Book Description

In this clear and accessible book, an eminent political scientist offers a jargon-free introduction to the market system for all readers, with or without a background in economics. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Rubbish
"Professor Lindblom's argument manifests a fundamental misunderstanding of the case for capitalism. Unless some people with money to spend wanted to read books critical of capitalism written by leftist intellectuals, our author would be unable to sell his book. But this does not weaken his claim to the money he is paid for the book: quite the contrary, that very fact is his claim to the money."

"Lindblom's abuse of logic in his argument goes further. Suppose one grants him that because the value of his book in large part depends on the preferences and actions of people besides him, he is not entitled to what people choose to pay him. It hardly follows that it is up to "society" to decide the issue. Lindblom has argued in this way: The value of what someone produces depends on the actions of everyone else, that is, on "the whole system." But this is to reify "the whole system" as if it were a separate entity with rights and entitlements of its own."

""Do you mean to tell me that in your society, other than a claim to liberty to work for wages and to hold and use assets if you can get any, no one has any claim on anyone else, on government, or on society other than what one can claim by offering something in return. . . . You call yourselves human beings?" (p. 114).

Clearly, the spaceman speaks for our author, who elsewhere bemoans the millions of people who would starve, were the market rule strictly applied. Would not all infants fail to reach adulthood, since they make no market contribution? "[T]he world would lie depopulated in a generation" (p. 120).

I venture to suggest that Lindblom has totally misapprehended the issue. The question is not whether people without assets or marketable skills should starve; of course they should not. But does it help these unfortunates to give them enforceable rights to sustenance? A legal enactment of this kind will not conjure into existence any resources, and these can be obtained only from the productive. Why will the poor fare better if they depend on the state to seize wealth from others, rather than rely on charity? Again Lindblom falls into the fallacy of thinking that a market society contains nothing but market transactions."

"Lindblom is for the most part content to repeat his arguments of fifty years ago. Perhaps in another half-century he will grasp what is wrong with them."

Quote: David Gordon,...

A Calm but Caring Exploration
"Think society, not economy." Thus Lindblom, our author, urges the reader to think about the market system in a more inclusive context than we ordinarily are wont to do. To what end?

Well, the subtitle of this book is "What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It." As he says early on: "For at least 150 years many societies have been trapped in an ill-tempered debate about market systems. Now we have an opportunity to think about these systems with a new dispassion and clarity. Market ideologues have learned that there is little to fear from communism... For their part, socialist ideologues have realized that aspiring for a better society is not enough. They have to face the complexities of constructing one."

One way of bisecting the population is by distinguishing those who see an imperfect world and want to perfect it from those who see an imperfect world and want to live in it as well as its imperfections allow. Charles Lindblom, a professor of economics and political science, is of the first sort. His viewpoints become clear as the book goes along, and he makes no bones about the imperfections of the various market systems and their supporting political systems. At the same time he is not an ideologue, and does not fall into the trap of yearning for a utopia of the right, or of the left.

Basically, he sees the market system as inducing cooperation and preempting violent interaction over a vast range of social interactions. That these take place mostly with money as intermediary does not remove them from the social sphere: it is, he claims, a false distinction to place economic interactions in some separable sphere from social interactions. The real distinction that the market system makes is quid pro quo: interactions between people involve an exchange - of goods for money, of favor for favor, of dinner at your house for (maybe much later) dinner at my house. But the invention of money and credit has made possible society-wide cooperation (the chain of cooperators to get this computer to my desk runs into the millions, or the hundreds of millions, of cooperating humans). For this the market system gets full credit.

But, as we know from the history of the Industrial Revolution (still going on in speeded-up form in some parts of the world), unfettered capitalism (the unregulated market system, in our terminology) is a harsh sorter-out of its participants into a few big winners (the entrepreneurs), a large number of more-or-less-contented employees, and a large number (although, unless the society is in imminent danger of revolution, not so large as the second group) of "losers" for whom the system offers little but grinding toil and early death.

Excepting such as Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand, most people feel the government has a legitimate role in curbing the excesses of the market system and protecting the citizens from each other within it. For it is a particularly transparent sophistry that all participants in the system come to it as roughly equally competent. To consider just one sort of inequality: many participants cannot do the arithmetic (don't even know that there is arithmetic they should be doing!) that would tell them whether they are getting a reasonable value when they buy something on time. Nor, say, do they understand the savage rate of compounding that credit card debt, left unattended, incurs.

The great political schism of our time is not religious, but free-market vs. government intervention. It can take a vast number of forms, and debate can get bogged down in symbolically important issues of little practical consequence while other more important effects are ignored. It is the virtue of this book that it adopts a more neutral terminology ("the market system") and is able to discuss and evaluate a vast range of issues on which sides are taken without demonizing one side or the other.

The weakness of this book is its inconclusiveness. It can't be helped. One can read a book about welfare reform, for example, and come away convinced of the author's prescription, because he has carefully stage-managed his argument to minimize or hide difficulties. Lindblom does not have that luxury: every issue really does have two sides. His general views are not in doubt: the market system is a very good thing; it needs government controls; government can, does, and should use the market system when it can it further the collective goals of the society.

But: how much freedom, of what sort, is enough? Is a command political system that employs market incentives just about as good as democracy? What possible alternatives are there to a market system? What can be done about corporations, these vast engines of production that are increasingly out of the control of the political system?

