5 comments about The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

1. 
   "The Competitive Advantage of Nations" gives insights into why and how industries, regions, nations or some social groups thrive or fall short. The book explains and presents the theory on the sources of sustained prosperity in the contemporary worldwide economy. This seminal work has assisted countries to develop national policy based on their international competitiveness.
   
   Porter methodically and systematically discusses why some nations achieve continual economic prosperity. He explains the roles of governments and companies in economic development. The author shows the distinction between competitive advantage as a source of wealth and the concept of comparative advantage which had been until recent years the paradigm on thinking about international competition.
   
   Porter based his research in 10 leading trading nations. The book introduced the author's "diamond" which is a new way of looking and comprehending the competitive advantage of a nation. His concept of "clusters" or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries and institutions in certain locations opened a unique way for organizations and governments to look at economies and assess the competitive advantage of locations and set public policy.
   
   This weighty tome is recommended reading for entrepreneurs, business executives, policy makers, economists and other readers who are interested in ensuring that companies can successfully face the future based on pragmatic assessment of how the firm can gain competitive advantage.



2. Recently pick up the book by lecturer recommendation, although its dry & boring with huge massive information but open up my mind and keep question the assumption in today market.



3. One of my favorites titles. I started my experience about Porter's Competitiveness by this book.



4. Will a firm that exports finished manufactured goods make more money than a firm that exports raw materials?
   
   The Raw Material depression that hit Latin America cause a massive deficit in the 1990s. Decreases in raw material commodity prices contributed to the increasingly large trade deficit with Japan. The US bought electronics and automobiles from Japan and Japan imported US agricultural. The continue drop in US agricultural commodity price accelerate the trade deficit.
   
   Every nation specializes in specific SIC code domains. US refrigeration and cooling domains as companies like Trane and Carrier establish position and global market share . Latin America could hold the key to removing US trade deficit. The US exports finished goods to Latin America, Wheat, Soybeans, Rice, and Corn to Brazil. Brazil consumes large quantities of US products, acquires easy credit, and the trade deficit shrinks. Local protectionism can not compete against global market price. US ethanol price drive demand for corn and wheat. The US imports biofuels and wood products. Commodity demand booms and a rise in commodity prices occurs. Government regulation attempts to soften fluctuations in commodity prices and appease local demand. Short term relief is possible.
   
   Decreased regulation, removal of trade barriers, and lower taxes help global firms become more competitive. Lower corporate taxes provide more foreign investment. The growth of firms will be associated with increased investment opportunity. Lower taxes help reduce the risk associated with return on investment burdens.



5. I once read an article by Michael Porter called "Strategy and the Internet". In it the author argues against mainstream ideas such as "the internet will change everything in businesses". I did not necessarily agree with the author, but its good to read something critical of popular ideas once in a while. This is why I bought this book, and the author did not dissapoint. Michael Porter challenges alot of "facts" in this book and does a good job. The book is very rich with information and is easy to read. The author picks countries from both the rich world and the developing world. My only problem is that he didnt chose China or India. I think if he was writting the book now he would have definately chosen both of them, but even so, they would have been a goodchoice 30 years ago, I think. Its very challenging to write about "the rise and fall" of economic advantage as a general theory, but the author did an excellent job. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in economics or business, but I dont think socialists will like what they read. The author clearly states that there is a role for the government to play, but not the sort of role communists have in mind. Infact he strongly argues that any interference the wrong way would destroy a nations advantage.

5 comments about An Introduction to Game Theory.

1. As a grad student preparing for his comprehensive exams, I searched long for an exemplary introduction to game theory. The descriptions of this book which I found on the web led me to believe Osborne's book was the one I needed. The book starts off promising enough. The preface exclaims that "the only way to appreciate the theory....is to put it into action" and that over 280 exercises will allow you to do this.
   
   Then comes the part they don't tell you - those 280+ exercises have no solutions. They are not included in the text. Even after contacting the author he refused access to the solutions.
   
   So what may have just been the best intro to game theory ever done is useless to a self-motivated learner. The only purpose I can see that it serves is as a required text book for a course.
   
   Bottom line - unless you HAVE to have this for a class, don't waste your money. It will be very wisely spent elsewhere.



2. As part of my M.Sc. in Operations Research and Decisions, I took two courses that are developed to teach the basics and slightly advanced concepts of Game Theory: 'Models of conflict' and 'Economic models of games with incomplete information'. Since I am highly interested in the subject, I decided to buy a book that summarizes the field in an intuitive (but not shallow) way. I left the mathematical theorems and proofs for the class. The professor that teaches both courses indicated this book to me and despite the high price I decided to buy it.
   
