Crisis: One Central Bank Governor & The Global Financial Collapse by Alan Bollard

$12.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand | Reading Level: good

Crisis is a first-hand account of the 2007-09 global financial and economic meltdown, as experienced, observed and interpreted by Alan Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The book backgrounds the crisis, then takes readers from the overheated markets of 2007, through the collapse of i nvestment banks and crises in multiple economies and on to the recovery of the world economy. Dr Bollard describes the crisis in human terms as systems, relationships and personal stamina are put to the test, capturing the drama as politicians, bankers and government officials work out how to deal with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The story is in part a New Zealand one, as Bollard works with Finance Ministers Michael Cullen and Bill English and others to deal with events as they unfold. But it is also international, as Bollard shuttles off to banker meetings in Basel and Jackson's Hole to grapple with international developments. The central figure in managing the financial crisis in New Zealand, Bollard also has a unique perspective as New Zealand's representative in international forums. ...Show more

Parecon - Life after capitalism by Michael Albert

$16.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

'What do you want?' is a query often put to economic and globalization activists decrying poverty, alienation and degradation. In this new work, Albert provides the answer: Participatory Economics, 'Parecon' for short - a new economy and a viable alternative to capitalism.

Aftershock - The next economy and America's future by Robert B. Reich

$12.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

The author of 12 acclaimed books, Robert B. Reich is a Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served in three national administrations. While many blamed Wall Street for the financial meltdown, Aftershock points a finger at a national economy in which wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top-and where a grasping middle class simply does not have the resources to remain viable. ...Show more

Supercapitalism - The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life by Robert B Reich

$12.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

Superfreakonomics: A Tale of Altruism, Terrorism and Poorly Paid Prostitution by Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner

$14.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

Here at last is the long awaited sequel to the international bestselling phenomenon, Freakonomics. Steven Levitt, the original rogue economist, and Stephen Dubner have been working hard, uncovering the hidden side of even more controversial subjects, from charity to terrorism and prostitution. And with their inimitable style and wit, they will take us on another even more gripping journey of discovery. Superfreakonomics will once again transform the way we look at the world. ...Show more

Frozen Desire - An Inquiry Into the Meaning of Money by James Buchan

$8.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: good

‘Frozen Desire is concerned with humanity itself. Describing a portrait of Judas, Buchan observes: “Money provokes people to act, for the sake of payment, in a fashion that, if they knew how the action would turn out, they would not contemplate.” This sustained, wide-ranging essay has a spiritual qualit y’ Paul Bailey, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year ‘A delightfully quirky book about one man’s obsession with everybody else’s obsession with money . . . a great read’ William Keegan, Guardian ‘An original, elegant, powerful and often beautiful work . . . Buchan in full flow is magnificent’ Nick Cohen, New Statesman ‘Easily the most pleasure I’ve had from a book this year . . . A journey through the dangerous and little-exposed country between the novelist’s rough pasture and the neat fields of the economist’ Martin Taylor, Sunday Telegraph ‘Buchan’s picture of monetary “culture” strikes me as irrefutable’ Michael Dirda, Washington Post ‘A fascinating book, full of learning and poetically written . . . For its many insight into what money has meant to different people in history, as well as for its passion, Frozen Desire deserves to be read’ The Economist ...Show more

An Economic History of New Zealand to 1939 by Muriel F Lloyd Prichard

$25.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand | Reading Level: very good

Wages and the Poor by Brian Easton

$12.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand | Reading Level: very good

Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White

$10.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: good

How the merchants of Venice shaped the modern world - and how their invention could make or break the planet. A fascinating exploration of how a simple system used to measure and record wealth spawned a cultural revolution. Prepare to have your idea of accounting changed forever. 'The rise and metamorph osis of double-entry bookkeeping is one of history's best-kept secrets and most important untold tales ... Through its logic we have let the planet go to ruin-and through its logic we now have a chance to avert that ruin.' Our world is governed by the numbers generated by the accounts of nations and corporations. We depend on these numbers to direct our governments, organisations, economies, societies. But where did they come from-and how did they become so powerful?The answer to these questions begins in the Dark Ages, with the emergence in northern Italy of a new form of accounting called double-entry bookkeeping. The story of double entry reaches from the Crusades through the Renaissance to the factories of industrial Britain and the policymakers of the Great Depression and the Second World War. At its heart stands a Renaissance monk, mathematician and magician, and his celebrated treatise for merchants. With double entry came the wealth and cultural efflorescence that was the Renaissance, a new scientific worldview, and a new economic system: capitalism.Over the past one hundred years accounting has flourished to an astonishing degree, despite the many scandals it has left in its wake. The figures double entry generates have become a sophisticated system of numbers which in the twenty-first century rules the global economy, manipulated by governments, financial institutions and the quant nerds of Wall Street.And the story of double entry is still unfolding-because today it might be our last hope for life on earth. ...Show more

Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth by Michael J. Graetz; I. Shapiro

$30.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

This fast-paced book by Yale professors Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro unravels the following mystery: How is it that the estate tax, which has been on the books continuously since 1916 and is paid by only the wealthiest two percent of Americans, was repealed in 2001 with broad bipartisan support? The m ystery is all the more striking because the repeal was not done in the dead of night, like a congressional pay raise. It came at the end of a multiyear populist campaign launched by a few individuals, and was heralded by its supporters as a signal achievement for Americans who are committed to the work ethic and the American Dream. Graetz and Shapiro conducted wide-ranging interviews with the relevant players: members of congress, senators, staffers from the key committees and the Bush White House, civil servants, think tank and interest group representatives, and many others. The result is a unique portrait of American politics as viewed through the lens of the death tax repeal saga. Graetz and Shapiro brilliantly illuminate the repeal campaign's many fascinating and unexpected turns--particularly the odd end result whereby the repeal is slated to self-destruct a decade after its passage. They show that the stakes in this fight are exceedingly high; the very survival of the long standing American consensus on progressive taxation is being threatened. Graetz and Shapiro's rich narrative reads more like a political drama than a conventional work of scholarship. Yet every page is suffused by their intimate knowledge of the history of the tax code, the transformation of American conservatism over the past three decades, and the wider political implications of battles over tax policy. ...Show more

Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth by Lester R. Brown

$16.00 NZD

Category: Economics | Reading Level: very good

In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view that the Sun revolved around the Earth, arguing instead that the Earth revolved around the Sun. His paper led to a revolution in thinking--to a new worldview. Eco-Economy discusses the need today for a similar shift in our worldview. The issue now is whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Lester R. Brown argues the latter, pointing out that treating the environment as part of the economy has produced an economy that is destroying its natural support systems. Brown notes that if China were to have a car in every garage, American style, it would need 80 million barrels of oil a day--more than the world currently produces. If paper consumption per person in China were to reach the U.S. level, China would need more paper than the world produces. There go the world's forests. If the fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economic model will not work for China, it will not work for the other 3 billion people in the developing world--and it will not work for the rest of the world. But Brown is optimistic as he describes how to restructure the global economy to make it compatible with the Earth's ecosystem so that economic progress can continue. In the new economy, wind farms replace coal mines, hydrogen-powered fuel cells replace internal combustion engines, and cities are designed for people, not cars. Glimpses of the new economy can be seen in the wind farms of Denmark, the solar rooftops of Japan, and the bicycle network of the Netherlands. Eco-Economy is a road map of how to get from here to there. ...Show more

The New Zealand CPI at 100: History and Interpretation by Sharleen Forbes and Antong Victorio (eds)

$20.00 NZD

Category: New Zealand | Reading Level: very good

Very few New Zealanders have lives unaffected by the Consumers Price Index, or CPI. It is used by the New Zealand government to adjust student allowances, welfare benefits and superannuation; by the Reserve Bank to guide monetary policy; by the old Court of Arbitration, and by employers and employees, t o negotiate wages; and by the media to inform the public about the effects of price changes on their standard of living. Some authors in this book document the New Zealand CPI as a history of conflicting machinations between unions, employers, public officials and lobby groups. Others view it as a mirror of domestic social norms and important international developments that eventually developed into a beacon with considerable public trust. Still others emphasise its technical evolution, from a crude selection of prices necessary for a just wage, to a modern indicator of consumer satisfaction and economic management. Whichever way you look at it, the CPI is a fascinating window into New Zealand's social and economic history. ...Show more