I enjoyed this book, although I'm not sure what I now know that I didn't already tacitly know. There were a few epiphanies, but they went by so quickly that I suspect I could profit much from a second reading. There are no pictures, charts, or bold-faced claims: the book has no visual aids to highlight its points. The prose is calm, and the arguments for or against a position are spare, with little or no supporting evidence. One reason for this is the high level at which the points are discussed: Lindblom is not making policy, but rather pointing out the wide range of possible answers to many of the vexed questions of the day. One cannot doubt the truth of most of what he says. The question is, what is one to do with it?

If one is a person of the second type, the answer is, nothing. But reformers should be given pause: Perhaps, after reading this book they may be persuaded to make their solutions less sweeping, in keeping with a new appreciation of the subtlety and richness of the problems of organizing a society around a market system that is intertwined with a political system.

The Market System: Understood Properly!!!
The main objective of Lindblom in this book is to elucidate the market system, not only in relation with the economic system but also in relation with the "social system", about what it does mean, how it does work, and what the alternatives it does have. Though the author is a supporter of the market system, he clearly demonstrates the efficiencies and inefficiencies, and accomplishments and failures of the market system in some important points for the society as a whole. At a point of time in history in which the alternative systems, including socialism, to market system have collapsed and the market rhetoric has pervaded all spaces of civic discourse, especially that regarding public sector management, Lindblom presents an excellent account of the market system that I believe will be very helpful to anybody who is interested in applying the market model to the public sector, and to anybody who believes (sometimes blindly) that the State is an impediment to the effective and efficient functioning of the market system.

The book is grouped into three parts. In the first part titled "How It Works" Lindblom examines the dynamics of the market system that lead to "great accomplishments". In the second part titled "What to Make of It" the author focuses on the operating rules of the market system, the relationship of the market system with and impact on democracy and culture. In the third part titled "Thinking About Choices" Lindblom envisages the alternative system to the market system that is expected to solve the problems of the market system. I will try to summarize some important points below.

To Lindblom, "a market system is a method of social coordination by 'mutual adjustment' among participants rather than by a central coordinator" (p. 23). To better grasp the role of the market system in coordinating the society, the author advises us to focus on and think the society, not the economy. In the market system, millions of people think and act without a great mind's planning and intention (say, central planning bureaucracy in socialist systems). "The market system is not a place but a web, not a location but a set of coordinated performances" (p. 40). The important point Lindblom tries to accomplish is that "it is a mindless and purposeless market system that accomplishes the great tasks of social cooperation" (p. 40). The market system wheel is rolled by intended and unintended behaviors of the individuals, but it creates an efficient functioning that was dreamed but could not yet have been accomplished by centrally intended systems such as socialist system. Lindblom approaches social coordination and "peacekeeping" in close relation to each other. Because of scarcity, according to the author, there is an inherent danger that people find themselves in fight to each other for determining who will get what and in what amount. "The market system", with the help of its formal and informal rules, "produces patterns of behavior that themselves reduce mutual injury and keep peace in the society, quite aside from inducing people to obey the law" (p. 44). Although "the market system makes societies peaceful, but that is not necessarily efficient, equitable, or humane" (p. 44), Lindblom cautions.

Lidblom believes that although enterprises and corporations are of critical importance in the market system in making proximate decisions (that transform inputs into outputs), he adds a caution that "the more the coordination by corporate management, the less by the market system", and he goes on to say that "The corporation is indeed an alternative to the market system" (p. 78). Why? Because the corporation can become an "island of command in market sea", by vertically integrating its production and by horizontally diversifying its mix of goods and services In these cases, multilateral cooperation among participants in the market system transforms itself into the unilateral hierarchical decision making of corporate managers, a form of decision-making that is more different than the market system's mutual adjustment, more similar to the central planning system's top-down decision making. This is a very important point that attracts our attention to the vital role of the State in ensuring the proper functioning of the market system and assuring fair competition.

Lindblom examines a large number of operating rules that lead the market system to producing efficient results in the domain in which it is mainly responsible and able to. This operating rules ranges from "quid pro quo" to "efficiency prices". Though generally market system is seen "completely" efficient as compared to "witch government", Lindblom demonstrates how the market system creates and feeds inefficiencies (negative spillovers, income inequalities are some among many others) and fails in many points that necessitate the State intervention to keep the "civilized" society get across the road.

One point in the book that impressed me deeply is how the market system, through its elite, creates (that I can call "anomalies in democratic system") what Lindblom calls "undemocracy". Lindblom also wages an effective critique on "granting the enterprise a citizen's rights (corporation as citizen) and demonstrates (with examples) how this "grant" can give (or gave) way to serious problems for the democratic system. In sum, Lindblom believes that "a society has to pay heavily for its market system in some loss of democracy (p. 250).

The inefficiencies and dangers of the market system constitute no reason, according to Lindblom, to abandon the market system. The alternative to the market system is not radically different from the market system itself today in function, but it is a state-supported market system that is oriented to detecting the problems and providing the solutions that the market system fails to do.

This book is supra-excellent that I cannot portray within limited lines. I believe that Lindblom is a great mind and a beautiful writer. Highly recommended for anybody who thinks that s/he knows the market system very well.

