A Coincidence Of Wants

This interdisciplinary study examines four major British and American novels in view of key concepts from the mainstream tradition of neoclassical economics. Studies of the novel widely address its connections to capitalism, yet literary critics and theorists rarely make reference to neoclassical perspectives, which have held a key position in the formal analysis of the marketplace for over a century. Lewis argues that this overlooked area of economic thought, with its emphasis on subjective value, individual agency, and utility maximization, points to a previously unrecognized and important coincidence of wants between economic and novelistic discourse. In each of the four readings, Lewis uses a single economic problem from neoclassical theory as a model for interpreting novelistic form and content as economic configurations. Topics include narrative deferral, detour, and return as a performance of capital formation and economic development in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe; the emergence of the creative, risk-taking entrepreneur in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; the representation of money in the romantic realization of trade in Herman Melville's Moby Dick; and a consumer utility theory of naturalist desire and indifference in Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Underscoring how neoclassical theory variously elaborates on and departs from other economic approaches and periods, the author also addresses the limitations of, and the possibilities of profitable exchange with, other critical frameworks for understanding literal and symbolic economies in narrative fiction more broadly.

A wrong number here, a case of mistaken identity there, a chance meeting with a stranger who knows your best friend. Most people dismiss such things as trivial, unimportant. Mere coincidence. Or could there be a hidden pattern in these seemingly random events? George Daly's life has been as unremarkable as most people's, until the day he finds himself going through his dead father's possessions. He discovers a photograph of himself as a boy, but he has no memory of where it was taken, nor does he recognize the people with him. As he investigates further, he experiences an increasingly bizarre chain of coincidences that soon threaten to unravel his whole world. Before long he finds himself fighting for his sanity and even his survival.

Because most people and their countries seek wealth and power, and because money and credit are the biggest single influence on how wealth and power rise and decline, if one does not seek knowledge of how money works, one cannot understand the biggest driver of politics within and between countries; hence one cannot understand how the world order works. If one doesn’t understand how the world order works, one can’t understand the post-pandemic debt tsunami that’s coming. I believe that the times ahead will be radically different from the times we have experienced so far in our lifetimes. It is indeed quite astonishing that money, ever-present in our lives, is so poorly understood; even by many economic experts themselves. This incomprehension stems from the deliberate efforts of the financial sector to “obscure its activities” in order to maintain its omnipotence. This book seeks to address this “crisis of ignorance” by providing an easily understood and comprehensive understanding of money in the hope of empowering people against finance’s grip over their lives and those of their society. The digital revolution post-pandemic, will lead to a radical departure from the traditional model of monetary exchange. The creation of a Digital Financial Market Infrastructure will underpin the unbundling and re-bundling of the functions of money within society. Although digital money itself is not new to modern economies, digital legal tender (DLT), which exists without any Ledger or Central Bank, will facilitate instantaneous peer-to-peer transfers of value in a way that today is impossible. The importance of digital connectedness, will often supersede the importance of macroeconomic links, and lead to the establishment of “Digital Financial Markets” linking the currency to membership of a particular financial market rather than to a specific country. Capitalism underpins wealth generation and hence the existence of a free digital financial market. This book seeks to transform Money into a digital currency, which supports a more equitable access to capital, and ensure its convertibility into a universal World Currency Unit as digital legal tender. Digital currencies without borders may also cause an upheaval of the international monetary system: countries that are socially or digitally integrated with their neighbours may face digital dollarization, and the prevalence of systemically important platforms could lead to the emergence of digital currency areas that transcend national borders. Digital legal tender, within a multiplicity of currencies, ensures that money as a public good, remains a relevant medium of exchange which achieves payment finality to all transactions. Additionally, the universal supranational-currency, the World Currency Unit is defined to support the global transfer of value between any two people on the planet today, without the need for any treaties, or financial service intermediaries. Universal access to capital which is readily convertible to globally trusted units of account combined with a censorship-resistant means of payment underpins global trade, will improve market access for holders of low per-unit value, producers, and consumers in developing and developed countries. The Vision is a Borderless Global Market, underpinning universal wealth creation, which never closes… This book defines the Universe of Discourse(domain) and hence creates a shared conceptual schema (or language) within which to communicate and deploy a Digital Currency, to achieve universal legal finality to all financial transactions.

There are things that everyone should know that our educational system doesnt cover well, if at all things such as what knowledge is, ethics, how we make decisions, money, property, government, international relations, financial industry regulation, energy, employment, education, drug use, immigration, the concept of community, and how to manage your money. The purpose of this book is to try to rectify this situation.

Introductory Macroeconomics, Second Edition deals with national economic issues, such as unemployment, inflation, the aggregate demand-aggregate supply model of macroeconomics, government economic policy, exchange, rates, international trade, and finance. The book examines national economic problems, economic goals, the role markets play in the economy, price control, unemployment, and inflation. By using the Phillips curve trade-off, the text notes that inflation increases the demand for labor. In the long term, according to the long-run Phillips curve, increased inflation does not actually lessen unemployment levels (known as the natural unemployment rate hypothesis). The text also examines whether minimum wage laws are necessary (to fight poverty, prevent exploitation) or cause poverty (in which the imposition of minimum wage results in lower demand for unskilled labor). The book notes that politics and unions favor minimum wage laws. The poor, uneducated, and unskilled laborers are left out. The text also tackles goals and trade-offs: for example, that economic growth suffers from both inflation and unemployment, or the trade-off that preventing unemployment only results in worse inflation problems. Economists, sociologists, professors in economics, or policy makers involved in economic and social development will find the text valuable.

This authoritative dictionary covers all aspects of economics including theory, policy, and applied micro and macroeconomics on a global scale. An essential book for professional economists as well as for students and teachers of economics, business, and finance.