Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Nathan, Dev / Silliman Bhattacharjee, Shikha et al., Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism: Gender, Labour, and Environmental Injustice in Garment Value Chains. (Development Trajectories in Global Value Chains) 320 pp. 2022:3 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <672-299>
ISBN 978-1-316-51227-2 hard ¥24,216.- (税込) GB￡ 85.00 *

This book provides a firm analytical base to discussions about injustice and the unequal distribution of gains from global production in the form of global monopsony capitalism. It utilizes the concept of reverse subsidies as the purchase of gendered labour and environmental services below their costs of production in garment value chains in India and other garment producing countries, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia. Environmental services, such as freshwater for garment manufacture and land for cotton production, are degraded by overuse and untreated waste disposal. The resulting higher profits from the low prices of garments are captured by global brands, using their monopsony position, with few buyers and myriad sellers, in the market. This book links the concept of reverse subsidies with those of injustice, inequality and sustainability in global production.

Magnani, Marco, Making the Global Economy Work for Everyone: Lessons of Sustainability from the Tech Revolution and the Pandemic. XVII, 129 pp. 2022:1 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <672-241>
ISBN 978-3-030-92083-8 paper ¥7,764.- (税込) EUR 32.99

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the weaknesses of globalisation, exposed the fragility of the current growth model, and accelerated the ongoing tech revolution. The world is increasingly facing the risk of decoupling between growth and employment, of a jobless growth with a disconnect between productivity and wages. This book is an in-depth analysis of these weaknesses and fragilities in the context of sustainability. Economist Marco Magnani suggests the possibility of pursuing a more balanced, environmentally and socially sustainable growth while defusing today’s apocalyptic alarmism about climate change, energy and demographic constraints, and the future of work. He explores alternative growth models ?such as circular and civil economy, sharing economy, convivialism, and happy degrowth?and takes cues from them. He investigates the labour market, pinpointing occupations and work tasks at risk but also showcasing new jobs created by technology. He compares proposals such as reducing work hours, providing a job guarantee, mandating a universal basic income, and imposing a robot tax. The book makes innovative policy recommendations, such as the establishment of an endowment capital and the payment of a social dividend, and suggests a shift from re-distribution to pre-distribution policies. This will undoubtedly foster fierce debate. Marco Magnani closely examines artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, augmented reality and Internet of Things, quantum computing and blockchain, and biotechnologies and nano-materials. The reader embarks on a journey to learn about innovation, discover the threats of globalisation and the uncertainties of the labour market, redefine the man-machine relationship, and find a path to sustainable growth. The end goal is improving people’s lives, leveraging robots and machines despite their formidable and unjustifiably frightful rise, to make the global economy work for everyone.

Farjoun, Emmanuel D. / Machover, Moshe / Zachariah, David, How Labor Powers the Global Economy: A Labor Theory of Capitalism. (New Economic Windows) 144 pp. 2022:3 (Springer, GW) <672-248>
ISBN 978-3-030-93320-3 hard ¥23,536.- (税込) EUR 99.99 *

This book presents a probabilistic approach to studying the fundamental role of labor in capitalist economies and develops a non-deterministic theoretical framework for the foundations of political economy. By applying the framework to real-world data, the authors offer new insights into the dynamics of growth, wages, and accumulation in capitalist development around the globe. The book demonstrates that a probabilistic political economy based on labor inputs enables us to describe central organizing principles in modern capitalism. Starting from a few basic assumptions, it shows that the working time of employees is the main regulating variable for determining strict numerical limits on the rate of economic growth, the range of wages, and the pace of accumulation under the present global economic system. This book will appeal to anyone interested in how the capitalist mode of production works and its inherent limitations; in particular, it will be useful to scholars and students of Marxian economics.