Interesting reflections on the market system
Professor Lindblom approaches his study of the "market system" in a rather circumspect manner but ultimately the book informs. The first part of the book is largely instructive. He defines the market system as "a system of society wide coordination of human activities not by central command but by mutual interactions in the form of transactions." Coordination is for both "social peacekeeping" and cooperation. Markets are an arena for mutual adjustment and not simply or even mostly for competition as some would contend. He contrasts the flexibility of markets with the rules and authority of a command system. The state under girds the market system by providing for liberties, property and contract rights, policing, infrastructure, a monetary system, etc. The author furnishes the analogy: if the market system is a dance, the state supplies the dance floor. He is especially wont to point out the interpenetration of the market system with society and the polity. The market system is not some purely economic formulation like, say, the law of supply and demand.

A key claim by purists is that the market system establishes efficiency prices, or the correct price based on the free interactions of all buyers and sellers. The author squashes that notion. There are any number of inefficiencies and compulsions that undermine claims of efficiency. Among them are so-called spillover effects or externalities, transaction termination, manipulation of buyers, inequality of resources, inequality of market position, arbitrary pricing by monopolies or governmental interference - to name a few. In addition, the author identifies "prior determinations" as distorting efficiency prices. Custom, laws especially those of inheritance, and historical accident distribute assets and skills that distort and taint current market transactions.

The author spends some time examining the quid pro quo basis of the market system. The general rule for entering the market system is that any request for benefits or goods is invalid without an equivalent market offer. Traditional societies have generally acknowledged at least some claim to society's output by virtue of membership. But market systems turn inhumane quid pro quo into a moral virtue. The author points out that the concept of community allows for "love thy neighbor," but in market societies one has no neighbors. Critics contend that the market system affects personalities rewarding small-mindedness, cunning, and deceit over wisdom. Yet the author is more inclined to view market behavior as an example of role ethics and not to be deplored.

Perhaps the major concern of the author concerning the market system is the disproportionate power granted to elites in a market system and the subsequent impact on freedom and democracy.
Clearly entrepreneurs and corporations and to some extent governmental elites are the movers and shakers of market systems. Market and political elites constantly bombard the public in one-way communication with their messages for purposes of controlling and manipulating the public's market and political behavior making a mockery of the much proclaimed "consumer sovereignty." Elite control and hierarchical arrangements are made to seem natural in an ostensibly democratic society.

Governments offer any number of inducements to corporations: tariff protections, loans, cash and land grants, purchase of goods, patents, tax concessions, information and research services, subsidized advertising, etc. School systems are geared to corporate needs. But those concessions to market elites are clearly a case of the exercise of political inequality.

In addition, it is problematic for democracy when rights usually conferred on real, living citizens are granted to institutions such as the fiction that corporations are legal persons. He contends that institutions should be constrained to pursue assigned purposes and no others. For corporations that would include rights to buy and sell and manage a workforce. As it is, corporations play the role of oversized, unfairly empowered citizens. Utilizing public funds, that is, sales receipts, and organizational resources, corporations engage in overt political and philanthropic activities at a level that overwhelms normal citizen participation and influence.

If the market system distorts democracy, why is it that no democratic state has turned away from the market system? According to the author the assault on the public's mind by market and political elites has produced "a remarkably high degree of conformity of thought endorsing or accepting the market system."

Free-market ideologues tout the freedom of the market system. But in the face of "distracting and obfuscating" communications from elites, is it possible to exercise free choice. Some have suggested that such manipulation actually degrades mental acuteness, and though sympathetic the author finds that to be an overstatement. The unfreedom of workplaces also brings into question the claim of the market system as being freedom enhancing. In the author's words: "People at the end of the 21st century may look back with astonishment on our era's discrepancy between democratic principle and autocratic practice in the corporation."

In the end, the author though noting the considerable problems of the market system remains confident that the market system can best deliver the benefits to society as first defined. He points out that every market society can choose varying degrees of control over spillovers, monopoly, corporate powers including political powers, managerial authority in enterprises, investment, and distribution of income and wealth. Purchase, subsidy, tax, and related devices can be used by the state to make the market system livable.

Undoubtedly, free-market types will not find much to enjoy in this book. Others may contend that the author was unwilling to drive the final nail into a system that he clearly finds to be problematic. But the book is a very interesting study of the market system. ... Read more

Book Description

Boehm-Bawerk's magnum opus, one of the greatest achievements in the history of economic thought.In fact, it is a Magna Carta of the capitalistic production process.In an economic order based on production, income from capital investment provides the very basis of the system and a livelihood for a large middle class, as well as capitalists and entrepreneurs.All observations about the nature and appraisals of the value of capitalism hinge upon the explanation of this capital income.Capital and Interest is divided into three parts:

The first volume History and Critique of Interest Theories, is a diligent and persuasive analysis of virtually all capital income theories.It is a critical history of interest doctrines that defend or oppose capital income.The second volume, Positive Theory of Capital, contains much more than the title seems to indicate.It presents a comprehensive theory of the entire production process.In particular, it elaborates on the principles that govern the allocation of incomes, that is, the amounts of interest, wage, and profit. Boehm-Bawerk offers a persuasive solution to all questions of income and theories of distribution.In Volume III, Further Essays on Capital and Interest, the publisher collected additional explanations and commentaries by the author.It comprises fourteen brilliant briefs explaining, elaborating, and defending the Positive Theory.It contains such great essays as "The Role of Disutility in the Value Theory" and "The Size of the Initial Fund that is Necessary for a Given Production Period." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The most complete and thourough theory of capital to date
The most comprehensive theory of capital to date. Absolutely brilliant. It also contains the marginal utility theory which displaced the labor theory of vale (Smith, Ricardo). Also it has brilliant essays and critiques of the competing interest theories going back to Aristotle and including the socialist explotation theory of interest, the productivity theories and the agio theory. A warning howevor. This book is none to easy to read. If you think Smith and Ricardo are boring you had better brace yourself. Tremendously original, just unbelievably hard to read. ... Read more

Book Description

Today's organisations, both large and small, are facing increasingly tough competition. Companies at the top of their field have no guarantees of continued, let alone future, success. Companies further down the food chain are increasingly likely to fall behind, contract, fail or be swallowed up. Increased market share, sustainable profits and strong organisational results have never been more important.