   I believe that I did not receive what the book promised on its description. While the book does not intend to be a mathematics coursebook, it is not an intuitive overview as well. In the end, it got stuck in middle! The book reminds me of a quote by Laurence J. Peter: "Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them."
   
   The book explains most of the theoretical concepts and gives very interesting historical information on Game Theory and its thinkers. However, it is surely TOO high-priced.



3. It is a totally disaster to buy a poor book such like this.
   I am really frustrated to find out that the author can not make difference between a relation and a function, just in the chapter 2.
   It is incredible it was published by Cambridge University Publishng.
   
   I would rahter recommend "Game Theory" by Drew Fudenberg and Jean Tirole(MIT Press). It is much clear but lacking of various examples.
   
   Even one star is exaggerated.



4. The book offers several argument about modern applications of the game theory. Particullary, it is importantant the Bayesan probability and the relation with the information theory. The autor leads the student into the secrets of the actual economy. I'm sorry that the cooperative games are treated no completly.



5. Before studying this book I recommand to read the book "Games of Strategy, Second Edition (Hardcover)by Avinash K. Dixit (Author), Susan Skeath (Author)" this book will be helpful in understanding the osbornes' book. it is very scientific , logical and you will be interested in game theory. good luck!!!

5 comments about Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It.

1. This is an extraordinarily well-written book. However, if you're not well-versed in quantitative finance, you're probably going to have a hard time following some parts of the book. Be that as it may, I doubt you'll find a more accurate and more informed book on the subject. For those looking for a more fictionalized, but highly readable, version of events, pick up "When Genius Failed."



2. Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It. By Nicholas Dunbar. Wiley, 248 pages $29.95
   When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management. By Roger Lowenstein. Random House . 264 pages, $26.95
   
   Long Term Credit Management's demise is one of a number of recent high profile collapses involving the world's derivatives markets. Other recent ones include those of Sumitomo's chief copper trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, who lost $1.8 billion during a decade of unauthorized dealing and price manipulation in the copper market; Orange County's $1.7 billion loss on risky, highly leveraged investments on the direction of interest rates; Metallgesellschaft's $900 million loss on crude oil hedges; and, of course the activities of Nicholas Leeson, Baring's infamous Rogue Trader.
   
   All of these cases throw forward lessons I use in my Futures and Option classes at Sophia University. Important though they are, the main textbooks remain those written by such Nobel Prize winners as Robert Merton and Myron Scholes. The irony is that both of these geniuses were centrally involved in LTCM's demise. Despite their faux paus, their works remain seminal. They are brainy guys. Unfortunately, brains are not enough. Genius sometimes fails.
   
   LTCB was actually very short-term focused. Their assets consisted of a gigantic pile of extremely short-term pieces of paper leveraged to an unimaginable degree. They bought vast amounts of government paper and borrowed even greater amounts to pay for it. When Russia's markets collapsed in 1998, so did LTCM. The bank's complex mathematical bets on discrepancies in values amongst different bonds and derivatives came dramatically unstuck. Its US$7 billion capital base was eroded overnight. Most of LTCM's bets were in credit spreads, particularly European ones in the run-up to European monetary union. Essentially, LTCM held two different instruments - usually Italian, Greek or Danish bonds - and bet that the spread between the rates they offered and their German and American equivalents would narrow.
   
   When the Russian government defaulted on its debt, credit spreads in all markets widened suddenly and spectacularly as investors stampeded into the safest of safe havens. Investors fled Italian bonds, Brady bonds and every other relatively risky bond that LTCB depended on for sustenance. Borrowings had put LTCM's total exposure at more than US$100 billion, more than fourteen times its equity base. Most of this money had been sunk in derivatives. As its positions worsened, its daily margin calls bankrupted it. LTCB made the cardinal mistake of not cutting its losses. It threw good money after bad, believing that its fortunes would reverse. They didn't. Unable to meet margin calls, LTCB asked the US Federal Reserve Bank to bail it out. The Fed, afraid that LTCM's collapse might imperil the world's entire system, duly obliged.
   
   Because LTCB was comprised of Wall Street's best and brightest, there are lessons galore to be learned here for students and practitioners alike. Unfortunately, these two books do not do full justice to the lessons this case brings out. Lowenstein is a very successful American financial journalist and his book is by far the easier to read. He discusses the main characters involved in the debacle. Unfortunately for him, most of the main players have no real personalities to speak of at all. They are the so-called rocket scientists, the guys and gals with the quantitative expertise necessary to implement the complex strategies LTCM's Nobel Prize winners devised. To do them justice, one also needs a quantitative background. And because Lowenstein lacks this background, his book, though an enjoyable read, is peppered with potentially serious mistakes. And, in the world of derivatives, mistakes can be extremely costly.
   
