New Book: The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy by Richard Posner

The Crisis of Capitalist DemocracyThe Crisis of Capitalist Democracy by Richard A. Posner, Harvard University Press (March 31, 2010)

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Following up on his timely and well-received book, A Failure of Capitalism, Richard Posner steps back to take a longer view of the continuing crisis of democratic capitalism as the American and world economies crawl gradually back from the depths to which they had fallen in the autumn of 2008 and the winter of 2009.

By means of a lucid narrative of the crisis and a series of analytical chapters pinpointing critical issues of economic collapse and gradual recovery, Posner helps non-technical readers understand business-cycle and financial economics, and financial and governmental institutions, practices, and transactions, while maintaining a neutrality impossible for persons professionally committed to one theory or another. He calls for fresh thinking about the business cycle that would build on the original ideas of Keynes. Central to these ideas is that of uncertainty as opposed to risk. Risk can be quantified and measured. Uncertainty cannot, and in this lies the inherent instability of a capitalist economy.

As we emerge from the financial earthquake, a deficit aftershock rumbles. It is in reference to that potential aftershock, as well as to the government’s stumbling efforts at financial regulatory reform, that Posner raises the question of the adequacy of our democratic institutions to the economic challenges heightened by the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis and the government’s energetic response to it have enormously increased the national debt at the same time that structural defects in the American political system may make it impossible to pay down the debt by any means other than inflation or devaluation.

Table of contents

Introduction

Part I: An Analytic Narrative of the Crisis

The Calm before the Storm: 2001–2006
To the Abyss: December 2007–September 2008
The Spectre of the Great Depression: October 2008–March 2009
Bottoming Out: Spring 2009–Autumn 2009
The Movement for Financial Regulatory Reform: June–December 2009
Depression and Aftershock: 2007–?

Part II: What Lessons Have We Learned from the Crisis?

The Fragility of Finance
Keynes Redux
The Economics of Uncertainty
The Crisis of Macroeconomics

Part III: The Way Forward

Reform You Can Believe In
America in aWorld Economy
Index

2 Comments

  1. ecupler · 2010-3-4 Reply

    一天读完了沈明翻译的《论剽窃》,对剽窃者各种奇怪的“自我辩解”理由之叙述,最感兴趣。
    另外,中译者“自作主张”加入的许多插图很有用,极大提高读者对所提及人和书的感性认识。

    分五次读完苏力教授译的《并非自杀契约》,感觉酣畅淋漓。他对某些复杂多义英文单词的中译,给我极大启发(比如in camera, plenary),只是不知老师何故食言,继续翻译。
    应该不只是智识上的诱惑,我很有兴趣刨根挖底。我是国际法学博士,感觉波斯纳这本书串起了《不确定保护》、《9/11后的情报改革》,对国际法上的反恐极有裨益,谢谢教授的努力。
    华政刘俊

  2. SM · 2010-3-4 Reply

    感谢刘老师的关注和评论。波斯纳的这本《资本主义民主的危机》也将引进中文版,收入“波斯纳文集”。如果顺利的话,本书中文版有望于今年夏季出版。敬请关注。

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