In The Competitive Enterprise, author Geoff Bell draws on the experience gained from running the major international quality awards- the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the European Foundation for Quality Management and the Australian Business Excellence Framework-to present 10 concise, sound and universal principles that will make a real difference and guarantee continued success.

He has done this because, though the awards point to what an organisation should look like, they do not explain how to put into practice the steps needed to get there, In simple terms, Geoff Bell fills the gap and presents and easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement plan for ensuring business success in 10 basic and integrated steps.

Clearly written and incorporating useful examples of good and bad practices, the book explains:
The benefits of each principle
How each principle can be put into practice
How primary stakeholders (shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and the community) might respond ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

The recent failures of Enron, WorldCom, and other large publicly traded corporations have catapulted the issue of corporate governance onto the international stage. In this timely book, Janis Sarra draws together the work of legal scholars and practitioners from across North America to provide a comprehensive analysis of corporate governance issues in global capital markets.

The contributors to this collection explore the theoretical underpinnings of corporate governance and provide concrete illustrations of different models and their outcomes. While the perspectives of the authors sometimes differ their common project is to explore different normative conceptions of the corporation in order to contribute to an anlysis of global trends in corporate governance. The book measures diverse theoretical perspectives against the reality of corporate operations in current capital markets, exploring the norms that inform shifts in governance practice and the influence of regulatory regimes on governance change. Relationships both within and outside the firm are explored, including issues of accountability, ethics in decision making, and notions of efficiency in generation of corporate wealth.

Legal scholars and practitioners with an interest in corporations, insolvency, and securities, as well as corporate directors will welcome this thoughtful collection to their libraries. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Informative and intriguing
The author does a wonderful job of bringing together two firms that are seperated in time, space and industry and draws a rich tapestry of parallels between them. Strong recommendation for anyone interested in understanding how the Internet/E-commerce affects firms, firm strategy and industrial organization with an intriguing parallel from the 19th century. The author provides a convinving argument that firms do not simply react to market forces but actively attempt to shape the market (in the case of Swift and Dell successfully) to meet their needs for profit and control.

Pure idiocy
Unfortunately, author takes enormous liberties in connecting two terribly disparate entities. As a result, the book looses its credibility very quickly. ... Read more

Book Description

"Andrews does a superb job in offering solutions to familiar problems for African Americans. Complete with charts, graphs, facts and figures, the author provides readers with a vivid display of how the scales of equality, wealth and power are tipped against people of color." -Upscale

"Andrews' aim is to paint an intellectually defensible and decidedly anti-conservative picture of the complicated tie between race and economic well being." -Booklist

"Fiery, passionate, and provocative, but also unflinchingly rigorous in its argument. It is rare for an economist to write with such fire bolstered by such a commitment to logical reasoning." -William A. Darity, Jr.

The Political Economy of Hope and Fear analyses the role technology, capitalism and conservative economic and social policy have played in determining the economic status of black Americans at the end of the 20th century. Andrews argues that black people are poorer, sicker, and less well educated than whites because the blue collar road to middle-class life has given way to technology, globalization and free market conservatism. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

"Wonderful eco book!" by RexCurry.net
Great book and well organized.

The message: The best environment is a capitalist environment.

If you hear that all libertarians want to "sail the seas," listen again because you probably heard the maxim that all libertarians want to "sell the seas."

Libertarian environmentalists use the following phrases in a sincere positive manner: sell the oceans, sell the seas, sell the gulf, sell the lakes, sell the rivers, sell the parks, sell the Everglades.

As a contender for the honorific title of "Top Libertarian Environmentalist," I spend a lot of time writing about libertarian environmentalism and how to speak to environmentalists.

There is a lot of material available on the internet from that point of view, and this book provides superb help, too.

"We love manatee!" Libertarians quip, "They taste just like chicken." But the reasoning of free market environmentalism shines.

Cuba, eastern Europe, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, The Peoples' Republic of China and other socialist messes have demonstrated that the Malthusian theory is manifested only in socialist economies. The book gives many insights as to why.

As the free market environmentalist Rex Curry said "Socialism is an environmental disaster."

The color of a healthy environment and the color of money are the same. Mother Nature is a capitalist. Capitalists are the true greens.

Free markets as environmental panacea
This book purports to be serious scholarship but is little more than very readable libertarian/free market boosterism. It does, however, do a good job of reflecting the values of the so-called Gingrich revolution of the mid-nineties and probably those of the current Bush administration.