   Dunbar has the quantitative background Lowenstein lacks. However, Dunbar wanders far from this. He discusses such irrelevant things as the role Chicago's grain markets played in America's civil war. He also spends more than half the book explaining how option pricing developed and the key role Scholes and Merton played in that process. Countless other books and articles, including those by Scholes and Merton, do this much better. Dunbar's book should have concentrated more on LTCM's collapse - he spends les than 50 pages on it - and less on America's Civil War.
   
   Therefore although Lowenstein's book is stronger on the human side of the LTCM debacle, Dunbar's is more technically correct - even though it has also considerable shortcomings in that regard. If Hollywood had to choose between them, it would choose Lowenstein's book. However, Hollywood aside, neither will notch up significant sales in academia or in business circles. Academics and practitioners will continue to plump for the penmanship of Merton, Scholes and their like. At least they have the theory right, even if they sometimes get the practice wrong with the devastating results LTCM's demise typifies. In the end, the faulty scholarship evident in both books and the faulty strategies propounded by both Nobel Prize winners drive home the old message of caveat emptor, buyer beware.



3. This is one of the rare book in my recent reading history that I just can't seem to finish reading. I find the style of writing disjointed and I am not able to develop interest in the characters of the book either regardless of how famous they are. Perhaps if the author focus on fewer characters, it would help. (By the way, I really like The Smartest Guys in the Room--the Enron book)
   
   The book appears to be a hotchpotch of trade ideas. I suspect that the author is not very well versed in finance. I find the presentatinon of some standard finance theory awkward. I work in the field of credit derivatives for 6 years, so I don't believe my problem stem from my unfamiliarity to the topic.



4. Best book on LTCM for those who like technical detail and mechanics. This is closer to the microstructure of how everything went down, and compares favourably to "When Genius Failed" for those in the industry.
   
   Very readable, well written, covers all the best topics, and again has the best detail.



5. ... fun read ... has the same feel as the James Burke PBS show from the '80s that connected people and events in enlightening ways.

2 comments about The Supply and Demand Paradox: A Treatise on Economics.

1. 
   . . . INSIGHTFUL AND THOUGHT PROVOKING!
   The author provides an excellent opportunity for the reader to view the flip side of a rudimentary concept in unconventional arenas.
   This book is both educational and entertaining.
   Give us more!



2. It was fantastic, providing numerous examples of true concepts that dont make sense according to economic laws in the supply is truely not equal to demand. Infact, without the concept of demand, there would be no supply at all.

5 comments about Man, Economy, and State.

1. This is easily one of the three best defenses of the Free Market ever written. (The other two being Mises' "Human Action" and Reisman's "Capitalism" . "Power and Market" doesn't count because it must be read with MES.)

   Rothbard's opus will teach you about the ethics of a free, nonviolent society, and how this society will prosper. It also does a good job of demolishing the concept interpersonal utility comparisons, which will be a great thorn in the side of those who advocate "welfare" spending. It also shows that, unlike most followers of Marx unquestioningly accept, the capitalist is productive.




2. This is simply the best treatise on economics that has been written upto date in the human history. Ludwig Von Mises 'Human Action' comes close but it is too dense for a layman.

   This book: Man, Economy and State, written by Murray N. Rothbard can make an economist out of layman if he puts time and efforts into reading this book and understanding all its concepts. Murray Rothbard starts with the basic axiom that: Humans Act. He further states that Humans Act to relieve some sort of unease and approach a better state of satisfaction. Based on these two axioms he builds up the entire edifice of Economics using impeccable logic and superb reasoning.

   I had read Carl Menger's 'Principles of Economics' before this and thus had a basic understanding of economics. But EVEN if you do not have that, do not worry. This book starts with very basic terms and explains the concepts of Supply and Demand, Interest Rates, Profit/Loss, Production Structure etc. in a clear and thorough manner.

   Murray Rothbard furthermore refutes the Socialist, Keynesian(gradual socialist) and neo-classical schools of economics. His elucidation of fallacies of Interventionist economics is so logical that one cannot help but laugh out loud on the stupidity of fools like John Keynes, Karl Marx and their disciples.

   Also you will not see much mathematics in this book. Subjective valuations of goods/services by humans cannot be quantified. This seems pretty logical to most of us but many who call themselves "economists" simply miss this insight.

   Read this book and you will have a far better understanding of how the world works. You will also understand economics better than most economics college professors and government-employed economists.




3. Because I made a lot of research in reviews, in order to take the right decision of buying this book or not, you will perhaps find it intersting to know that there are two editions of this text.
   
