Foundations of Economics
By: Yanis Varoufakis
4.28
Format: 420 pages, Hardcover
Foundations of Economics breathes life into the discipline by linking key economic concepts with wi…
Want to Read $ 37.99"After hovering in the ethereal world of mathematics and geometry, economics was forced to crash-land and take its place in the real world of political debate. Do economists wish to pursue the Good Society in the spirit of the social contract tradition which started some time in ancient Greece, reasserted itself in Europe with J.-J.Rousseau and found its apotheosis in John Rawls? Or do they wish for a social contract which effectively rules the State out as anything other than a provider of order and security—a tradition which began with Thomas Hobbes and culminated in Robert Nozick’s theory? Or, indeed can economists think of something in between? Thus economics is back into the mire courtesy of Arrow’s third theorem , which dispels any hopes of a Rational Society springing from some form of advanced utility maximisation. Economics can no longer escape the political, philosophical debates which resonate across the humanities—from literature to sociology and from politics to moral philosophy. This is a good thing. At last, economics can become interesting again after a century of continuous pedantry."-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
"After hovering in the ethereal world of mathematics and geometry, economics was forced to crash-land and take its place in the real world of political debate. Do economists wish to pursue the Good Society in the spirit of the social contract tradition which started some time in ancient Greece, reasserted itself in Europe with J.-J.Rousseau and found its apotheosis in John Rawls? Or do they wish for a social contract which effectively rules the State out as anything other than a provider of order and security—a tradition which began with Thomas Hobbes and culminated in Robert Nozick’s theory? Or, indeed can economists think of something in between? Thus economics is back into the mire courtesy of Arrow’s third theorem , which dispels any hopes of a Rational Society springing from some form of advanced utility maximisation. Economics can no longer escape the political, philosophical debates which resonate across the humanities—from literature to sociology and from politics to moral philosophy. This is a good thing. At last, economics can become interesting again after a century of continuous pedantry."-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
"In the meantime, it is useful to end this chapter by pondering a paradox. On the one hand, as already noted, economics is replete with eulogies to freedom (particularly of the market). However, on the other hand, the type of freedom that economics textbooks talk about is compatible with the science fiction image of rows and rows of persons attached to a pleasure machine which bombards them with utility (or, to be more respectful to ordinal utility, which keeps them at the very top of their preferences ordering). Less apocalyptically, it is consistent with a society in which individuals’ ideals have been reduced to purchasing commodities in gigantic shopping complexes guided totally by cravings manufactured in elaborate marketing clinics. Perhaps the most helpful conclusion to draw from all this is that the economic textbook’s model of rational choice is the culmination of the logic unleashed on the world by the emergence and domination of market societies (see Chapter 1 again). One question is worth keeping in mind when immersed in that logic: is a happy slave (a slave of feudal masters or, today, of the advertisers) capable of being free (whatever that person’s utility level)? So, if freedom is more than just desire-fulfilment what does it mean to be free? No one has the definitive answer but here is a suggestion: individual freedom may be the capacity to act freely, not only in order to satisfy the preferences that are there already (the utility machine can do this admirably), but in order to create new and better preferences—in order to improve one’s self. We can do this only if we care about more than the indulgence of our current desires."-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
"In the meantime, it is useful to end this chapter by pondering a paradox. On the one hand, as already noted, economics is replete with eulogies to freedom (particularly of the market). However, on the other hand, the type of freedom that economics textbooks talk about is compatible with the science fiction image of rows and rows of persons attached to a pleasure machine which bombards them with utility (or, to be more respectful to ordinal utility, which keeps them at the very top of their preferences ordering). Less apocalyptically, it is consistent with a society in which individuals’ ideals have been reduced to purchasing commodities in gigantic shopping complexes guided totally by cravings manufactured in elaborate marketing clinics. Perhaps the most helpful conclusion to draw from all this is that the economic textbook’s model of rational choice is the culmination of the logic unleashed on the world by the emergence and domination of market societies (see Chapter 1 again). One question is worth keeping in mind when immersed in that logic: is a happy slave (a slave of feudal masters or, today, of the advertisers) capable of being free (whatever that person’s utility level)? So, if freedom is more than just desire-fulfilment what does it mean to be free? No one has the definitive answer but here is a suggestion: individual freedom may be the capacity to act freely, not only in order to satisfy the preferences that are there already (the utility machine can do this admirably), but in order to create new and better preferences—in order to improve one’s self. We can do this only if we care about more than the indulgence of our current desires."-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
If you liked the theory plot in Foundations of Economics by Yanis Varoufakis , here is a list of 6 books like this:
1. On Palestine
By: Noam Chomsky , Ilan Pappé
4.25
Format: 220 pages, Paperback
Operation Protective Edge, Israel's most recent assault on Gaza, left thousands of Palestinians dea… read more
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"It's quite standard for those who hold the clubs to say: "Forget about everything that happened and let's just go on from here." In other words, "I've got what I want, and out forget about what your …"-Noam Chomsky, On Palestine
"How, then, does one become an activist? The easy answer would be to say that we do not become activists; we simply forget that we are. We are all born with compassion, generosity, and love for others…"-Noam Chomsky, On Palestine
2. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
By: Pablo Neruda , W.S. Merwin , Cristina García
4.21
Format: 80 pages, Paperback
When it appeared in 1924, this work launched into the international spotlight a young and unknown p… read more
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"Tonight I Can Write"-Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
"I remembered you with my soul clenched"-Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
"I want to fill my mouth with your name."-Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
"Every day you play with the light of the universe."-Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
3. The Wretched of the Earth
By: Jean-Paul Sartre , Richard Philcox , Frantz Fanon , Homi K. Bhabha
4.32
Format: 251 pages, Paperback