The book takes one of two approaches: to place absolute faith in markets when it comes to environmental protection, or to deny the reality of particularly intractable problems. It's interesting to note that the sub-chapter on global warming, titled "Global Warming or a Lot of Hot Air?" (deriding those who believe in global warming as "Chicken Littles") which appeared in the first edition has disappeared from the 2001 revised edition. The revised edition doesn't even list global warming or climate change in the index.

Anderson and Leal make their strongest argument where they write about "government failure" in funding the construction, by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, of un-economic and ecologically harmful dams throughout the 20th century. This sort of pork-barrel spending wasted taxpayer money and harmed the environment and was largely unopposed, at least until Presidents Carter and Reagan (to both of their credit) began to resist, as is recounted at great length in Marc Reisner's excellent book Cadillac Desert.

In Anderson and Leal's chosen scheme of environmentalism, the most likely determiner of how natural resources would be allocated would be big multinational corporations, not unlike Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom, etc.. We have seen how (un)wisely these corporations protect the public interest and how equally (un)wisely they protect the interests of their own shareholders. Yes, by all means, lets put the Great Lakes into a water market and allow some new "Enron" to control the trading. (See Anderson and Leal's Chapter 8, titled "Priming the Invisible Pump.") It's scary to think that the decision over whether we will have any wilderness left at all would be in such (in)capable private hands. Yet that's what the authors recommend. This book's solutions are overly simplistic and thus either wrong or incomplete. I give the book a five for readability and a one for policy, with policy weighted most heavily.

This version of the book might not be suitable to your needs
This version of the book does not allow for you to print the book. Also, copy and paste is disabled. Finally, this version of the book requires Adobe Ebook Reader (note that this software is different from Adobe Acrobat Reader).

A new approach to saving the environment
This book is a real eye-opener. It shows how sometimes the private sector is much better at protecting the environment than the government is. It builds from early examples in the 19th century up through effective private-sector efforts today. At the same time, it points out how government programs sometimes worsen the very problem they seek to correct.

Some people might not believe its notion that the private sector will always do the right thing. And, of course, it won't. However, this book is a good guide to the growing movement to find a better way to protect the environment. ... Read more

Book Description

Why in prosperous market democracies today do so many people regardthemselves as unhappy? Robert E. Lane draws on extensive research in many fields toshow that the main sources of well-being in advanced economies are friendships and agood family life; income has little to do with happiness once a person rises above thepoverty level. Lane urges us to alter priorities and emphasize companionship over higherincome. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A good start to a big question
I agree with the previous reviewer that this book doesn't have all the answers, and that Lane often spends too much time pressing the same points. That said, Lane supports his conclusions well, and presents his central message clearly. For someone without much philosophy background (i.e. me), Lane's discussion of the trinity of ultimate goods was valuable and instructive. To recently graduated students: this is book is a great reason to use your alumni library privleges.

Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies
Mr. Lane attempts to tackle a serious issue of great importance to modern capitalist democracies. Certainly after long days we all wonder if the drudgery of capitalist lifestyles is worth the rewards. However, the book suffers from many analytical flaws. It attempts to find casual mechanisms resulting in unhappiness, but fails to adequately untangle the many sources of unhappiness and several times places emphasis on clearly the wrong one. The book is also extremely redundant, and could have been condensed to half its size. Lastly, many of the studies cited needed more justification and explanation. The results of the studies certainly are an adequate factual foundation to justify the facade he attempts to build. It certainly is a beginning to a discourse on a serious question, but this book does not have the answers. ... Read more

Book Description

The buzz about The ebay Phenomenon

"David Bunnell’s portrayal of eBay paints a picture of one of the most daring, fanatically innovative, customer-centric companies on the planet. It demonstrates how a small, driven group of people can listen to customers and reinvent the world–inspiring!"–David Siegel, author, Futurize Your Enterprise

"Read The eBay Phenomenon if you want the inside account of how this innovative company became one of the decade’s greatest business success stories. Regardless of what business you’re in, David Bunnell’s exciting chronicle offers valuable lessons and a riveting narrative."–Eric Nee, Senior Writer, Fortune ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Dull book with little information
If you have no idea what Internet is and have never seen ebay web site then you might learn something from this book. But for an average Internet-savvy person it offers little to nothing. There is a lengthy description of well-know information (like terms of sale of ebay) and constant selling of ebay business model: nothing you can't read elsewhere.

so and so
The author "gets" eBay. Unfortunately, he was not granted interviews or access to eBay people. As a result, the book is little more than a collection of articles from the Industry Standard, Fast Company abd the like. Furthermore, the book covers eBay until December 1999 or Q1 2001 at most. Back then, it looked like Yahoo! had a business model, remember? And yes, the author contemplates the possibility of a Yahoo! takeover (which was possible) and even the ridiculous idea that eBay should perhaps create its own "portal" in order to grow... Not worth the money. Buy "The Perfect Store" by Adam Cohen instead.

Not much meat
This book gives an overview of ebay's creation and why it has been a success. It gives no insider insights however. It was fun to read but I did not learn much from it. This book does not have substance.

A poor read
This book is basically a series of quoted and sited magazine articles hastily cobbled together into a book. The only "real" interviews done by the author are with a few eBay customers who use the site. The author admits no one with eBay granted him an interview or let him in the building. For a much better story of how eBay came to be, read eBoys by Robert Stross.

Sold!!
This book basically delivers what it promises to. Lots of somewhat dry facts about how a small Internet business boomed into one of the hottest "sites" available.

