Description
The Creation of Wealth and Poverty is a study of the means and ways by which wealth and poverty are created in both developed and developing countries. It puts a particular emphasis on the role played by economic policy in shaping the stratification of modern societies through specific programmes dealing with issues of job creation, poverty and environmental degradation. This book is concerned with the social effects of the ongoing crisis in finance, development and the environment. By focusing on the political, legal and financial institutions that govern society and the economy, the book provides an analysis of wealth and poverty from a historical perspective. It shows how economic and social policies of the neoliberal model have led to a rise in unemployment, poverty and inequality and, therefore, made societies more polarized.
This volume will be of great interest to policymakers, academics and students who study political economy, development economics and macroeconomics.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 The State, the Market and Management of Class Relations
Introduction
The Primitive State and its Economic Role
The Neoliberal State and the Policies of Pauperization
Conclusion
2 Democracy in Government: The Power of Policymaking
Introduction
Democracy in Government:
Economic and Social Democracy
Conclusion
3 Private Wealth … and Public Debt
Introduction
Of Assets and Liabilities
Public Policy and the Creation of Wealth
Conclusion
4 Full Employment versus Scarcity
Introduction
Austerity and the Creation of Artificial Scarcity
The Necessity of Full Employment
Conclusion
5 Innovation, Ownership and Progress
Introduction
Humanity’s Great Leap Forward: Innovation and the Role of the State
The Commodification of Knowledge and the Prospects of Progress
Conclusion
6 Industrialization Backwardness, International Trade and Finance
Introduction
The Weight of History, the Great Divergence and Industrial Policy
The Power of Finance: Removing the External Constraint
Conclusion
7 Industrialization and the Environmental Crisis
Introduction
The Fossil Economy and the Rise of Capitalist Industrialization
The Green Economy as Alternative
Conclusion
