Law and Economics: Market, Non-market and Network Transactions

Edited by Panta Murali Prasad, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India and Ranita Nagar, Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar , India

It is well known that sustainable development practices, technological innovation and good governance play a major role in the accumulation of wealth in a knowledge economy. Hence, the state promotes competition, provides incentives to conserve resources and creates opportunities for citizens to push for innovation and invention. As a result, the formulation of efficient legal rules is essential for protecting intellectual property rights, fully specified contracts and effective ex-ante and ex-post systems. However, can efficient legal rules improve societal well-being by changing the behaviour of individuals and basic social structures and trends? And if so, how can these legal rules be formulated? In their Second International Conference on Law and Economics, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur aimed to address the formulation and implementation of efficient legal rules while at the same time working towards a greater dissemination of law and economics-based research. This book is the final outcome of this conference that saw over thirty presentations take place. The twelve carefully selected contributions to this volume cover a broad range of topics within law and economics from engaging with decisions makers to create a process for the routine collection of empirical evidence to perceived gender discrimination and stress among working professionals. This book is not only an important contribution to law and economics scholarship but will also be of great interest to both universities and research institutions working within the field.

Spoilt for Choice: How senior managers select professional advisors

Wienke Seeger

How do senior executives, such as CEOs and CFOs, interact, select and appoint professional advisors? Based on a successful PhD project, the research in this book explores the interactions between advisors of large professional service firms and senior executive clients on an evidence-based academic level. The research journey and the author’s reflections are charted step-by-step, providing an example of how to analyse unstructured qualitative data, reach theoretical saturation and capture emerging substantive theories. Moreover, by taking a unique holistic and inductive approach, this study offers a series of practical insights on how to combine and apply Kathy Charmaz’ constructivist grounded theory with an auto-ethnographic stance. Divided into eight chapters, the author uses empirical data and rigorous analysis to uncover two distinct decision-making processes, namely (a) the client’s decision to develop and maintain a relationship with the advisor and (b) to select and appoint the advisor for a particular project or services. Mapping these to one common conceptual framework a second complementary model emerges - a type of decision-making matrix with the foci ’competitiveness, skills and merit’, ‘continuity and embeddedness’, ‘control and manage’ and ‘trust and empathy’ - which offers the reader an alternative perspective of client decision-making. This book will be useful for practitioners and researchers alike who have an interest in understanding either naturalistic decision-making processes, the complexities of relationship development and procurement dynamics, as well as applied qualitative research methods.

Spoilt for Choice: How senior managers select professional advisors

Wienke Seeger

How do senior executives, such as CEOs and CFOs, interact, select and appoint professional advisors? Based on a successful PhD project, the research in this book explores the interactions between advisors of large professional service firms and senior executive clients on an evidence-based academic level. The research journey and the author’s reflections are charted step-by-step, providing an example of how to analyse unstructured qualitative data, reach theoretical saturation and capture emerging substantive theories. Moreover, by taking a unique holistic and inductive approach, this study offers a series of practical insights on how to combine and apply Kathy Charmaz’ constructivist grounded theory with an auto-ethnographic stance. Divided into eight chapters, the author uses empirical data and rigorous analysis to uncover two distinct decision-making processes, namely (a) the client’s decision to develop and maintain a relationship with the advisor and (b) to select and appoint the advisor for a particular project or services. Mapping these to one common conceptual framework a second complementary model emerges - a type of decision-making matrix with the foci ’competitiveness, skills and merit’, ‘continuity and embeddedness’, ‘control and manage’ and ‘trust and empathy’ - which offers the reader an alternative perspective of client decision-making. This book will be useful for practitioners and researchers alike who have an interest in understanding either naturalistic decision-making processes, the complexities of relationship development and procurement dynamics, as well as applied qualitative research methods.

