Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy, third edition / Edition 3

by J. Barkley Rosser

Overview

An approach to comparative economic systems that avoids simple dichotomies to examine a wide variety of institutional and systemic arrangements, with updated country case studies.

Comparative economics, with its traditional dichotomies of socialism versus capitalism, private versus state, and planning versus market, is changing. This innovative textbook offers a new approach to understanding different economic systems that reflects both recent transformations in the world economy and recent changes in the field. This new edition examines a wide variety of institutional and systemic arrangements, many of which reflect deep roots in countries' cultures and histories.

The book has been updated and revised throughout, with new material in both the historical overview and the country case studies. It offers a broad survey of economic systems, then looks separately at market capitalism, Marxism and socialism, and “new traditional economies” (with an emphasis on the role of religions, Islam in particular, in economic systems). It presents case studies of advanced capitalist nations, including the United States, Japan, Sweden, and Germany; alternative paths in the transition from socialist to market economies taken by such countries as Russia, the former Soviet republics, Poland, China, and the two Koreas; and developing countries, including India, Iran, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil. The new chapters on Brazil and South Africa complete the book's coverage of all five BRICS nations; the chapter on South Africa extends the book's comparative treatment to another continent. The chapter on Brazil with its account of the role of the Amazon rain forest as a great carbon sink expands the coverage of global environmental and sustainability issues. Each chapter ends with discussion questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900262037333
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	01/26/2018
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	third edition
Pages:	744
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. , is Professor of Economics at James Madison University.

Marina V. Rosser is Professor of Economics at James Madison University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Rosser and Rosser's Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy is the go-to text for those of us in the field of comparative economics. Now in its third edition, it continues to adapt and adjust as the world is transforming, and yet retains the enduring lessons for those who want to engage in the comparative systems analysis. Much has happened since 1989, let alone since 1917, and Rosser and Rosser's text guides us through the bewildering and amazing world of the theory and practice of capitalism, socialism, and other -isms as well as the real-existing political, economic, and social experiences in the countries West, East, North, and South. Just a brilliant text full of insight and wisdom from all we have learned over time and across countries.

— Peter Boettke , University Professor of Economics & Philosophy, George Mason University

This book provides an incredibly broad and innovative comparative systems view of market economic systems, socialist systems, and Islamic and other economies based on religious principles. Rosser and Rosser show how history shapes fundamental institutions that allocate resources, protect property rights and enforce contracts. And they employ modern economic theory to explain how those diverse economic institutions deal with economic problems and can productively evolve or fail to move forward. This is an ideal text for an advanced undergraduate or masters level graduate course in comparative systems and international affairs.

— Daniel Berkowitz , Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh and co-managing editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics, 2007-2016

Endorsement

This text is an outstanding achievement in a field that has been in flux since the epochal changes in Russia and Eastern Europe. The authors demonstrate the continuing relevance of the comparative-systems approach by illustrating the extraordinary diversity in contemporary societies, from the market socialism of China to the worker-managed socialism of Slovenia to the new social arrangements in 'traditional' societies such as Iran. This is an important text that greatly improves the choices for systems courses.

—Satyananda J. Gabriel, Department of Economics, Mount Holyoke College