اقتصاددانان و قدرتمندان: نظریه‌های راحت، حقایق تحریف‌شده، پاداش‌های فراوان (اقتصاد دیگر آنتهم)

"Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards" explores the workings of the modern global economy – an economy in which competition has been corrupted and power has a ubiquitous influence upon economic behavior. Based on an array of empirical and theoretical studies by a series of distinguished economists, this book reveals a stark and unpleasant truth: that the true workings of capitalism are very different from the popular myths that mainstream economics would have us believe. By connecting the dots and coloring the resulting picture with real life examples, this work provides a groundbreaking account of the mechanics of capitalism, and demonstrates how different groups and elites consistently further their own economic interests at the expense of others. Journeys into economic history allow the reader to travel to the source of the political power enjoyed by our current-day financiers, and unveil a whole host of systematic problems – such as that our banks are the main beneficiaries of today's unstable, debt-oriented monetary system, or that leading economists often play a role in helping CEOs massively inflate their salaries without improving their performance – that are today more pertinent, and prevalent, than ever. To investigate these issues, "Economists and the Powerful" looks closely at the incentives pursued by economists, and explores the history of the economic doctrines supported in our current financial climate. Via this scrutinizing approach, the text approaches the most overlooked issue of all: the matter of how, when and why the questioning of power was erased from the radar screen of mainstream economics – and the influence this subversive removal has had upon the modern financial world. For more information please see the book website: http://economistsandthepowerful.anthempressblog.com/ | "Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards" explores the workings of the modern global economy – an economy in which competition has been corrupted and power has a ubiquitous influence upon economic behavior. Based on empirical and theoretical studies by distinguished economists from both the past and present day, this book argues that the true workings of capitalism are very different from the popular myths voiced in mainstream economics. Offering a closer look at the history of economic doctrines – as well as how economists are incentivized – "Economists and the Powerful" exposes how, when and why the theme of power was erased from the radar screens of mainstream economic analysis – and the influence this subversive removal has had upon the modern financial world. Economists and the Powerful 2 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 INTRODUCTION 8 The Structure of this Book 11 Chapter 1 THE ECONOMICS OF THE POWERFUL 16 In Search of Power Lost – A Brief History of Economic Doctrine 17 How power was purged from international economics 18 The birth of marginalism 19 How institutionalism was pushed out of economics in the US 23 Thou shalt not compare – The ordinalist challenge 26 The changes to economics 27 Changes to how the field of economics was promoted and funded 30 Cold War economics 33 The rational choice movement and negative freedom 36 Heresy is for the Lesser Journals 41 Exporting the American way of thinking 42 The power to choose the measure of success 43 Lies, damned lies and growth statistics 46 Quadratic weighting 48 The hedonic method 49 Economics’ self-fulfi lling prophecies 52 American “exceptionalism” and the false belief in a just world 53 He who pays the piper calls the tune 56 Conclusion 60 Chapter 2 MONEY IS POWER 62 The Sources of the Power of Finance 64 Short side power on the credit market 64 The power to control other people’s money 65 Insider power 68 Market power in finance 69 Your Money in the Bank – Your Bank in the Money 70 A banker on the board is stealing more than the show 73 Why banks don’t like to Google 75 Those porous Chinese walls 77 Carnivores at the top of the food chain 79 Five Hundred Years of Bankers’ Rule 84 Be powerful or vanish 87 Let there be money 89 Fighting over the spoils of money creation 91 Let there be crisis 93 Give back the money 95 The strange and unusual role of central banks 99 A Man-Made Crisis (and a Woman Who Tried to Prevent It) 104 They made a killing 110 Rating agencies were doing the dirty work 112 Conclusion 115 Chapter 3 THE POWER OF THE CORPORATE ELITE 122 Autopsy of a Failed Idea: Why Pay-for-Performance Led to Disaster 123 The small and cozy world of an unaccountable corporate elite 130 The pathway to riches runs through the remuneration committee 132 A Nice Theory and the Ugly Reality of Managerial Pay 134 The outrage constraint in action 135 The dating game 137 When market discipline takes a break 141 What Is Performance, Anyway? Shareholder Value as the Benchmark of Everything 142 The earnings management game 144 Paying Well for Lies, Gambles and Creative Accounting 146 Entrenched Boards Protect Entrenched Executives 148 Conclusion 150 Chapter 4 MARKET POWER 156 Perfect Competition versus Imperfect Monopolies 157 Inefficiency can survive 161 The mixed blessing of free market entry 162 Price competition without free entry will not push profits to zero 165 Monopolies can be good or bad 166 Playing Monopoly on the Labor Market 168 To each according to their contribution 170 Capital is what capital does 173 Conclusion 175 Chapter 5 POWER AT WORK 178 Homo Economicus at Work 180 Those ugly market forces have to stay outside 184 The high road to profit is not easy to find 188 Rent Sharing and its Consequences 192 Good job, bad job or no job 195 Divide and rule – Outsource and cut 199 How to profit from discrimination 201 Policies and Institutions Revisited 203 Unions are doing more than destroying jobs 204 Minimum facts about minimum wages 207 Money for nothing – Unemployment insurance 213 Pink slip economics revisited 214 Conclusion 218 Chapter 6 THE POWER TO SET THE RULES OF THE GAME 222 History Never Ends 223 Politics for the Apolitical 225 An Improbable Love Affair with the Median Voter 227 Buying Protection with Votes and Money 229 Conclusion: Strengthen and Protect the Political System from Itself 233 AFTERWORD 236 REFERENCES 238 INDEX 256