   The one presented here 987 pages $35.00 as of writing
   Another with additional text 1544 pages $31.50 as of writing
   
   ( Yes, the bigger is CHEAPER, and is also hardcover by the way )
   
   To find the bigger version on this site, do a search in books for :
   Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market Scholar's Edition
   (or click on the autor's name at the top of the main page for this book, to find it somewhere in the obtained list)
   
   This makes me wonder if there is not a pricing mistake here?
   
   Well, anyway I suggest that you go for the cheaper 1544 pages for now.
   
   (Amazon, feel free to remove this review in case of a price adjustment, please)
   
   (I rate this book 5 stars, but I haven't read it yet. 5 stars seems to be the average for it anyway)



4. This is Murray Rothbard's Magnum Opus, or maybe it isn't. He has had so many books that were great, it is really hard to tell which one is his best. Anyways, this is a treastise on economics and a very good one at that. Once you get past the initial setting up of the economy, Rothbard guides you onto several other important issues related to the economy and economics. This book, however, is not going to be taken up by diehard Marxians or socialists. This book is written by an Austrian economist, he isn't Austrian just from that school of thought, which canonically oppose most state intervention. In the case of Rothbard, you will see this grow into fruition, as Rothbard is somewhat of an anarchist. Anyways, this book guides you through many areas of economics that deal with a wide variety of problems such as public policy stances, unemployment, and the like. It is truly a great read, if you have the time.



5. A classic is a work that rewards repeated re-reading. I am planning to repeat the graduate seminar I gave around this book not only because it is a revelation to students who have been schooled in standard economics but also because I myself realize I have more to gain from another run through it.
   
   Another thing that keeps it fresh nearly 50 years after publication is the almost complete lack of topical material that could go stale. A peculiarity of the original edition is that the projected third volume had to be shortened into a single chapter because its total condemnation of government was too controversial for the publisher. That third volume was later published as "Power and Market: Government and the Economy." It is bound in with the original Man Economy & State in the Scholar's Edition, which somewhat confusingly still includes the original summary chapter.
   
   This book assumes no background in economics, and takes the reader straight through from the most basic aspects of human action through the whole of economics without the artificial break between micro and macro that corrodes present-day economic thinking. Rothbard spins out long chains of reasoning, which although they are clearly presented, do require sustained attention. If you are willing to give it that attention, the book will repay you handsomely. Rothbard leads us to the standard laws of supply and demand, but grounds them in a way that standard textbooks miss. His treatment of monopoly is unique, arguing that very concept of a monopoly price is illegitimate because one the "competitive price" with which it is to be contrasted cannot be identified, and therefore one cannot distinguish a movement along a demand curve from a sub-competitive price toward the alleged competitive price from a movement upward from that price.
   
   There is much more that is unique to Rothbard (and much that is consonant with standard economics), but I will just mention one more thing, a favorite of mine. That is his classification of violent behavior into (1) autistic intervention, e.g. forcing someone to salute a flag, (2) binary intervention, e.g. robbery or taxation, and (3) triangular intervention where the aggressor forces or prohibits exchanges between others, e.g. through price controls.
   
   In the course of 1,000 pages or so Rothbard does slip occasionally. And he runs into the ditch in his attempt to discredit the concept of velocity and the equation of exchange. Nonetheless this is a masterful, enjoyable, and highly rewarding book.

3 comments about Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century.

1. "Adam Smith in Beijing" by Giovanni Arrighi delivers a sophisticated history and analysis of the rise of the Asian economy. Displaying a deep knowledge of world history including novel insights into the works of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, Mr. Arrighi helps us understand why China's ascent has arrived at the moment when the dream of a single world capitalist state as conceived and championed by the U.S. has failed. Impeccably researched and cogently written, this accessible book succeeds in providing historical perspective on how China has come to be a key player on the world stage.
   
   Mr. Arrighi discusses how China's mixed economy of today conforms to Adam Smith's vision of a large market economy managed by an active government that ensures improved living standards for all; in fact, Smith reasoned that Asia might one day grow to assume parity with Europe. We learn that China's Industrious Revolution leveraged its large internal market and abundant labor supply to develop a diverse economy where wealth was widely dispersed among the population. In contrast, the West's Industrial Revolution conformed more or less to Karl Marx's analysis inasmuch as it allowed a relatively small class to own the means of production, secure power and finance a succession of military/industrial states whose imperialistic adventures were intended to guarantee an endless expansion of the capitalist system.
   
