ECONOMICS AND ITS STORIES

Amal Sanyal

The narrative of the book starts with the birth of economics from a confused pool of societal anxieties of pre-industrial Europe. It then follows up its growth into a self-conscious and assertive discipline.

Along the account appear the colourful eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries gurus – Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Walras, Keynes and many others. The narrative strings together the events and traditions of the era of these mentors with the economics they developed and controversies around them. In the process it explains the concepts that are indispensable for understanding our economic world today. It has chapters on the theory of markets; market failure and the role of the government; the labour market and unemployment; money and finance; international economics and globalisation; and economic development. The book’s lucid style demystifies technical terminology and goes to the heart of the matter.

It should appeal to the interested general reader as well as specialists and students.

Amal Sanyal teaches economics at Lincoln University, New Zealand. He has taught and interacted with many other universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he has worked for many years. He held the State Bank of India Chair on public policy for some time and was an economic advisor to the Government of Mauritius for a number of years. He has wide research interests and has published a large number of research articles and a few books. His current research includes issues of governance, corruption and public policy.

Contents

1. Introduction   

2. Scarcity, Opportunity Cost and Efficiency 

3. Imperfect Markets, Monopoly and all that

4. Market Failure and Government Failure

5. Labour Market, Unemployment and Keynes

6. After Keynes       

7. Money, Banks and Finance

8. International Issues

9. Economic Growth and Development

10. Conclusion