Economics As Anatomy

For most of his career, Peter Swann’s main research interest has been the economics of innovation. But he has also been preoccupied with a second question: what is the best way to study empirical economics? In this book, he uses his knowledge of the first question to answer the second. There are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation: incremental innovation and radical innovation – ‘radical’ in the sense that we go back to the ‘roots’ of empirical economics and take a different tack. An essential lesson from the economics of innovation is that we need both incremental and radical innovation for the maximum beneficial effect on the economy. Swann argues that the same is true for economics as a discipline. This book is a much-awaited sequel to Putting Econometrics in its Place which explored what other methods should be used, and why. This book is about the best way of organising the economics discipline, to ensure that it pursues this wide variety of methods to maximum effect.

There are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation: incremental and radical. In Economics as Anatomy, G.M. Peter Swann argues that economics as a discipline needs both perspectives in order to create the maximum beneficial effect for the economy. Chapters explore how and why mainstream economics is very good at incremental innovation but seems uncomfortable with radical innovation. Swann argues that economics should follow the example of many other disciplines, transitioning from one field to a range of semi-autonomous sub-disciplines. In this book, he compares the missing link in empirical economics to being the economic equivalent of anatomy, the basis of medical discourse. Working as a sequel to Swann's Putting Econometrics in its Place, this book will be a vital resource to those who are discontent with the state of mainstream economics, especially those actively seeking to promote change in the discipline. Students wishing to see progress in the teaching of economics will also benefit from this timely book.

“Virtually all human societies are marked by inequality, at a level that surpasses what could be expected from normal differences in individuals’ capabilities alone.” So begins this new approach to the greatest social ill of our time, and nearly every other era. From a country with one of the world’s lowest rates of income and social imbalance, award-winning Swedish analyst Per Molander’s book changes the conversation about the causes and effects of inequality. Molander addresses the obvious questions that other pundits often avoid—including why the wealthiest countries, such as the United States, have the greatest incidences of inequality. Drawing from anthropology, statistics, references to literature, and political science, Molander looks at his subject across various political and ideological systems to examine policies that have created more just societies, and demonstrate how we can enact similar changes in the name of equality. In doing so, he presents a persuasive and moving case that humankind is much greater than the inequalities it has created.

Globalization, the new economy, and the IT revolution are some of the words used when researchers - as well as practitioners - try to explain the seemingly ever-increasing speed of change in contemporary society. Whatever the label, organizations today are facing change in a host of different ways. Sometimes they act as "change-takers," forced to adapt to changes and innovations coming from the outside. At other times they are "change-makers," who foster innovation and change, giving them a competitive advantage or a heightened legitimacy. Sometimes they force others to adapt to these changes. The analyses presented in this volume provide ample evidence of how the perspective of new institutionalism can help in understanding the anatomy of change, and how some actors avoid complete stasis through utilizing small openings instead of breaking down the whole wall.

Reflecting a global interest in the topics of well-being, happiness, and the good life, this book explores local notions of public wealth in indigenous Amazonia. The contributors place particular importance in how indigenous views of wealth are linked to the creation of strong, productive, and moral individuals and collectivities, providing thought-provoking new approaches to understanding wealth in non-capitalist, kin-based societies.