   Mr. Arrighi tracks the global turbulences that have been wrought as a consequence of the Western development path; the process of creative destruction inherent in the capitalist model has grown ever larger beginning with the small Italian city-states to the Dutch, British and, finally, the American empire. The author shows how each successive wave of accumulation collapsed as a consequence of escalating administrative costs including the funding of ever larger armed forces; of course, the strategy did succeed during much of the 19th and 20th centuries as China fell under domination as a consequence of the West's advantages in military technology. However, the book describes how the failures of the George W. Bush administration's economic and foreign policies are but the culmination of an ill-conceived, decades-long neoliberal project of world domination that bears striking similarity to previous fallen empires. Ironically, as U.S. hegemony has unraveled in the wake of the Iraq War, the author contends that widespread economic prosperity has allowed the Asian nations to emerge as the true victors of the U.S. War on Terror.
   
   Against this backdrop, Mr. Arrighi contemplates three different foreign policy approaches that the U.S. might consider as the Asian Age unfolds. The interconnectedness of the U.S. and Asian economies suggests to us why the differing proposals made by Robert Kaplan, Henry Kissinger and James Pinkerton have all been pursued to varying degrees simultaneously, amounting to a confused and conflicted U.S. Asian policy. Interestingly, Mr. Arrighi posits that China simply does not need to pursue a militaristic path to attain preeminence as long as the U.S. seems bent on self-destruction through its strident diplomacy and economic indebtedness; indeed, the U.S. is rapidly becoming irrelevant as more and more investment decisions are being made in Asia with less and less input and participation from U.S. business partners.
   
   Unfortunately, for a book that is subtitled "Lineages of the Twenty-First Century" the author provides scant attention addressing three major challenges that lay ahead for China: environmental deterioration, the lack of democracy and growing income inequality. Readers interested in these issues might refer to Elizabeth C. Economy's "The River Runs Black", which argues that continued neglect of China's burgeoning environmental crisis will seriously curtail and constrain its future economic growth; and James Mann's "The China Fantasy", which advances some of the reasons why democracy remains unlikely in China for many years to come. Whereas Mr. Arrighi is practically silent on these issues, both of these books suggest that serious internal conflict between a repressed Chinese working class and a privileged political class will become all but inevitable. In my view, Ms. Economy's and Mr. Mann's books serve as necessarily sobering counterweights to Mr. Arrighi's decidedly more ebullient narrative.
   
   The above minor reservations notwithstanding, I highly recommend this brilliant, timely and informative book to everyone.
   
   
   
   
   



2. 
   
   The book begins with an analysis of the differences between free markets and capitalism, and evolution scenarios of capitalism. For the first hundred-some pages, Arrighi is SLOWLY building the theoretical foundation of his argument and draws from several sources ranging from Adam Smith and Marx to Hannah Arendt and Schumpeter, from countless (non-)academic citations to his own observations.
   
   Historically, capitalism occurs in the later stages, and at the expense, of free markets, and requires ever expansive institutions and policies. According to Arrighi, the evolution of the USA, being the latest and most expansive capitalist power, has taken the capitalist logic to its earthly limits. Indeed, the US has continued on the trajectory set by the earlier capitalist powers--the Italian Republics, Dutch Empire and British Empire--by creating more powerful capitalist frameworks, alas all this has already come to a too high of a price for itself and the planet.
   
   And, while the above arguments go back and forth, with factual illustrations and theoretical considerations, China is being analyzed in historical, comparative and Asian contexts. With the exception of some 150 years, at least for the past 5-600 years, China has been not only different from the West (and its capitalist models), but also very affluent. The differences come in many ways: military outlook and projection of power, trade, state institutions, relationships between the state and its citizens/other states, productivity, innovation and on and on. In fact, Arrighi seems to infer that, for the most part of that time interval, the Chinese have been as much closer to a free market system as far away from the capitalist system.
   
   Close to the end of the book, one sees that Arrighi does not necessarily advance a comprehensive thesis to explain even the next 50 years, but leaves the reader better equipped to continue the inferential process he started. To summarize, this process consists of the study of theoretical frameworks, historical analogies between/among capitalist powers, comparative perspectives on China and the reduction of capitalist alternatives, by elimination, for the USA. Also by limiting the range of the capitalist alternative(s) in their current and historical forms, we are left to witness for ourselves the evolution, the tradeoffs, and ultimately the future of China itself.
   
   This is a book that will most probably anchor the conversation about the 21st Century for some time to come. The wide spectrum for Arrighi's analysis provides for an integrated approach across several fields, which so far have been studied in isolation at best.
   
