Inequality and Global Supra-surplus Capitalism (ePub)

-->This book is written as a sequel to John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society, and provides a theoretical framework, for the first time, for surpra-surplus capitalism.Conventional economics has the income and wealth distributions as "givens". This assumption immediately excludes such distributions from economic and social concern. Occasionally, economists such as Kenneth Boulding and even earlier, Michal Kalecki, have attempted to develop alternative perspectives in which such distributions are integral to the story and therefore have implications for public policy. At the same time, conventional microeconomics is a theory of price only in which economic efficiency (in an engineering sense) is the only value to be optimized. The income or wealth distributions are given as constraints. Mathematically, the constraints thereafter become invisible; they have no further role to play. The choices that are presumed to be made are neither inhibited nor facilitated by a household's position in the income or wealth distributions.This volume will explore problems with conventional theory and policy, but its main thrust comprises a theory of supra-surplus capitalism, applicable to both developed and developing countries, and its relation to inequalities worldwide. -->Contents:Introduction:The Paramount Position of ProductionThe Supra-surplus SocietyUnconventional WisdomEconomics and the Traditions of Scarcity and DespairPost Great Recession ExpectationsThe Necessary Economy:A Neo-Recardian View of Surpluses and Budget SharesThe Kaleckian Income DistributionThe Importance of the Kaleckian Income DistributionVeblenian Demand and Engel's LawSupra-surplus Capitalism:Prices, Advertising, and PowerThe Vita Theory of the Personal Income Distribution and PowerThe Global LinkagesThe Importance of the Vita TheoryStagnation and InnovationsCasino Capitalism:At InceptionA Net Worth PerspectiveThe Casino Effect of TA Minsky MomentInequalitiesPolicies:The Negative-Interest-Rate Global SocietyThe Minimum Wage and the Rehabilitation of Fiscal PolicyTaxation on WealthThe Campaign of 2016 and the Trump Transition --> -->Readership: Graduate and undergraduate students of contemporary and historical economics, researchers and academics of economics. -->Keywords:Capitalism;Production Surpluses;Supra-surpluses;Casino Economy;Inequality;Vita Theory;Great Recession;Subsistence;Minimum Wage;Markup;Kaleckian Power;Stagnation;Innovation;Technological Advance;Income Distribution;Wealth Distribution;Fiscal Policy;Monetary Policy;Incomes Policy;Zero-interest Rate SocietyReview:Key Features:Provides an economic theory rooted in the real worldDevelops a theory applicable to both developed and developing countriesMakes a distinction between the necessary and discretionary economyLays out the basis for new economic policies, some of which have been partially implemented in the pastProvides a theoretical framework, for the first time, for surpra-surplus capitalismIntegrates foreign and domestic economics in a meaningful wayDevelops the basis for income and wealth inequalities in different economiesProvides a multitude of potential policy remedies