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Fr… read more
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"إن لجوءك إلى لُغة تكنيكيَّة معناه أنّك قرَّرتَ أن تَعُدَّ الجماهير جاهلة"-Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wretched of the Earth
"Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you want them to understand."-Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wretched of the Earth
"The business of obscuring language is a mask behind which stands the much greater business of plunder."-Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wretched of the Earth
"إن المناضل ليدرك في كثير من الأحيان أن عمله لا أن يقاتل القوى العدوة فحسب، بل كذلك حبات اليأس المتبلورة في جسم المستعمَر."-Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wretched of the Earth
4. The Soul of Man Under Socialism
By: Oscar Wilde
3.91
Format: 48 pages, Paperback
In The Soul of Man under Socialism Oscar Wilde expounds on an anarchist world view. Wilde argues th… read more
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"The evolution of man is slow. The injustice of men is great."-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
"The note of the perfect personality is not rebellion, but peace."-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
"The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence."-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
"It is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg."-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
5. Das Kapital
By: Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , Serge L. Levitsky
4.22
Format: None pages, Paperback
Das Kapital, Karl Marx's seminal work, is the book that above all others formed the twentieth centu… read more
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6. Debt: The First 5,000 Years
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3.61
Format: 192 pages, Hardcover
Before there was money, there was debt Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was inve… read more
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7. The Lathe of Heaven
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4.48
Format: 334 pages,
George Orr is a man who discovers he has the peculiar ability to dream things into being -- for bet… read more
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8. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
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4.00
Format: 176 pages, Paperback
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9. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
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3.68
Format: None pages, Paperback
Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Ph… read more
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10. The Burnout Society
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Format: 172 pages,
Our competitive, service-oriented societies are taking a toll on the late-modern individual. Rather… read more
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11. The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell
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2.83
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As only he can, Aldous Huxley explores the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human … read more
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12. Vampyroteuthis Infernalis: A Treatise, with a Report by the Institut Scientifique de Recherche Paranaturaliste
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3.42
Format: 8 pages, Paperback
How far apart are humans from animals--even the "vampire squid from hell"? Playing the scientist/ph… read more
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13. Homage to Catalonia
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4.00
Format: 592 pages, Paperback
In 1936 Orwell went to Spain to report on the Civil War and instead joined the fight against the Fa… read more
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14. Letter to a Priest
By: Simone Weil
4.33
Format: None pages, Paperback
Simone Weil, the renowned French philosopher and political activist, originally wrote this letter t… read more
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15. Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism
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3.69
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16. The Call of Cthulhu
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3.44
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One of the feature stories of the Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft's 'the Call of Cthulhu' is a harro… read more
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17. The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy
By: Stephanie Kelton
4.04
Format: 327 pages, Hardcover
A New York Times Bestseller The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary… read more
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18. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017
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4.50
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A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US … read more
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19. Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
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"confront head on, the real source of crisis and misery, which is capitalism."-Cinzia Arruzza, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
"who will guide the process of societal transformation, in whose interest, and to what end?"-Cinzia Arruzza, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
"What we are living through is a crisis of society as a whole—and its root cause is capitalism."-Cinzia Arruzza, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
"Liberal feminism’s ethos converges not only with corporate mores but also with supposedly “transgressive"-Cinzia Arruzza, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto
20. Foundations of Economics
By: Yanis Varoufakis
4.28
Format: 420 pages, Hardcover
Foundations of Economics breathes life into the discipline by linking key economic concepts with wi… read more
Want to Read $ 37.99Similar categories in Yanis Varoufakis's Foundations of Economics book and Yanis Varoufakis's Foundations of Economics
- theory
- politics
- money
- philosophy
- nonfiction
- textbooks
- economics
"After hovering in the ethereal world of mathematics and geometry, economics was forced to crash-land and take its place in the real world of political debate. Do economists wish to pursue the Good So…"-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
"In the meantime, it is useful to end this chapter by pondering a paradox. On the one hand, as already noted, economics is replete with eulogies to freedom (particularly of the market). However, on th…"-Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics
21. The Message
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4.58
Format: 232 pages, Hardcover
Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set off to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s cla… read more
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"My sense is that if I spend more time talking to you than I spend complaining about you, then something wonderful often happens and the enlightenment is mutual. So I don't really worry about the youn…"-Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Message