Currency Risk Management

Selected Research Papers

Edited by M.S.V. Prasad, GITAM Institute of Management, India and G. V. Satya Sekhar, Gitam University, India

Currency Risk Management (CRM) is vital for any business engaging in international trade. Fluctuations and uncertainty within currency markets mean that businesses must seek to effectively manage and anticipate potential risks when striking international deals. In a rapidly changing and volatile global business environment, CRM is now more than ever of critical importance. However, what risks should businesses hedge – and how? With so many viable strategies for hedging currency exchange risk, it is crucial that businesses either outsource or have a specialized team to ensure effective and efficient management of currency exchange risks. But how does CRM operate in an emerging market? And what are the key factors that influence the chosen CRM strategies? Organized in association with Indian Bank, GITAM’s national conference on CRM sought to highlight the trends, problems, and prospects of CRM in India. Taken from the conference proceedings, this book presents 9 innovative research papers that consider differing CRM practices. From a comparative study of India and China to an assessment of CRM strategies used by commercial Indian banks, this book offers an invaluable insight into CRM from the perspective of an emerging market. As a whole, this book addresses India’s shift to a market-determined exchange rate regime and the inevitable problems caused the by the high volatility of exchange rates. Aimed at students enrolled in commerce and management courses, this collection of research papers will also be of interest to researchers in international finance.

Climate Change and Sub-Saharan Africa: The Vulnerability and Adaptation of Food Supply Chain Actors

Edited by John K. M. Kuwornu, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

The adverse effects of climate change and climate variability have become some of the biggest environmental and socio-economic challenges for society, and for food supply chain actors, in particular. Serving as a serious inhibitor to the attainment of food security, climate change poses a fundamental threat to the availability, accessibility, stability and utilization of nutritious food and quality drinking water. The threat of this global phenomenon is not only apparent from the difficulties faced by all food supply chain actors, but is also felt acutely by households dependent on semi-subsistence agriculture. As evidenced by numerous studies conducted by the academic community, governmental and non-governmental organisations, climate change and climate variability will have disastrous effects on entire food supply chains across the world. This edited volume looks to address: How vulnerable are food supply chain actors to climate change and climatic variability? What adaptation strategies are they adopting? How is the resilience of food supply chains being supported? Are they being financed and/or supported by international organizations to cope with climate change? And what governmental support are they receiving to help cope with climate change? This book is an essential resource for students, lecturers, researchers, agribusinesses, marketing firms, agricultural institutions, climate change adaptation institutions, policymakers and many others with an interest in agricultural development and the global food industry.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.

Political Routes to Starvation

Why Does Famine Kill?

Bas Dianda

This book seeks to reclassify famine by offering an in-depth look at the phenomenon that continues to affect millions of people across the world every year. Defined as a widespread scarcity of food, Dr. Basilio Dianda argues that the causes of famine cannot be reduced exclusively to a shortfall in agricultural output or to economic dynamics. Instead, an analysis of famine must take into account political and economic factors as well as agricultural, climatologic and demographic data. ‘Political Routes to Starvation’ is the result of an all-encompassing analysis of eighty famines from across the globe. This extensive piece of research demonstrates that there are not only multiple factors at play in the genesis of a food crisis, but also in its evolution to starvation. Dianda contends that in order to fully understand the causes of famine it is necessary to reinstate a hierarchy between foundation and concomitant causes, especially when cross-comparing cases. Importantly, Dianda maintains that only a comprehensive approach to famine can appropriately answer the questions: What is famine? How does famine occur? Why does famine kill?

Market Abuse Regulation in South Africa, the United States of America and the United Kingdom

Howard Chitimira, North West University, South Africa

This book provides a concise comparison of the regulation and enforcement of the anti-market abuse laws (insider trading and market manipulation) in South Africa, the United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK). Bringing together a number of previously published articles, the book provides a novel discussion of the challenges associated with the enforcement of market abuse laws in both developing countries such as South Africa and developed ones such as the USA and the UK. This is primarily done to examine and expose the current strengths and weaknesses of market abuse laws in relation to certain aspects of the corporate, securities and financial markets environments in South Africa, the USA and the UK. Accordingly, chapters two to five of the book unpack the regulation and enforcement of market abuse laws in South Africa and the USA in a comparative perspective. Thereafter, chapters six to eight of the book discuss the regulation and enforcement of market abuse laws (Financial Markets Act 19 of 2012) and other related statutes in South Africa and the UK. The book proposes some measures that could be utilised to enhance the enforcement of anti-market laws in South Africa, USA and the UK. New market abuse-related challenges that occurred during the global financial crisis are also briefly discussed. The book further provides a relatively adequate overview of the comparative analysis of the regulation of market abuse in South Africa versus two key developed and respected jurisdictions, namely, the USA and the UK. Accordingly, it is hoped that the book can aid regulatory authorities, financial market participants, academics, students and other interested readers to understand market abuse offences and possible measures that could be employed to combat such offences.

