http://abridge.me.uk/ 2010-07-29T15:29:42-06:00 http://abridge.me.uk/ http://abridge.me.uk/lib/images/favicon.ico text/html 2010-07-06T06:49:21-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_return_of_depression_economics&rev=1278420561&do=diff wp>The Return of Depression Economics by wp>Paul Krugman, 1999. London: Penguin By July 1997, twenty years of events had placed capitalism in a uniquely triumphant position in its history: starting with Chinese reforms in 1978, feeding off the Soviet collapse and buoyed by the seeming triumph of the emerging SE Asian economies. Self-congratulation at the flawless management of capitalist economies had returned --- just as on the eve of 1970s stagflation, economic journals were asking, 'Is… text/html 2010-07-02T07:08:21-06:00 Dan Hetherington http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=fair_trade_for_all&rev=1278076101&do=diff wp>Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton, 2005, Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development, Oxford: wp>Oxford University Press Recent WTO History The Uruguay Round completed in 1994, establishing the wp>World Trade Organisation (WTO) and drastically expanding the scope of multilateral law concerning global trading rules. In the decade since its completion, consensus has emerged that the round heavily favoured developed countries and many developing countries have suffered unexpect… text/html 2010-07-02T06:31:56-06:00 Dan Hetherington http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=home&rev=1278073916&do=diff Abridge Me is a wiki collection of abridgements of books, particularly non-fiction books. There isn't much here at the moment. Its rules of engagement haven't really been worked out yet, but if you have anything to contribute (mistakes to correct, embellishments to add, or entire abridgements/critiques of books to upload) then feel free to create an account and get wikifying. text/html 2010-06-01T15:48:23-06:00 Dan Hetherington http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_affluent_society&rev=1275428903&do=diff wp>The Affluent Society, wp>John Kenneth Galbraith, wp>1969 (2nd ed) The world is a newly affluent place. Economic growth has brought enormous changes to the ways in which the populations of the Western world live. Such change ought to be accompanied by a broad revolution in ideas associated with the management of a national economy and society. Running a rich country is entirely different to running an economy that is struggling to survive; and yet so many of the ancient ideas persist in… text/html 2010-05-31T17:05:20-06:00 Dan Hetherington http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_roaring_nineties&rev=1275347120&do=diff The Roaring Nineties, wp>Joseph Stiglitz, wp>2003, London: Penguin " If wars, as Clemenceau famously said, are too important to be left to generals, economic development and global economic stability are too important to be left to the finance ministers and central bankers of the advanced industrial countries, and the international institutions they oversee, the World Bank and the IMF. Certainly that is the case if we want to create a more democratic and stable global system. ---page 222" text/html 2010-02-03T11:15:51-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_new_industrial_state&rev=1265220951&do=diff wp>The New Industrial State, wp>John Kenneth Galbraith, wp>1972 (2nd ed), Harmondsworth: Penguin Change and the Industrial System Change in the economic sphere has been very great in recent history. It is a curiosity that although this is accepted, what has changed is perceived to be strictly limited. For instance, the essential features of American capitalism remain perfect throughout. text/html 2010-01-24T22:15:29-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_white_mans_burden&rev=1264396529&do=diff The White Man's Burden by wp>William Easterly, 2006, Oxford: Oxford University Press Planners Versus Searchers " Take up the White Man's burden--- In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain, To seek another's profit And work another's gain. Take up the White Man's burden--- The savage wars of peace--- Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease. ---Rudyard Kipling, The Whi… text/html 2010-01-21T03:47:52-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_nature_of_mass_poverty&rev=1264070872&do=diff The Nature of Mass Poverty, John Kenneth Galbraith, 1979, Cambridge: Harvard University Press " An end to injustice, to remind, is not necessarily or even usually an end to poverty. ---page 133" Current explanations of the reasons and sources of mass, rural poverty are highly unsatisfactory, and rarely subjected to serious critical analysis. A summary: text/html 2010-01-19T21:05:44-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_partys_over&rev=1263960344&do=diff The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies by wp>Richard Heinberg, 2005 (2nd ed). Sussex: Clairview An alternative synopsis is provided by the Post Carbon Institute on their website. Ecology is the study of the way in which species interact with their environments and other species. Humans conform neatly into standard ecological patterns; it is therefore possible to view social sciences in a sense as a subset of ecology, and to examine human society in the context of e… text/html 2009-11-11T02:11:50-06:00 Will Renloth http://abridge.me.uk/doku.php?id=the_elusive_quest_for_growth&rev=1257930710&do=diff The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly, 2001, Cambridge: MIT Press Aid for Investment: the Harrod-Domar Model The Harrod-Domar Model was inspired primarily by pre-war experience in the US and Soviet Union. In both cases, a strong link was perceived between physical investment and output: in the Soviet case, the ability of the government to mobilise high levels of gross saving and invest this in physical machinery was seen as a key reason for the extremely rapid rate of industrialis…