Public Policy Books

This was part of a trilogy that began with *The Affluent Society* (1957), and continued with *The New Industrial State* (1967). However, as Galbraith readily concedes, he learned a great deal in the intervals between writing these books. In 1958, Galbraith's political career was on an upward trajectory; by 1967 he had ruptured with Pres. Johnson over the Vietnam War, and in 1974 he had become reconciled to life in the political and academic wilderness.

For strangers to Galbraith's views, it is necessary to understand that he was first and foremost a student of what was, rather than idealized systems. Hence, many of his critics, faced with a dualistic world view, will accuse him of favoring a command economy, on the grounds that he was critical of the pretensions of capitalist economies. I hope readers will immediately see the error of this way of thinking: a clear-sighted analysis of a system that embraces the whole of a society's transactions cannot possibly be reduced to a dualistic judgment.

Second, Galbraith was an institutionalist. While orthodox schools of economics tend to emphasize the inherent, automatic nature of all economic transactions regardless of the nature of the agents, institutionalists such as T. Veblen, J. Commons, C. Ayres, and Galbraith identify the economic agents--viz., institutions in the society--as the decisive factor. Galbraith frequently aroused a lot of ire by pointing out the shortcomings of a social science (economics) being dominated by political demagogues, although he preferred to say this using dry wit.

In this book, he unites several concepts into an explanatory system. One of these is the concept of the "convenient social virtue," the tendency of people to profusely admire traits in other people they are not prepared to compensate; hence, the admiration of workers whose sense of duty and self-sacrifice transcends any rational economic explanation. He applies this analysis to women, who remain an undercompensated cadre of the workforce. Another concept is that of "the market system" as distinct from the "planning system"; usually economists and demagogues speak of the public sector [bad] versus the private sector [good], as if there were nothing but kinship between the multinational corporation and the corner espresso cart.

Galbraith explains that, while the giant industrial firm has very different needs and wants from small shops, it is likely to be very closely aligned to the needs and wants of those holding political power. Hence, the boundary between public and private sectors is less meaningful than that between the planning and the market systems. While the market system is admired, it is also punished with far greater danger and with "self-exploitation" by desperate proprietors.

The illusion that we live in an economy that is a free market, with an adversarial relationship to the state, is a dangerous one. First, it leads to people assuming that problems of waste and unemployment will solve themselves once an obvious regulatory obstacle is removed. In reality, we live in a planned economy ridden by systems of price controls and monopoly, and that planning is designed to serve industrial management. Assuming the opposite, of course, will only make such problems worse.

Second, it is dangerous because we overlook the influence of the planning system on the basic purpose of the state. The insistence of economist-demagogues is that the state is miraculously devoted to the toiling masses, and intent on expropriating the creative fountainhead, John Galt and Henry Reardon. Militarism is assumed to be therefore a rational response to a genuine foreign threat; whereas if the influence is understood to be symmetric, or even understood to flow the other direction, then one will expect militarism to serve the planning system and one will be skeptical of it.

There's a lot more in this book, and I believe it deserves a far better review than I've supplied. But I hope this gives a taste of the issues that Galbraith addresses.

I don't understand it... There are thousands of books out there, all sorts of garbage that you can find at any run-of-the-mill bookstore, and when there is a provocative and profound study of the ailments of society, and HOW they can be CORRECTED...it cannot be heard - for it is OUT OF PRINT. And most people only care about the Fabio-cover pages and unimaginative fiction. As JKG puts it "[life in society] can also be pleasant - a womb in which the individual rests without the pain of mental activity or decision."

JKG wrote this in the Affluent Society : "Nothing counts so heavily against a man as to be found attacking the values of the public at large and seeking to substitute his own. Technically, his crime is arrogance. Actually, it is ignorance of the rules. In any case, he is automatically removed from the game." I'm not sure if he was 'seeking to substitute his own' ideas, but he gave an option for emancipation - to free oneselve from persuasive grasp of big business. So I guess Economics and the Public Purpose broke the rules by enlightening the readship to this option, and it is now destined to be left in the care of a few university libraries and the occasional footnote.

Tragic. It's a really good book.

Author makes economics fun and interesting. Shows a great grasp for local and state taxation issues--makes boring topic easy to understand.

An excellent text on the fundamentals of public finance as applied to state and local government. The author's own personal style, which is both engaging and rigorous, makes the subject matter an accessible read for those students of public policy who are non-economists. For those who do have a particular bent for public finance it is also an excellent resource which provides a very applied approach to the subject matter.

If you are interested in Ecosystem Managment, than you probably have heard of most of the concepts in this book. However, this book provides a good easy to read (and easy to understand) summary of concepts related to Ecosystem Managment.

The collective and collaborative effort of Gary K. Meffe (Adjunct Professor, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida), Larry A. Nielsen (Fisheries biologist and Den of the College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University), Richard L. Knight (Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Colorado State University), and Dennis A. Schenborn (Chief of Planning and Budget for the Bureau of Fisheries Management and Habitat protection of the Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources), Ecosystem Management: Adaptive, Community- Based Conservation is an intelligently organized, "reader friendly" textbook which is an ideal resource and teaching tool for discusses a wide range of environmental issues including: genetic diversity in ecosystem management, landscape-level conservation, single-species land management, the skill and art of keeping fragile ecosystems in balance; methodology, examples, and mathematical models. An astute presented and detailed college-level text, Ecosystem Management is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Environmental Studies reference collections in general, and Ecosystem Management curriculum reading lists in particular.