Networks of International Trade and Investment

Understanding globalisation through the lens of network analysis

Edited by Sara Gorgoni, University of Greenwich et al.

In recent decades, the international economy has witnessed fundamental changes in the way manufacturing is organised: products are no longer manufactured in their entirety in a single location. Instead, the production process is often split across a number of stages located in countries that are frequently far apart from each other. By spreading out their manufacturing and supply chain activities globally through international investment and intra-firm trade, Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a focal role in this reorganisation of production. Our ability to understand the global economy, therefore, requires an understanding of the interdependencies between the entities involved in such fragmented production. Traditional methods and statistical approaches are insufficient to address this challenge. Instead, an approach is required that allows us to account for these interdependencies. The most promising approach so far is network analysis. ‘Networks of International Trade and Investment’ makes a case for the use of network analysis alongside existing techniques in order to investigate pressing issues in international business and economics. The authors put forward a range of well-informed studies that examine compelling topics such as the role of emerging economies in global trade and the evolution of world trade patterns. They look at how network analysis, as both an approach and a methodology, can explain international business and economics phenomena, in particular, in relation to international trade and investment. Providing a comprehensive but accessible explanation of the applications of network analysis and some of the most recent methodological advances in its field, this edited volume is an important contribution to research in international trade and investment.

Fixed or Flexible Exchange Rates? History and Perspectives

Marin Muzhani, CDI College, Canada

The economy of the industrialized countries in the 21st century has already moved to a new level of mass production and technology never seen before, thanks in part to globalization, advanced technologies, new organization management methods, and innovative supply chain. A relatively large number of mass-produced commodities (characterized as non-premium) and services in Western economies are somehow sold at discounts rather than regular prices at a much higher frequency that was never seen before. This phenomenon has completely changed how we look at the theory of the firm in microeconomics. This book is indented to introduce new ideas and theories by challenging the current modern micro-and-macro economic theories. In a globalized world, the economies of advanced countries have entered a new phase called “economy pricing,” where most of the mass commodities are sold at a low price during certain periods of the year, called ‘sales events’. In addition to low prices, most industrialized countries have had record low inflation, low-interest rates, low growth, and low unemployment rates. This book will contend how the “Economy Pricing System” is about to revolutionize how people look at a real economy’s micro and macro effects.

The Political Economy of the Space Age

How Science and Technology Shape the Evolution of Human Society

Andrea Sommariva, SDA Bocconi, Milan, Italy

This book provides answers to the questions of why human-kind should go into space, and on the relative roles of governments and markets in the evolution of the space economy. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to answer those questions. Science and technology define the boundaries of what is possible. The realization of the possible depends on economic, institutional, and political factors. The book thus draws from many different academic areas such as physical science, astronomy, astronautics, political science, economics, sociology, cultural studies, and history. In the literature, the space economy has been analyzed using different approaches from science and technology to the effects of public expenditures on economic growth and to medium term effects on productivity and growth. This book brings all these aspects together following the evolutionary theory of economic change. It studies processes that transform the economy through the interactions among diverse economic agents, governments, and the extra-systemic environment in which governments operate. Its historical part helps to better understand motivations and constraints - technical, political, and economical - that shaped the growth of the space economy. In the medium term, global issues - such as population changes, critical or limited natural resources, and environmental damages – and technological innovations are the main drivers for the evolution of the space economy beyond Earth orbit. In universities, this book can be used: as a reference by historians of astronautics; for researchers in the field of astronautics, international political economy, and legal issues related to the space economy. In think tanks and public institutions, both national and international, this book provides an input to the ongoing debate on the collaboration among space agencies and the role of private companies in the development of the space economy. Finally, this book will help the educated general public to orient himself in the forest of stimuli, news, and solicitations to which he is daily subjected by the media, television and radio, and to react in less passive ways to those stimuli.

