The Consolations Of Economics

In the next twenty years the world economy will enjoy one of its strongest periods of growth. Greater innovation and technical change will increase opportunities. Life expectancy, income and educational standards will rise. The West's share in the global economic cake may get smaller, but there will be more cake than ever before. These are the predictions of Gerard Lyons, a leading international economist who spent nearly thirty years working in the City. He is now the chief economic adviser to the Mayor of London. Over the last quarter-century he has been ahead of the game in predicting the major economic trends that we now take as a given. The Consolations of Economics is a lucid and accessible expert's attempt to look objectively at the changing global economy - what is happening and what it means. He shows how we can embrace change, rather than hide from it. The results are fascinating, refreshing - and unusually cheering.

In the wake of a major financial crisis comes leading economist Gerard Lyons with the good news. In the next twenty years the world economy will enjoy one of its strongest periods of growth. Greater innovation and technical change will increase opportunities. Life expectancy, income and educational standards will rise. The West's share in the global economic cake may get smaller, but there will be more cake than ever before. These are the predictions of Gerard Lyons, a leading international economist who spent nearly thirty years working in the City. He is now the chief economic adviser to the Mayor of London. Over the last quarter-century he has been ahead of the game in predicting the major economic trends that we now take as a given. The Consolations of Economics is a lucid and accessible expert's attempt to look objectively at the changing global economy - what is happening and what it means. He shows how we can embrace change, rather than hide from it. The results are fascinating, refreshing - and unusually cheering.

"Economics will never be able to move beyond these vague predictions because it treats human behavior - individual and social - as the product of expectations and preferences - beliefs and desires - the variables that cannot be measured independently of the actual choices we want to predict. These factors, combined with the economist's commitment to the search for equilibrium solutions to theoretical problems, condemn economic theory to permanent predictive weakness. In the end, Rosenberg's analysis is not merely a critique. His aim is to redefine the scope and value of neoclassical theory, suggesting that its character and most important accomplishments need to be correctly understood to defend economics against the charge that it is a science of diminishing returns."--BOOK JACKET.

New economic thinking is in demand in the light of the recent economic crisis. This book equips the reader with a better understanding of current ways of thinking as well as an awareness of other possibilities, providing the foundations for debate in theory and methodology alongside practical implications for policy.

Philosophical wisdom and practical advice for overcoming the problems of middle age How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive. You will learn why missing out might be a good thing, how options are overrated, and when you should be glad you made a mistake. You will be introduced to philosophical consolations for mortality. And you will learn what it would mean to live in the present, how it could solve your midlife crisis, and why meditation helps. Ranging from Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill to Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as drawing on Setiya’s own experience, Midlife combines imaginative ideas, surprising insights, and practical advice. Writing with wisdom and wit, Setiya makes a wry but passionate case for philosophy as a guide to life.

This work examines the claim to scienific status made by supporters and practitioners of neoclassical economics. The approach taken is that of the history and philosophy of science. Analysis points to the conclusion that theories of economic choice are necessarily normative, essentially because of the nature of human behavior.

Roger Backhouse is a key figure in the field of economic methodology. Explorations in Economic Methodology both clarifies and responds to the issues raised by the literature and argues that methodology is an essential activity. Offering a constructive, but critical, response to the recent literature, this collection provides important new insights for students and researchers in economic methodology and the philosophy of science.

The idea of comparing rewards with others has a long and persistent presence in the social sciences, and can be found in many psychological, social and managerial theories. In economics, this idea can be traced back through the works of a substantial number of eminent thinkers, from Genovesi and Hume, to Smith, Ricardo, Marx, and Mill, through to Veblen, Pigou, and Keynes. In the last two decades the notion of social comparisons has started to appear more frequently in economic literature, especially in the subfield of happiness research. There are also signs that the notion has resurfaced in some strands of literature such as positional concerns, social identity models and social capital theory. Comparisons in Economic Thought offers a uniquely comprehensive account of how social comparisons have featured in the history of economic thought. This book provides an assessment as to why social comparisons have been dismissed by mainstream economists and considers their current and future usefulness. This volume is suitable for those who are interested and study history of economic thought, economic methodology and History of Consumer Theory, as well as Rational Choice Theory.