   How can the reader benefit more? By tightening the argument and the text itself--maybe Arrighi needs to decide who his readers are. For the public at large, a Foreign Affairs article may do it. For the more academically inclined, it is not clear how/why the events of the last 10-15 years in the US fit Arrighi's framework. Indeed, Arrighi belongs to the school of thought dating the end of the US capitalist supremacy in the 1970s. So, if the US decline started in the '70s, how was it possible for the economical revival of the '90s? In other words, was the economic revival of the '90s in contradiction with Arrighi's earlier thesis? According to the author, Britain had also gone through a similar period of economic boom at the end of the 19th century--decline, sudden prosperity followed by decline and two world wars. Reconciling current events with-in a longue durée approach may look artificial/arbitrary/a posteriori. For example, was the Project for the New American Century historically immanent, or the result of voting accidents in Florida? On the other hand, a lot of the last 8 year events seem to follow the path indicated by Arrighi. After this book was published, even the paragons of capitalism, aka the US financial system, have entered a deep structural crisis. Moreover, if we are to consider the volume of inputs alone, the US has no place to grow unless the Chinese stumble at their own (Adam Smithian-) game. At a different level, I suspect there will be some to quarrel with Arrighi's implicit higher valuation of free markets relative to capitalism. They'll probably be quick to say that the "old" left may be redefining itself in terms of opposing capitalism with free markets instead of socialism...
   
   All in all, the reader will be well rewarded by reading this book and perhaps follow its author all the way into the pages of the New Left Review magazine.
   
   This book helped me crystallize a whole number of ideas, which I could well summon up into an Open Letter, for O8:
   
   Small is Beautiful!
   
   Small(er) enterprise is better than (quasi-)monopolies;
   Universal healthcare is both good and necessary;
   Let wages converge lower;
   Put money into the following infrastructures: education, energy efficiency, internet, transportation;
   Encourage innovation and exports;
   Encourage quality;
   Bring smart people in, our universities should be the Ellis Island of the 21 Century!



3. This book is very well researched and clearly explains why China is in the strong position it is in today. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in understanding China beyond its apparent sudden rise.

5 comments about The Division of Labor in Society.

1. ... The Halls translation is quite a good one. If we examine the Halls text and compare it to the "revisions" that the reviewer has posed, we find that the differences are not merely aesthetic, they are substantive. They change the meaning of the sentence, and therefore the nature and meaning of Durkheim's argument.

   I think that this Durkheim's best work. As a warning, it is not easy; perhaps this is where the difficulty with the translation lies. But for anyone interested in sociological theory, this book is essential reading. The translation is the best out there.




2. A classic in many ways, the Division of Labor is a great starting point for sociology - not because it's terribly sexy or interesting or even correct, but because it begins to lay out what sociology can do.



3. If you are a) an undergrad. in sociology, economy, or political science, you must have this for grad. school; b) a grad. student in sociology and unsure of its application, what theory is, or what the masters talked about, you must have it; and c) a theory freak like myself, a must for your collection (but you already knew that!). This book is a classic in sociology, and while Durkheim recanted much of what he said later in his career, his ecological model for the evolution of society is still relevant today. Furthermore, his discussion of the integrative effects of the Division of Labor are unmatched, and while this mechanism is probably not the only one of its kind, it is still important especially in a postindustrial society that is increasingly compartementalized...



4. Excellent condition as promised. Timely delivery as well. No complaints, I would buy from this seller again.



5. A unique thesis: the division of labor is morally cohesive, and inheritance of capital is the flaw of capitalism. It is a great counter-argument to Marx and communism. I read this book at the University of Chicago, and I can only hope other institutions also assign it; it is a must read for anybody interested in human interaction.
   
   Although some people may not think this is important, I must also commend The Free Press for producing such a durable book. Many of my books wouldn't survive my travels and annotations as well as this one has.

5 comments about Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

1. McKibbon's "Deep Economy" is a very readable history of industrialized economics coupled with a blueprint (albeit one that is unlikely to be followed) of how we might change our economic direction into one that is more sustainable and beneficial on an individual and communal level.
   
   The idea that most clearly sticks out to me in this work is that of the "quality of life index," which could also aptly be called the "happiness index." That happiness within a society can and should be quantifiable, and that as a quantity, it should be factored into the overall values of this or that economic program is an interesting one, and also one that seems worth exploring in economics classes as well as sociology ones.
   
   The focus on local business and production also serves as a rallying point for people on both ends of the political spectrum. While buying locally and organically appeals at surface immediately to the crunchiest of hippies, the boost of small business and the opportunities that McKibbin's plan offers swings the door open for the staunchest of the right-wing business class.
   
   This book, if not an obvious plan for going forward, serves at least to give all of us an opportunity to explore a world where our fundamental economic groundwork is altered. It is hard to put down, and once you do, it's hard not to let it challenge your traditional understanding of what the economy is and should be.