Intergenerational Responsibility in the 21st Century

Edited by Julia M. Puaschunder, The New School

Intergenerational responsibility is multi-faceted.This edited volume reflects intergenerational aspects in light of spatial, age and racial segregation, global warming, and the aging Western world population. Intergenerational global governance is addressed in the era of globalization and migration. The intergenerational glue, intergenerational crises resilience strategies and intergenerational responses to external shocks serve as innovative global responsibility implementation guidelines in the international arena. Fostering intergenerational harmony through intergenerational income mobility and intergenerational opportunities, environmental protection and sustainable development aids alleviate the most pressing contemporary challenges of humankind. Overall, this interdisciplinary and applied contribution to the scholarship on intergenerational responsibility supports the leadership and management of global governance agency in the private and public sectors.

Generational Interdependencies: The Social Implications for Welfare

Edited by Beverley A. Searle

The issue of generational transfers is growing in importance. Populations are ageing, placing an increasing burden on provision of pensions, health care and other welfare services. In many nations the imbalance between a growing, older generation, supported by a shrinking younger generation, has fuelled debates about intergenerational justice. The key argument being that political and institutional developments over the last century have been to the advantage of older generations at the expense of current younger and future generations. But this only addresses half of the story, neglecting the flows of resources, through private, family channels. One key response to the growing fiscal problem of ageing societies has been to focus responsibility on self-funding and familial support. The growth of asset values, particularly housing, which are concentrated among the elderly, underpin such strategies. But this exposes new risks as potentially extractable resources are determined by wider fluctuations in the economy, and housing markets in particular. Clearly, these cohort effects, and responses to them, play out differently in different national developmental settings, depending on long-run patterns of economic, social and demographic change. This collection address these issues and provides original insights across different international contexts. The collection focusses on financial and non-financial transfers, generational interdependencies, and the role of labour and housing markets in welfare support, set against the changing economic landscape following the Great Financial Crisis of 2007. Although institutional and national differences exist the key emerging issues are the same: the financial and welfare challenges of supporting aging in societies; inequalities in the availability of assets across individuals, families and nations; and the extent to which private asset accumulation can support families over the life course. Drawing from examples across European countries, this collection will nonetheless be relevant to researchers and policy makers in other nations addressing the complexities of providing welfare across the life course in the face of restricted financial resources.

Financial Innovation: Theories, Models and Regulation

G. V. Satya Sekhar, Gitam University, India

Financial innovation is a regular feature of the global financial system. Financial innovation results in greater economic efficiency over time. In the process of creating a new financial product, besides basic theory of financial management, a financial engineer needs to acquire knowledge of optimization and financial modeling techniques. Modern financial innovation is underpinned by a rich literature including the seminal studies by Levich (1985), Smith, Smithson, and Wilford (1990), Verghese (1990), Merton (1992), Levine (1997), John D Finnerty (2002), Tufano (2003) and Draghi (2008), among many others. This book corresponds to the need to provide an integrated study on financial innovation and the economic regulatory mechanism. A key part of financial innovation covered in the book is the process of creating innovative financial securities and derivative pricing that offers new pay-offs to investors. The book also covers a selection of empirical studies corroborating financial innovation theories. It also exposes myths surrounding performance evaluation models. This book is presented in six chapters. The first chapter outlines important considerations on the application of financial innovation theories. The second chapter presents the theories that underpin financial innovation practice. The third chapter focuses on use of technology for financial modeling. The fourth chapter identifies the relationship between financial innovation and the wider economic system. The fifth chapter discusses the place of financial innovation in the global financial system. The sixth and final chapter presents a comparative analysis of India and the United States.