I am a big Ebay fan. I wanted to find out more about the people who created Ebay but also wanted to get a feel for the direction these people were hoping to guide the future of the site to.

Although I thought the story was fairly interesting, this book was very dryly written. Not much was cited other than the absolute bare bones facts and the writing was not particularly interesting.

While I realize this is a business book, I think there was much room for interesting tidbits, advice or funny stories. None here. Too bad... ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a completely rewritten version of the author's earlier Capitalism or Worker Control? (first published in 1980). Its central thesis is that, despite the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the break-up of the Soviet Union, capitalism cannot be justified on either economic or ethical grounds. There is in fact an alternative to capitalism that promises greater efficiency, and equality, and more rational growth, democracy and meaningful work. This alternative, Economic Democracy, is market socialismwith decentralised investment planning and workplace democracy.Professor Schweickart compares this model with other models - laissez-faire conservatism, the Keynesian welfare state, and 'neo-liberalism' - and argues that it is really superior on every count.He also sketches out a possible transition from advanced capitalism, from what is left of the centrally planned economies, and from Third World underdevelopment, to Economic Democracy. The author concludes with some reflections on Marx's communism, as historical materialism, and on the future of Marxism. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

I disagree but I still recommend this book
As a libertarian, I found this book challenging, provocative, well-argued and thorough. Of course, as a libertarian, I also found it to be completely wrong about everything, but I would still recommend this book to any libertarian, conservative or free-marketeer who is up for an honest intellectual challenge rather than the parade of straw-man fallacies, circular reasoning and populist rhetoric usually trotted out by the left.

A good argument for economic democracy
One previous reviewer seems to not have even read the book, but i want ot reiterate what has been stated previously: this book is not about soviet communism, it is about something new called economic democracy. every reviewer should realize this when reading other reviews that deride this book by applealling to the stalinistic soviet union.

the first chapter discusses marxian arguments against capitalism. the only real original writing in the first chapter is at the end when he attacks nozick, an argument that i think is particularly damning to nozicks argument; unless youre a are pure libertarian who doesnt really care about the bad stuff that other people suffer.

after that, marx doesnt come into the discussion until the last chapter where he tries to align his theory with marxism. like mentioned previously, i am not sure if he sells his case.

one last thing. as much as i loathe those previous reviewers who appeal to the soviet union to make a case against socialism, i must admit that even schweickart's central real world example of economic democracy has some flaws. a little bit of research will turn up that the socialist paradise of the mondragon cooperative has recently discovered that there were some serious corruption problems occuring within the system. that said, schweikart's book is still an excellent piece of social philosophy.

There Is An Alternative
In the aftermath of the failure of Soviet socialism, we hear over and over again that there is no alternative to capitalism. Schweickart shows, with great clarity, wide learning, and an accessible prose style, that this is not true. His alternative is a market economy in which the workers run the factories, farms, and offices. What is is that capitalists contribute merely by owning the productive assets, in virtue of which there might be a point in letting them take the profits? Schweickart answers: _nothing_, and backs it up. Workers can perform all the managerial and entrepreneurial functions themselves. He develops a model in which they do, based on empirical research into worker cooperatives. The economy has a large state sector for finance, but uses markets to allocate scarce resources and satisfy demand. Schweickart shows that this would be more just, more democratic, and more efficient than either libertarian laissez-faire capitalism or welfare state capitalism. He also tries to show, rather less successfully, that his economic democracy is somehow in the Marxist tradition, despite Marx's dislike of markets. But whether one finds this argument as plausible as his argument for the dispensibility of capitalism is really immaterial. Schweickart has articulated a compelling and practicable alternative to capitalism, something that would be different, better, and worth fighting for. The book is essential reading for anyone thinking about economic alternatives.

Do not read this unless you are ready to think for yourself
The first thing to understand about this work is that Schweickart is most definitely NOT advocating Soviet socialism as an economic system. (Neither was Marx for that matter, but that's another story). If the extent of your logical reasoning is to think that anyone who dares argue against capitalism must be proposing Stalinesque reform, then this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you, like many others, have the gnawing feeling inside that something is not quite right with the proliferation of American-dominated global capitalism, Schweickart offers both explanations and alternatives.

The strongest part of the book is the opening few chapters, in which the author systematically dismantles all of the economic arguments for capitalism. And he does so not by resorting to hackneyed left-wing rhetoric, but with careful economic analysis. (Personally, I would have appreciated a more extensive discussion of the moral arguments for opposing capitalism, such as that it is antithetical to the principles of Christianity, but I understand why Schweickart chose not to go this route.) I recommend a detailed reading of this section - take notes, think critically, visit other sources to understand contrary viewpoints.

The rest of the book, although excellent, does not quite live up to the opening. Scheickart sets forth his view for an alternative, which he calls economic democracy. But it would be impossible for any text to create a completely satisfactory economic system. The issues need to be discussed, different ideas need to be tried - this is not criticism, just reality.

Schweickart will provide you with food for thought, whether you are a curious student just beginning to question the pseudo-science passing as economics in most universities, or a serious reformer looking for a fresh persepctive. Highly recommended.

Another book for the blind
Question: What's the difference between the author - David Schweickart and Karl Marx?

Karl Marx can be given one break - he didn't live to see the days his communist ideals would be put into action. The author has no excuses.