2. This book was required summer reading for me, but I would've read it even if it wasn't. It's a book with ideas people can believe in. It's not hard to understand and I enjoyed it very much. I've learned a lot and know that it will have an effect on what I think about, talk about and do with my every day life.



3. With Deep Economy, Bill McKibben delivers a book that challenges conventional economic and political wisdom. Simply put, we can no longer pursue unlimited growth while producing more and more stuff. This point is heavily underscored as we approach the upper bounds of Earth's natural resources and come to terms with the damage caused by operating under the current prevailing wisdom for over a century.
   
   McKibben points out that, while economic growth is beneficial up to a certain point, it fails to produce corresponding benefits when it passes that threshold. The increased wealth tends to accumulate in the pockets of those who are already wealthy, while the majority of people see little to no increase in income. The endless cycle of consumption tends to produce more inequality and insecurity, rather than prosperity and happiness.
   
   Luckily, McKibben proposes a solution to the dilemma: we should shift our focus from growing economies to growing communities. The pursuit of this goal will yield different rewards, but those rewards will be experienced on a fundamental human level.
   
   Many will view the examples cited in the book as too small to be meaningful, undertaken with an overly optimistic outlook that will be impossible to achieve. But change has to start somewhere, and in the present situation a little inspiration is welcome. Deep Economy provides that inspiration.



4. I'll grant that we're rendering the planet unfit for human habitation, and not just rhetorically, but because I agree with McKibben. But his solution to the dilemma -- localized economies, and less consumption -- begs a few questions. His solutions might be the answer, but he's disingenous in not acknowledging their downside, and he puts far too much faith in good intentions trumping the self-interest of the rich world.
   
   1. Can local economies work everywhere? Large-scale economies have made it possible for humans to live in many environments that could probably not otherwise support large populations. Los Angles, after all, is a desert.
   
   2. Those of us in rich countries have long been reluctant to sacrifice for the rest of the world, and in the US, even for our own countrymen. Why does McKibben think we'll start now? After all, the economic benefits of localization will accrue to others, not to us in the rich world. And won't an emphasis on local economies make us even less interested, if that's possible, in the fate of, say, Africans and Africa?
   
   3. McKibben has an absurd faith in neighborliness. For example, he claims that local currencies have no downside, because local governments won't issue more currency than they'd be willing to accept in payment of taxes and fees. But if national governments abuse the power to print money, why won't local governments?
   
   4. Small farms are more productive per acre, but less per person. This of course means many of us will be returning to the farm. How is that going to be sold to Americans?
   
   5. So I buy apples from a nearby farm because they taste better, even if they're more expensive. Why would I buy more expensive shoes from the nearby factory if they're no different from cheaper shoes from Vietnam?
   
   6. McKibben tells us how how horrible ecologically it would be if the Chinese lived like Americans do today. But of course they won't be able to; with the recent increases in commodity prices, even Americans can't continue to live like Americans. Increased demand for natural resources will prevent these horror stories from playing out.



5. This book provides an insight into shifting society toward human values and survival of community, both of which are endangered. Delightfully readable and optimistic and practical.

1 comments about Conspicuous Consumption (Penguin Great Ideas).

1. ... you should just read all of Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. I like this book cover though, so buy it for the attractive cover, not merely the content, i.e. consume.

5 comments about Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton Studies in Complexity).

1. Josh Epstein's new Opus is a landmark publication in the emerging field of multiagent-based simulation of dynamic social systems. Since Josh is not only one of this still nascent (though burgeoning) field's ablest and most creative practitioners, but also among its most thoughtful critics, the reader of has two treats in store: (1) a generous, and wide-ranging, sampling of case studies (including social networks and evolution, population growth, emergence of economic classes, civil unrest, timing of retirement, the dynamics of adaptive organizations and the spread of infectious disease), and (2) a cogent "meta" discussion of what multiagent models ARE, ARE NOT and how (when their properties and limitations are *not* properly taken account of) they can easily be MISAPPLIED.
   
   Far from suggesting that multiagent-based models are a panacea solution to all (or most) social dynamical systems, Josh's book carefully articulates the conditions for which such an approach IS (and is NOT) appropriate; an approach rarely taken by other, similar, overviews of the field. Indeed, the cogent philosophical discussion in Chapter One - alone! - in which the generativist's position is defined and put into a broader modeling/simulation context, is worth the price of admission; I have not seen a better "manifesto" of multiagent-based modeling elsewhere.
   
   Finally, without taking away any of the inherent "beauty" (in the technical sense) of the often exaggerated concept of "emergence," Josh succeeds admirably in both defining the term, and de-mystifying it, stripping it of some of its unnecessary "quasi-mystical" baggage (at least as it is often portrayed in lay publications).
   