Imperative of Economic Growth in the Eurozone: Competitiveness, Capital Flows and Structural Reforms

Edited by Antonin Rusek, Susquehanna University and Lubor Lacina, Mendel University, Czech Republic

European economic recovery appears to be taking hold. So is the European crisis over?  The acute phase of the crisis passed, however a number of medium and long term issues remain. The policies of “internal devaluations” are working, albeit slowly, to restore competitiveness in the countries most affected by the crisis. However, growth remains at best sluggish. The medium and long term outlook remains highly uncertain, fomenting social tensions and endangering political stability.   The restoration of economic dynamism is increasingly perceived as the answer to the question of the “European” future – economically, politically and socially. There is a broad consensus that dynamic structural reforms and the restoration of competitiveness at the level of the global economy are key answers to current European challenges. However, whatever the form these may take, the transfer of resources is implicit (and seemingly necessary), to underpin the current structure of eurozone. This indeed raises the question of governance – both fiscal and monetary. After all, the provision of resources implies an allocation – and it is hard to imagine that resources will be provided to the common pool unless the providers have some say with respect to allocation. And that requires some form of common (i.e. centralized) decision-making procedures, in all likelihood exceeding the common understanding of the acquis communautaire as it exists today – i.e. some form of the effective political arrangement. In this context, the basic idea which connects all contributions in this volume is the analysis of the problems which affected the Eurozone in the past decade and the challenges and dilemmas the Eurozone will face in the coming years.

Applied Economics for Development: Empirical Approaches to Selected Social and Economic Issues in Transition Economies

Edited by Mahmut Zortuk, Dumlupınar University, Turkey

Transition economies experience transformation of their economic system. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a number of former socialist countries underwent transitions from central planning to a market economy. More generally, many rapidly growing economies undergo no less profound transformations of their economic systems. Contrary to common misconception, the transition process cannot be simply reduced to eliminating state intervention and liberalizing the economy. Economies under transition exhibit a unique set of policy challenges. Unlike developed market economies, missing markets or market failures abound. Economic transformation takes the form of rapidly evolving patterns of international trade and investment, industrial structure and consumption. These changes call for appropriate public policies. A continuing flow of investment hinges on suitable institutions, the provision of public infrastructure and other public goods. Adequate regulation can be central in ensuring that environmental resources are sustainably managed. And sophisticated production systems, call for corresponding social institutions in terms of education, health and welfare provisions. In all these cases, accurate empirical assessments are central to the design of effective policy. This book presents a selection of pressing economic and social issues in transition economies. Selected issues include the development of particular industrial sectors, the drivers and consequences of foreign direct investment, public finances, urbanization, social indicators, environmental policy and energy diversification. In each case an original empirical analysis is performed, using a variety of advanced quantitative methods, applied to recent data. The book will be of interest to economists studying transition economies, economic development or having a general interest in applied economics. It will be of particular interest to applied economists, policy analysts and policy makers in transition economies, concerned with the shape and direction of appropriate economic reforms.

Global Economy in Transition: the European Union and Beyond

Edited by Linda Winkler, Wilkes University and Harold Codrington, Central Bank of Barbados

This volume covers various issues in global development and global economic transformation including factors affecting economies and development in the European Union (EU), the Ukraine, select countries in Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific as well as India and the United States. The global economy is in transition, from the 1990s' status quo to the “new normal” with heavy reliance on the internet, rapid communications, sophisticated payment systems, diminishing importance of size and distance and changing notions of the market. This volume discusses how this process is affecting economies across the globe and why an appreciation of it will help efforts by governmental bodies and the private sector to reassess societal relationships - both economic and political. This volume shows that challenges to policy-making and the achievement of social consensus on development issues are often quite similar in all countries, irrespective of size, geographical location, endowment and developmental status. The chapters speak to concerns that touch on a cross-section of issues which are driving transition and transformation at multiple levels. As a group, they compare economic factors across transnational economic or political associations (OECD, European Union, G20) or make comparisons across or within emerging markets or small states (BRICS, various African countries, the Caribbean, South Pacific). They include the presentation of a new model for transnational agreements, discussions of policies related to labor compensation and corporate governance, comparisons of nations across the world using indices of economic development and governance, an analysis of gender inequality in employment in the European Union, comparisons of tax burdens across the European Union and the USA, discussions of employee representation in corporate governance, and a look at grass-roots development and markets in developing economies. As a whole, in its breadth and cross-national perspective, the volume represents an important scholarly contribution to international economics.