After a century we can now list the accomplishments of communism:

* Famine in the Soviet Union after collectivizing agriculture: millions dead

* Millions executed during Stalin's rule: 10 million dead

* Famine under Mao: 10 - 30 million dead

* Pointless civil wars death and suffering in dozens of countries in 5 continents to install communist regimes: millions dead

* An economic system that remained inferior to capitalist countries (in fact communist countries were losing even more ground to capitalist countries as years past) and kept a majority of people much less materially well off than their counterparts in capitalist nations - take North and South Korea; East and West Germany; China and Taiwan.

* Horrendous pollution - National geographic did an expose on Siberia "the most polluted place on the planet"

* No freedom

Estimates range from 50 to 100 million dead and human suffering in the billions, oppression and destroyed ecosystems - what would you call this - EVIL - and what would you call people who support this - EVIL.

For all its shortcomings capitalism has helped rise millions to hire levels of economic well being. On economics alone capitalism for outstrips communism. ... Read more

Book Description

What lies at the center of the Mexican colonial experience? Should Mexican colonial society be construed as a theoretical monolith, capitalist from its inception, or was it essentially feudal, as traditional historiography viewed it? In this pathfinding study, Enrique Semo offers a fresh vision: that the conflicting social formations of capitalism, feudalism, and tributary despotism provided the basic dynamic of Mexico's social and economic development. Responding to questions raised by contemporary Mexican society, Semo sees the origin of both backwardness and development not in climate, race, or a heterogeneous set of unrelated traits, but rather in the historical interaction of each social formation. In his analysis, Mexico's history is conceived as a succession of socioeconomic formations, each growing within the "womb" of its predecessor. Semo sees the task of economic history to analyze each of these formations and to construct models that will help us understand the laws of its evolution. His premise is that economic history contributes to our understanding of the present not by formulating universal laws, but by studying the laws of development and progression of concrete economic systems. The History of Capitalism in Mexico opens with the Conquest and concludes with the onset of the profound socioeconomic transformation of the last fifty years of the colony, a period clearly representing the precapitalist phase of Mexican development. In the course of his discussion, Semo addresses the role of dependency--an important theoretical innovation--and introduces the concept of tributary despotism, relating it to the problems of Indian society and economy. He also provides a novel examination of the changing role of the church throughout Mexican colonial history. The result is a comprehensive picture, which offers a provocative alternative to the increasingly detailed and monographic approach that currently dominates the writing of history. Originally published as Historia del capitalismo en Mexico in 1973, this classic work is now available for the first time in English. It will be of interest to specialists in Mexican colonial history, as well as to general readers. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Pompous drivel
Socialists have a vital contribution to make in the movements of the 21st century. But unless you are in a self-important salon sipping espresso, it is hard to imagine how this slim, arrogant text could have any bearing on the real world.
Disappointing.

A study of contemporary anti-globalization movements
An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto by Alex Callinicos (Professor of Politics, University of York, England) is an informed and informative study of contemporary anti-globalization movements. Examining the crucial questions of whether protests against globalization are truly against the capitalist system itself, An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto also dissects the resistance to neo-liberal economic policies embraced by the seven leading industrial countries; makes a persuasive argument that protests worldwide are particularly anti-capitalism; and marks the possibility of synthesizing elements of Marxist tradition into a new world market system that offers more balance, stability, and well-being for all. An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto is a welcome and recommended addition to International Studies, Economic Studies, and Political Science reference collections and supplementary reading lists. ... Read more

Book Description

From the author of two Village Voice books of the year comes a ruthless expose of the raptors at Enron. Behind the screams over workers’ disappearing pensions, disappearing jobs, and disappearing CEO responsibility lies a bigger story: What Enron has done to the world. Included is "A Manual for Corporate Terrestrial Conquest," complete with juicy tips for imperialist globalization.Learn how to fix prices using ADM as a model; how to enlist the henchmen of the imperial state (such as the CIA’s economic espionage division and USAID, as Enron has done); and how to use terrorism and the drug war to push for more corporate control as Enron did in Colombia.Prashad shows we have come full-circle, back to the imperialism practiced by the East India Company from 1600-1857. Even as Enron collapsed, Enronism is the new normal, a new level of criminality. Criminality perfected by Enron. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Follow the Trail
This is something that will not be shown on prime time television. It will not win the support of the corporate controllers who buy time and form conglomerates so that courageous stories like this will not be told, but in today's topsy turvy world, where control is amassed by every smaller numbers of greedy multinationals, this is a story that needs to be revealed in every shocking detail.

The author takes this account of appalling corporate greed to the level where it must go if the true story is to be revealed, to the linkage between large corporations and the huge international drug network. This is in turn linked to the oil network, and it in turn is attached to the warmaking machine with the chilling potential to amass fortunes by sending youngsters choked off from good jobs by greedy corporate globalism to do their fighting. Chicken hawks like Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Perle cheer from the sidelines as these youngsters are sacrificed on an altar of corporate greed.

The CIA is not spared by this courageous author. In many instances it has been used to soften up economies before replacing leaders who demand a fair share of the pie for the people of their respective nations. In other times the influence is more direct, as in overthrowing democratically elected governments in Guatemala, Iran and Chile. Meanwhile the propaganda machine spiels off the message that people hate America because it is such a rich nation with prosperous and happy people. Try telling that to those who have been reduced to fragmentary existences through the oppressive yoke of globalization. Look into what happened in Russia after the old Communist bosses were overthrown.

