Work And Wealth Routledge Revivals

First published in 1914 and reissued with a new introduction in 1992, Work and Wealth is a seminal vision of Hobson's liberal utopian ideals, which desired to demonstrate how economic and social reform could transform existing society into one in which the majority of the population, as opposed to a small elite, could find fulfillment. Hobson attacked conventional economic wisdom which made a division between the cost of production and the utility derived from consumption. Far from being necesarily arduous, Hobson argued that work had the potential to bring about immense utility and enrichment. The qualitative, humanist work argues in favour of a new form of capitalism to minimise cost and maximise utility.

Business and the businessman have had a fundamental place in American society since the inception of the nation. This tenet, the ‘gospel of wealth’, is a central concern in the novels of Theodore Dreiser and his contemporaries. First published in 1987, this study sets this group of writers in their historical context and shows how they elaborated the idea of wealth as an object of quasi-religious quest. What had previously been associated with disease and darkness, avarice and dishonour, now came to emblematise the virtues of thrift, prudence and diligence. The underlying argument is that the dominant group of a society legitimises its power through the appropriation of the vocabulary of religion, and the American business leaders were successful in doing this both in their own practice and through the more insidious medium of art. A detailed analysis, this reissue will be of particular value to students of American literature with an interest in the relationship between linguistic symbols and social order, and historical attitudes towards wealth in literature.

First published in 1981, this book concerns itself with the different ways in which money is used, the relationships which then arise, and the institutions concerned in maintaining its various functions. Thomas Crump examines the emergence of institutions with familiar and distinctive monetary roles: the state, the market and the banking system. However, other uses of money - such as for gambling or the payment of fines - are also taken into account, in an exhaustive, encyclopedic treatment of the subject, which extends far beyond the range of conventional treatises on money.

First published in 1930, this book endeavours to trace and express the relations between economic and human values, between wealth and life. Hobson studies everything from the role of production processes and consumption in the determination of human welfare; to the changing attitudes of economic science towards ethical considerations; as well as the tendency of organised society to exercise a control of economic processes in the interests of equity, humanity, and social order. Part I of the book deals with an attempt to provide an intelligible and consistent meaning for human value and welfare. Part II sketches the emergence of an economic science and its formal relations to ethics. Part III discusses the ethical significance of certain basic factors in the modern economic system, especially property and market processes. Part IV is addressed to the notion of industrial peace and progress in the light of modern humanism, with especial regard to the new problems emerging in a world becoming conscious of its widening unity.

First published in 1976, the essays in this volume are concerned with the distribution of income and wealth. The papers were first presented at the Royal Economic Society's conference in 1974, which examined the evidence concerning the personal distribution of earnings, compared the distributions apparent in different periods and societies, and studied the association between personal attributes and income. The contributions, from internationally-renowned authors, reflect these areas, and address the questions surrounding inequality, the taxation of wealth and capital transfers that remain relevant in twenty-first century society.

First published in 1977, David Levine's Economic Studies offers a critique and reconstruction of the theoretical conception of economic life. The premise of the study is that only an investigation of the system of elementary economic relations - value, capital, production - can overcome the confusion and misdirection which baffles progress in all areas of economic theory, and lay the foundation for further development of economic science. Levine discusses both the origins of economic science and the character of contemporary economic thought. He presents a critique of the ideas of classical political economy and of the notion of a 'labor theory of value' which excludes the possibility of a science of economic relations.

First published in 1975, this guide to economic policy outlines an economic philosophy for reform for the ‘intelligent radical’ who seeks to address the issues of liberty and equality within society. Among other issues, the book looks at policies to control inflation, to maintain full employment, to set prices and wages, to distribute income and property, and to manage the environment and international trade. Professor Meade expounds in simple language a set of closely interrelated policies designed to enable us to achieve what he describes as ‘ the decent, free, prosperous society which modern science has undoubtedly brought within our grasp.