Global Responsible Intergenerational Leadership

A conceptual framework and implementation guidance for intergenerational fairness

Julia M. Puaschunder, The New School

Today's grand policy dilemmas, from climate change, to over-indebtedness, to demographic shifts, have momentous long-term implications. Future generations will be constrained by our present decisions to an extent that is without precedent in advanced capitalist democracies. This book is an extensively researched and reasoned appeal in favor of intergenerational fairness - the ability to provide to future generations an at least as favorable standard of living as that enjoyed today. Intergenerational equity is an essential consideration in finding lasting solutions to the multifaceted crises of our time. As an implicit contract and transfer between living and future generations, intergenerational equity avoids discriminating against future generations. The book aims to theoretically define intergenerational equity and to frame it as a natural behavioral law, capturing human ethicality bounds. It follows a long and distinguished tradition of scholarly discourse in turning to natural law for solutions to major social predicaments. Outlining some of the causes of the current intergenerational imbalances regarding climate change and over-indebtedness it sets the basis for understanding their drivers and implications. A central proposition is that the natural human drive towards intergenerational fairness can be the basis for the necessary behavioral responses: the human-imbued moral compass of natural law can be a useful complement, if not alternative, to public policy. This book fills an important gap. Despite a resurgence of literature, the economic and social dimensions of intergenerational equity remain underexplored. Existing literature misses a holistic ethical framework of decision-making failures that addresses intergenerational concerns. Whilst evolutionary grounded, intergenerational fairness has not been recognized as a natural behavioral law – a human-imbued drive being bound by human fallibility. Practical implications and recommendations in advancing an agenda for the advancement of intergenerational equity are provided. Attention is drawn to the problem of providing the required leadership to promote the idea of intergenerational equity as a guiding principle in corporate, social and policy action. This book contributes both theoretical and practical insights and will be of interest to economists, sociologists, public policy makers and corporate executives tasked with tackling the most pressing contemporary challenges of mankind.

Stock-Flow-Consistent Models and Institutional Variety

Romar Correa, St Andrew’s College, India and Amelia Correa, St Andrew’s College, India

Orthodox macroeconomics is founded on microeconomics. Heterodox economists either reject micro foundations or experiment with behavioural relationships without paying attention to the principles that generate them. The book takes off from Michal Kalecki’s aphorism about economics being a science that confused stocks and flows. Kalecki was famous for presiding over a marriage between Marx and Keynes and all three figure prominently in the volume. However, the first part of the title is a homage to Wynne Godley who pioneered stock-flow-consistent modeling in our times. The authors exploit lagged values of variables emerging from the definitions. Lags also emerge in so-called stock-flow norms connecting the aggregates. Some moving and shaking of identities and a difference or differential equation emerges. The requirements for stability of the dynamic systems are illuminating and the reader can stop at structure and history with the first half of the book. The conversation with orthodoxy begins with the second part. The equivalent equation systems of the first part throw up different pairs of characters whose happiness must be maximised over time. The price to pay through the solution process is the confrontation with many ugly expressions but the explicit calculations are undertaken repeatedly only to reassure students through drillwork that tedium is not the same as difficulty. The payoffs are that variable transitions in capitalism (the second part of the title) are captured from a small clutch of identities. The movements from backward agriculture to capitalism, from ‘golden age’ capitalism to ‘financialization’, are modeled. A separate chapter is devoted to Europe. The policy prescriptions of heterodox economics do not compare with the richness of critique and positive analysis. ‘Positive’ and ‘normative’ are one in this work, the combination of stock-flow norms along with ‘forgotten’ policy variables like the tax rate promising order and stability to economies.