists, and even economists believe--but it can be understood.