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Free Cash, Capital Accumulation and Inequality

Author : Craig Allan Medlen

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 178 pages

File Size : 39,51 MB

Release : 2018-10-03

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1351685503

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Book Description

Investment is the engine of growth. In consequence, the social welfare of the populace depends on the expectations of uncertain profitability as understood by the agents of a wealthy few who decide upon levels of investment. As private wealth is intimately tied to the investment process, the importance of wealth concentration goes far beyond considerations of equity. In recent years, private economic power has become increasingly concentrated as more of the population has become dependent upon an elite pursuing private ends. In this context, this book examines the role of capital accumulation in various historical contexts. Over seventy years ago, Michal Kalecki derived the mathematical relationship between government deficits, the external trade account and free cash—defined as the gross profit over and above that portion ploughed back into new investment. Since then, the free cash literature has remained largely within an industrial organizational context where free cash theory has helped to explain mergers. In contrast, this book, revisits Kalecki’s free cash construction at the macro and global level and explores the various causes and effects of free cash on the economy. As part of this examination, the author highlights the historical uses of free cash in imperialist adventures, mergers and speculative endeavours. In addition to developing a new relative valuation measure of capital accumulation, he also utilizes a neo-Kaleckian model to help explain the U.S. slowdown in investment since the late 1960s, the increasing inequality of wealth and income and the recent speculative episodes associated with the spillage of free cash. Finally, based on these models the book argues for heightened taxes on the wealthy and an increased role for government investment in health care and energy. Free Cash, Capital Accumulation and Inequality offers an explanation as to how wealth and income inequalities have fashioned, and been fashioned by, various historical episodes right up to the present. It will be of great interest to those studying and researching in the field of economic analysis.



Free Cash, Capital Accumulation and Inequality

Author : CRAIG ALLAN. MEDLEN

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 35,15 MB

Release : 2020-06-30

Category :

ISBN : 9780367586331

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Book Description

Over 70 years ago, Michal Kalecki noted that firms could generate free cash. However, literature since then has remained within an industrial organizational context where free cash theory helps explain mergers. In contrast, this book views free cash at the macro and global level, exploring the various causes and effects of free cash on the econo



Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution

Author : Donald J. Harris

Publisher :

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 37,44 MB

Release : 1978

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN :

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Book Description

In Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution, economist Donald J. Harris offers a profound analysis of the forces shaping economic growth, capital accumulation, and income inequality within capitalist economies. Blending insights from Marxian and Keynesian economics, this pioneering work delves into the intricate relationships between investment, labor, and wealth distribution, highlighting the structural contradictions inherent in capitalist systems. Harris examines the driving factors behind capital accumulation and their implications for economic development, while providing a critical view of how profits, wages, and rents are distributed across social classes. Through a synthesis of classical economic theories, he explores the long-term dynamics of inequality and the cyclical patterns of capitalist economies. Ideal for scholars, students, and anyone interested in political economy, Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution offers a groundbreaking perspective on the economic challenges and imbalances that continue to shape our world today.



Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Author : Thomas Piketty

Publisher : Harvard University Press

Page : 817 pages

File Size : 26,62 MB

Release : 2017-08-14

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 0674979850

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Book Description

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In this work the author analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. He shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values if political action is not taken. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, the author says, and may do so again. This original work reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.



The Continuing Imperialism of Free Trade

Author : Jo Grady

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 308 pages

File Size : 21,29 MB

Release : 2018-10-08

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 135140234X

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Book Description

In 1953, John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson shook the foundations of imperial history with their essay ‘The Imperialism of Free Trade’. They reshaped how historians saw the British empire, focussing not on the ‘red bits on the map’ and the wishes of policy makers in London, but rather on British economic and political influence globally. Expanding on this analysis, this volume provides an examination of imperialism which brings the reader right up to the present. This book offers an innovative assessment and analysis of the history and contemporary status of imperial control. It does so in four parts, examining the historical emergence and traditions of imperialism; the relationships between the periphery and the metropolitan; the role of supranational agencies in the extension of imperial control; and how these connect to financialisation and international political economy. The book provides a dynamic and unique perspective on imperialism by bringing together a range of contributors – both established and up-and-coming scholars, activists, and those from industry – from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. In providing these authors a space to apply their insights, this engaging volume sheds light on the practical implications of imperialism for the contemporary world. With a broad chronological and geographical sweep, this book provides theoretical and empirical engagements with the nature of imperialism and its effects upon societies. It will be of great interest to a broad range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, especially those working in History, Politics, and Management and Organisation Studies.



Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth

Author : Mr.Jonathan David Ostry

Publisher : International Monetary Fund

Page : 30 pages

File Size : 45,75 MB

Release : 2014-02-17

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1484397657

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Book Description

The Fund has recognized in recent years that one cannot separate issues of economic growth and stability on one hand and equality on the other. Indeed, there is a strong case for considering inequality and an inability to sustain economic growth as two sides of the same coin. Central to the Fund’s mandate is providing advice that will enable members’ economies to grow on a sustained basis. But the Fund has rightly been cautious about recommending the use of redistributive policies given that such policies may themselves undercut economic efficiency and the prospects for sustained growth (the so-called “leaky bucket” hypothesis written about by the famous Yale economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s). This SDN follows up the previous SDN on inequality and growth by focusing on the role of redistribution. It finds that, from the perspective of the best available macroeconomic data, there is not a lot of evidence that redistribution has in fact undercut economic growth (except in extreme cases). One should be careful not to assume therefore—as Okun and others have—that there is a big tradeoff between redistribution and growth. The best available macroeconomic data do not support such a conclusion.



Social Medicine and the Coming Transformation

Author : Howard Waitzkin

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 256 pages

File Size : 33,91 MB

Release : 2020-12-20

Category : Medical

ISBN : 113486907X

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Book Description

Social medicine, starting two centuries ago, has shown that social conditions affect health and illness more than biology does, and social change affects the outcomes of health and illness more than health services do. Understanding and exposing sickness-generating structures in society helps us change them. This first book providing a critical introduction to social medicine sheds light on an increasingly important field. The authors draw on examples worldwide to show how principles based on solidarity and mutual aid have enabled people to participate collaboratively to construct health-promoting social conditions. The book offers vital information and analysis to enhance our understanding regarding the promotion of health through social and individual means; the micro-politics of medical encounters; the social determination of illness; the influences of racism, class, gender, and ethnicity on health; health and empire; and health praxis, reform, and sociomedical activism. Illustrations are included throughout the book to convey these key themes and important issues, as well as on Routledge’s webpage for the book, under the Support Materials tab. The authors offer compelling ways to understand and to change the social dimensions of health and health care. Students, teachers, practitioners, activists, policy makers, and people concerned about health and health care will value this book, which goes beyond the usual approaches of texts in public health, medical sociology, health economics, and health policy.



Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality

Author : Ms.Era Dabla-Norris

Publisher : International Monetary Fund

Page : 39 pages

File Size : 13,57 MB

Release : 2015-06-15

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1513547437

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Book Description

This paper analyzes the extent of income inequality from a global perspective, its drivers, and what to do about it. The drivers of inequality vary widely amongst countries, with some common drivers being the skill premium associated with technical change and globalization, weakening protection for labor, and lack of financial inclusion in developing countries. We find that increasing the income share of the poor and the middle class actually increases growth while a rising income share of the top 20 percent results in lower growth—that is, when the rich get richer, benefits do not trickle down. This suggests that policies need to be country specific but should focus on raising the income share of the poor, and ensuring there is no hollowing out of the middle class. To tackle inequality, financial inclusion is imperative in emerging and developing countries while in advanced economies, policies should focus on raising human capital and skills and making tax systems more progressive.



The Pedagogy of Economic, Political and Social Crises

Author : Bob Jessop

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 313 pages

File Size : 45,99 MB

Release : 2018-11-09

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 135166574X

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Book Description

Crises have been studied in many disciplines and from diverse perspectives for at least 150 years. Yet recent decades have seen a marked increase in the crisis literature, reflecting growing awareness of crisis phenomena from the 1970s onwards. Responding to this mainstream literature, this edited collection makes six key innovations. First, it distinguishes between crises as event and crises as process, as well as crises as accidental events or as the result of system-generated processes. Second, it distinguishes crises that can be managed through established crisis-management routines from crises of crisis management. Third, it focuses on the symptomatology of crisis, i.e., the challenge of moving crisis symptoms to understanding underlying causes as a basis for decisive action. Fourth, it goes beyond the cliché that crises are both threat and opportunity by distinguishing valid accounts of the origins and present nature of a crisis, from more speculative accounts of what potentially exists. Fifth, it explores how crises can disorient conventional wisdom, thus provoking efforts to interpret and learn about crises and draw lessons after a crisis has ended. Finally, the sixth element is the move away from the conventional focus on executive authorities and disaster management agencies, instead turning attention towards how other social forces construe crises and attempt to learn from them. Offering important insights into the pedagogy of crisis throughout, this collection will offer excellent reading to both researchers and postgraduate students.



Economics for an Information Age

Author : Patrick Spread

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 528 pages

File Size : 19,20 MB

Release : 2018-10-08

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 0429792689

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Book Description

Economics for an Information Age examines the central role of information within economics and society. The neoclassical economic model, taught as ‘mainstream economics’ in universities around the world, relies on a mathematical model of ‘resource allocation’ in which private advantage gives rise to public advantage in the shape of an optimal allocation of resources. However, this model assumes ‘perfect information’. In the present ‘information age’ such an assumption is even farther from the reality than it was in the past. People disseminate and manipulate information to further their interests. This book explains economic behaviour in terms of a theory of ‘money-bargaining’ and political and intellectual ‘support-bargaining’, in which the dissemination of information plays a central role. It uses this lens to explain how information is created, manipulated, disseminated, organised, understood, interpreted, used, bought and sold. This book will be of interest to mainstream and heterodox economists alike, as well as historians of economic thought, and anyone who seeks to better understand the impact of the information age on economic behaviour.