The Enron picture is tied ever so closely to the Bush regime. While Cheney warned us that California was being torn asunder due to a lack of sufficient energy resources, the truth finally came out in a stinging government report revealing what informed sources already knew, that a savage ripoff led by the Enron brigade had fleeced California's taxpayers. Why not let these evil wrongdoers do the hard time in federal prisons rather than non-violent drug offenders who need treatment rather than prison incarceration?

These are just some of the questions arising from a detailed reading of this brilliant book. We need more courageous authors like this who are not afraid to take on the establishment. This kind of courage is what is needed to turn things around amid suffocating greed at the corporate international level. Perhaps enough courageous voices can ultimately end the tragic concept, which former President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned emphatically against, of preventive war. ... Read more

Book Description

Since the 1970s, a gulf has opened between the pay of low-paid workers and the pay of the middle class. No longer able to earn a decent wage in respectable work, many have left the labor force, and the job attachment of those remaining has weakened, also reducing employment. For Edmund Phelps, this is a failure of political economy whose ill effects have spread widely and are undermining the free-enterprise system itself. His solution is a graduated schedule of tax subsidies to enterprises for every low-wage worker they hire. As firms hire more of these workers, the labor market would tighten, driving up their pay levels as well as their employment. ... Read more

Book Description

Why has capitalism produced economic growth that so vastly dwarfs the growth record of other economic systems, past and present? Why have living standards in countries from America to Germany to Japan risen exponentially over the past century? William Baumol rejects the conventional view that capitalism benefits society through price competition--that is, products and services become less costly as firms vie for consumers. Where most others have seen this as the driving force behind growth, he sees something different--a compound of systematic innovation activity within the firm, an arms race in which no firm in an innovating industry dares to fall behind the others in new products and processes, and inter-firm collaboration in the creation and use of innovations.

While giving price competition due credit, Baumol stresses that large firms use innovation as a prime competitive weapon. However, as he explains it, firms do not wish to risk too much innovation, because it is costly, and can be made obsolete by rival innovation. So firms have split the difference through the sale of technology licenses and participation in technology-sharing compacts that pay huge dividends to the economy as a whole--and thereby made innovation a routine feature of economic life. This process, in Baumol's view, accounts for the unparalleled growth of modern capitalist economies. Drawing on extensive research and years of consulting work for many large global firms, Baumol shows in this original work that the capitalist growth process, at least in societies where the rule of law prevails, comes far closer to the requirements of economic efficiency than is typically understood.

Resounding with rare intellectual force, this book marks a milestone in the comprehension of the accomplishments of our free-market economic system--a new understanding that, suggests the author, promises to benefit many countries that lack the advantages of this immense innovation machine. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Packed with Knowledge!
This book should certainly be on every businessperson's reading list, and every legislator's, and every student's. It is a lucid, well-organized and admirably logical presentation of the role of innovation in capitalism, and the role of capitalism in innovation. Author William J. Baumol accomplishes something rare indeed by spanning the chasm between quantitative and qualitative economic writing. He has the verbal skill to write clearly and accessibly, explaining his points in plain if elevated and austere language, and illustrating them with interesting historical examples. His rigorous mathematical demonstration would satisfy the most demanding academic economist. Baumol's insight that capitalism's great achievement is to make innovation routine distinguishes this book from others on innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. Although the lone inventor matters, ancient Rome and China had lone inventors and yet those empires did not produce economic growth on the scale that capitalism has produced it. Capitalism is distinctly productive because it makes innovation a self-sustaining and indispensable phenomenon, driving and driven by competition. We find this intriguing thesis well worth serious consideration.

Good Book on Necessity of Institutional Rules
"The thesis of William J. Baumol's latest book is articulated clearly at the start. The free-market growth engine depends ultimately on institutional rules. People may have a natural entrepreuneurial instinct, but that instinct can find outlet in criminal, rent-seeking, or other destructive activities as easily as in productive venues. Economic growth depends, however, on more than just rules and norms that channel such inclinations in the "right" direction. It depends also on rules governing the appropriation of intellectual property and on the precise trade-off a society makes between pricing information at its marginal cost (making it free) and providing incentives for invention and innovation by creating rules to allow appropriobility for fixed periods of time. We call this body of rules patent, copyright, and, in general, intellectual property law (although, as Baumol argues, antitrust is also relevant). The dilemma is that in the absence of such protection there are few private incentives for producing new information or discoveries, but in the presence of such protection we impose monopoly pricing and, consequently, static efficiency losses."

"The first section of the book, devoted to the "capitalist growth mechanism," is the most interesting. Here Baumol develops his vision of a capitalist economy as consisting of competitive price-taking sector and an oligopolistic sector in which competition occurs more often on the innovation margin rather than on the price margin. The pharmaceutical and computer industries are cases in point. This oligopolistic sector is the economy's engine of growth. Firms here must innovate or they die; they also must price discriminate or die because the heavy fixed costs of innovation cannot be covered if everyone pays a price equal to marginal cost. These costs must be recouped in the same way that railroads were forced to price discriminate to cover their fixed costs for rolling stock and permanent way. Baumol cautions antitrust authorities against jumping to the conclusion that departures from marginal-cost pricing are necessarily evident of monopoly power."

"As Baumol's book proceeds, it devotes a generally increasing share of space to formal models...[and] it was somewhat dissapointing...to discover how much of the second half of the book is devoted to model building as opposed to discussion..." ... Read more