   Anyone who is interested in understanding how agent models may be used to help explore the dynamics of social dynamical systems, should have this book firmly on top of their "must read" list! Josh has generously provided future generations of agent explorers their go-to source of both inspiration and ideas. Well done Josh!



2. This book did a good job of introducing me to the current state of agent-based modeling. It also, perhaps inadvertently, highlighted some of the current weaknesses of the field. In particular, the models shown in each paper rarely shared common features, and there was little consistency in method.
   
   Epstein argues persuasively that agent-based modeling is a tool, not a methodological approach, and you should no sooner expect consistent usage here than with differential calculus. That said, it was a bit disconcerting.
   
   Also, while the goal espoused here was to use the bare minimum of constraints that retain explanatory power, I was disappointed that relevant work from other fields was often abstracted away. For example, a few models used social networks; but the networks presented were static, not dynamic, and were not built around power-law ratios. Such additional complexity may well have distracted from the main point; but it would have been nice to see at least some discussion of why the models were simplified.
   
   Regardless, I was very pleased with the book and would highly recommend it.



3. It's refreshing and exciting, in a quiet intellectual kind of way, to encounter a book that includes philosophy of science, music theory, Anasazi disappearance mysteries, ethnic cleansing, and an explanation of why CEOs exist. Josh has produced the book I've been wanting to read any time during the last 20 years, which have been a bit barren from the theory and modeling perspective in social science. He also makes clear the mathematical and philosophical basis of the agent-based approach, producing a baseline both for future work in the field and for competing paradigms such as systems dynamics, discrete simulations, and cellular automata (Wolfram's New Kind of Science), however incommensurable. I was particularly interested in the occasional use of probability modeling (negative exponential distributions generated through simple rules are a very interesting advance in understanding the waiting times between civil violence outbursts) and I'd love to see a deeper relationship established, say between Bayesian models of dynamic systems and agent-based models. Keep up the great work, Josh! Also, kudos to the publisher for the sheer quality of the book: excellent paper, great color plates, and priced to sell rather than as the work of art it is.



4. Sometimes I encounter books that are extremely important, that give me an appreciation for a knowledge domain I do not know enough about, and that I simply cannot read and review in the traditional sense. However, having invested good money and time in the book, if I admire I book, I generally seek to use my broad reading as a base for putting the book in an appreciative context with useful links for other readers.
   
   This book, and Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life (Princeton Studies in Complexity) are two such books. This one starts with:
   
   "instead of explaining it, can you grow it?"
   
   Howard Bloom, in Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century teaches us that the only way to create a sustainable peace in the Palestine region is to provide absolute security for an entire generation, and raise two whole generations, one on each side, from kindergarten on us, generations that do not consider "the other" to be "pigs and monkeys" by the age of five.
   
   Similarly, the literature on wealth of networks and the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is growing, and I am convinced that public intelligence (decision support, full disclosure, end of information asymmetries) is going to accomplish two things in the next twenty years:
   
   1) Eradicate corruption and enforce the triple-bottom line
   
   2) Elevate five billion poor by teaching them one cell call at a time so that they can create infinite stabilizing wealth.
   
   See for example:
   Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era
   The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
   Revolutionary Wealth: How it will be created and how it will change our lives
   The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks)
   
   So the very best thing I can say about this book is that I am glad I bought it, I am very glad to have a sense, however weak, of this important exploratory area, and now I know that I need a team of generative social scientists that can do complex modeling for peace and prosperity solutions.
   
   See also, just published at Amazon and free online at Earth Intelligence Network, Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
   
   I urge one and all to become familiar with World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility (WISER), as best I can tell that is the center of gravity for empowering individuals with deep knowledge of the true costs and many human rights abuses and other crimes that we support today for lack of knowledge. I also recommend the pioneering EarthGame work of Medard Gabel, at BigPictureSmallWorld.
   
   Eventually I see the USA Waging Peace, with a Multinational Decision Support Center providing unclassified intelligence to all actors on the world stage, and publishing an annual and constantly updated Global Range of Gifts Table to connect the billion rich with the five billion poor at the $1-$100 level.
   
   In commenting on this book, I am primarily seeking to point readers toward other books on the substance of peace and prosperity and our many ills. If you are technically inclined, this is a very top work that also inspires the lay reader who "does not do math."



5. Epstein pulls together great examples from the use of ABS to grow or identify rules associated with behaviors and their manifested group behaviors.
   
   The first few chapters give a great summary of Epstein's Generative thinking. A good fountain for any scientist who is interested in using Agent Based Simulation.