Suchergebnisse

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Science is epistemology and economics is too -- Chapter 3. Economics of electoral democracy -- Chapter 4. Labor market Singularities -- Chapter 5. Biological and social factors of income inequality -- Chapter 6. Fiscal policy and income inequality -- Chapter 7. Inequality and illegal international markets: The case of cocaine -- Chapter 8. Social change question in today's capitalism -- Chapter 9. Quality of society and the Anthropocene age -- Chapter 10. Planning through markets in the Anthropocene age -- Appendix. .

This book articulates a unified theory of capitalism as an attempt to provide a comprehensive scientific theory of this social system. A unified theory of capitalism is not the combination of the predominant economic theories - neoclassical, classical, and Keynesian - so as to make them compatible. It is not a composite economic theory. It is a new economic theory. Predictions of the theory's models were consistent with eight basic empirical regularities of capitalism dealing with economic growth, income inequality, employment level, and environment degradation. Therefore, the unified theory can be accepted as a good approximation of the real capitalist world. But the models were constructed at a high level of abstraction. Also problematic was the need to work out more fully the public policy implications of the theory. It is, therefore, no wonder that essays on the unified theory to answer these questions are a natural outcome of a new scientific endeavor attempting to reach a unity of knowledge in economics.

Preface -- Book Content -- Book Readership -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Economic Growth with Social Maladies -- Empirical Regularities of Capitalism: Growth, Inequality, and the Environment -- Science Is Epistemology -- The Unified Theory of Capitalism: Primary Assumptions -- An Evolutionary Model (I) of Unified Theory -- Empirical Consistency -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 2: Power Structure and Democracy -- The Standard Economic Theory of Electoral Democracy -- Electoral Democracy in a Small Society of Equals -- A Theoretical Model of Electoral Democracy -- Political Behavior in the Election Process -- Political Behavior of the Elected Government -- General Equilibrium Under Capitalism with Electoral Democracy -- Empirical Consistency -- The Corruption Question -- Institutional Innovations in the Democratic System -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 3: Evolutionary Human Behavior -- A Biological Theory of Human Behavior -- A New Evolutionary Model (II) of Unified Theory -- The Role of Institutions: Market and Democracy -- What Is the Role of Electoral Democracy? -- Empirical Refutation of the Evolutionary Model II -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 4: Consumerism in the Economic Growth Process -- The Standard Consumer Model -- Lexicographic Preferences and Hierarchy of Human Needs -- A New Consumption-Saving Theory -- A Dynamic Model of the RLS Theory -- Predictions of the Dynamic Model -- Back to Unified Theory: A New Evolutionary Model (III) -- Is Consumerism Irrational Behavior? -- Consumer Sovereignty Doctrine: An Epistemological Critique -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 5: Individual Freedom and the Common Good -- The Common Good: An Analytical Definition -- Market Competition and the Common Good -- No Man Is an Island -- Freedom from What? -- Freedom for What?

"The new research method presented in this book ensures that all economic theories are falsifiable and that irrefutable theories are scientifically sound. Figueroa combines the logically consistent aspects of Popperian and process epistemologies in his alpha-beta method to address the widespread problem of too-general empirical research methods used in economics. He argues that scientific rules can be applied to economics to make sense of society, but that they must address the complexity of reality as well as the simplicity of the abstract on which hard sciences can rely. Furthermore, because the alpha-beta method combines approaches to address the difficulties of scientifically analyzing complex society, it also extends to other social sciences that have historically relied on empirical methods. This groundbreaking Pivot is ideal for students and researchers dedicated to promoting the progress of scientific research in all social sciences."--Provided by publisher

The first volume deals with the fundamental economic problems of our time: employment, inequality, the environment, and quality of life. Figueroa presents a unique approach to analyzing these effects by using a unified theory framework. The second volume takes on the long-term effects of growth and analyzes the policy aspect of these effects. Figueroa achieves his goal by addressing two significant problems. First, to solve the epistemological challenges of building unity of knowledge by presenting a unified theory of Capitalism. Second, he considers the epistemological problem of the role theory in scientific knowledge.

Growth, Employment, Inequality, and the Environment deals with the fundamental economic problems of our time: employment, inequality, the environment, and quality of life. This exciting new volume is unique in that it is the first book of its kind in which these problems are analyzed using a unified theory framework. Figueroa achieves his goal by addressing two significant problems. First, to solve the epistemological challenges of building unity of knowledge, he presents a unified theory of capitalism. Second, he considers the epistemological problem of the role of theory in scientific knowledge. This book therefore deals with a consistent theoretical system. That having been said, these theories--which contain logically correct propositions--may turn out to be empirically false. In order to avoid this error, some rules of scientific knowledge are needed. Growth, Employment, Inequality, and the Environment presents a method that contains such rules. The method is derived from the Popperian epistemology, making it operational in economics. The proposed unified theory is therefore empirically valid; it is a good approximation of the real world. Theoretical economics is thus treated under explicit epistemological rules: theory is the servant, not the master.

This study analyses the functioning of the peasant economy in Peru in the context of the present predominantly capitalist system. The central themes are the economic relationships of the peasantry to the rest of the economy of the country and the role of the peasant economy in the entire system, together with the changes that have taken place in that role over time. These themes are investigated by means of a study in detail of a sample of peasant communities in the most traditional and backward region of Peru, the southern sierra. The historical process has generated in Peru one of the most extreme cases of inequality, rural poverty and cultural duality. Nowhere else does the notion of 'economic duality' seem more applicable. Thus an investigation of the case of Peru has methodological value for the understanding of the peasant economy throughout Latin America, and the results of this survey have important implications for the whole region