Saltman has left no stone unturned in his examination of Edison Schools. From the business practices and economic theory behind the very idea of privatizing schools to the curricular and pedagogical theory that drive the schools' daily activities, he covers every aspect of Edison and of Chris Whittle's mission. Saltman's writing is detailed and thorough, defending and proving his arguments with ample evidence and providing ideas for the future of schooling in America.

Very readable (even if you don't like non-fiction), well-organized and absolutely indispensible in the discussion of school privatization.

The role of public schools in a democratic society is undergoing scrutiny on a scale never before seen in this country. Do schools exist primarily to educate thinking voters or to provide docile workers for multinational corporations? Kenneth J. Saltman reveals the real motives of neoliberals who are behind the carefully orchestrated campaign to privatize all schools under the guise of helping children. It's a true story that contains all the elements of a thriller movie. And the author tells it exceedingly well, using the Edison Schools as the focal point. Concerned citizens need to read "The Edison Schools" in conjunction with the excellent "Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?" by Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian. Both books describe how corporations are hijacking American education. While Saltman confines his case to the Edison Schools, Emery and Ohanian go beyond one company in delivering a compelling manifesto.

Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education.

This book cover the basis to run a human services agency. Easy to follow with good advice. I used it a part of my MSW curriculum.

The book arrived in excellent condition and had minimal highlighting. I was very satisfied with my purchase. I will order from Amazon for all the books that I need for college, because the price was right.

Reports of guardians stealing from their wards' bank accounts and other wise abusing guardianship powers are surfacing with disturbing regularity. 'This problem is going to get bigger and bigger,' says E. Bentley Lipscomb, AARP's Florida state director and a former state secretary of elder affairs. - GUARDIANS DRAWING INCREASED SCRUTINY, AARP Bulletin. Read also "The Retirement Nightmare" by Diane Armstrong. Get the real truth about the fraud and abuse of the elderly and not so elderly by a corrupt probate system and guardians. To avoid a guardianship in the State of Florida, and other states, should be of paramount importance. Find out how to protect yourself and your loved ones with alternatives: health care surrogate, durable power of attorney, mediation and more. Consider that if you leave your parents to fend for themselves, and ignore the deterioration associated with aging, a guardian can gain a guardianship over them and their assets, without informing you. That guardianship will nullify the most meticulous of plans

Realiza un repaso sistemático del maltrato al anciano, con ricas referencias bibliográficas comentadas. Es realista y aplicaple a otros paises,cuestión no siempre posible con otros textos sobre dicho tema. Como médico especialista en geriatría he de aplaudir a las autoras. Gracias.

A book of originality, skill and daring, possessing exceptional synthetic power. Drs. Kottler and Hazler have come up with the framework that deals respectfully and elegantly with the transition from student to professional therapist.

A book of originality, skill and daring, possessing exceptional synthetic power. Drs. Kottler and Hazler have come up with the framework that deals respectfully and elegantly with the transition from student to professional therapist.

I read the book a few years ago and was shocked at the lack of concern for this information in our daily lives. It is clear that we are all linked to electromagnetic fields and waves be it a hair dryer, an electric shaver, an electrical generator or a pencil sharpener. Yet it appears that few of us are actually armed with the knowledge of the "concerns" over the damaging issues with regards to our bodies, both young and old. I let my original copy slip through my hands, thank you Amazon.com for being an outlet to a great, but what I believe is a suppressed issue. I will be buying several for family and friends.

Sincerely,

I read this book years ago and could not find it ANYWHERE, despite a pretty dedicated search. No doubt, it is a hotly debated topic, much like the cell-phone emmissions issue. This is a must read for anyone who is trying to assume responsibility in their lives, the lives of their children or simply planning properly for a safe future. Many people avoid this type of "fact-based" study - it's a pain/pleasure thing. We gravitate to items that cause us pleasure and avoid things that could cause us pain. Reading this is not painful, it is very enlightening. Avoiding it could prove deadly - but heh, that's what we have health insurance for right? Kudos Amazon.

Jan Carew, Professor Emeritus, University of Louisville - novelist, anti-colonial activist and thinker.

Carl Greenidge, in his meticulously-researched work, entitled, 'Empowering a Peasantry in a Caribbean context," follows in the tradition of Walter Rodney's "History of the Guyanese Working People." Greenidge brings into focus the land settlement schemes in Guyana between 1865 and 1985. One must bear in mind in looking at this seminal work, that the British controlled a world-wide empire and central to their manipulation of the 'divide and conquer' axiom, was the way in which land was distributed and controlled. For, along with the control of arable land went the control of irrigation systems. In short, the land 'empowered' those controlled it.

Greenidge has done the kind of detailed research that Rodney did not have time to do prior to his assassination and has, thus, opened new venues for meaningful academic studies. It is interesting that he uses quotes from novelists, like Janice Shinebourne and Pauline Melville, at the beginning of each of his chapters. This shows a certain prescience that some of the most profound insights into the history of the Caribbean and its people, can be found in novels and not in academic treatises.

It is to the credit of the University of the West Indies that they published this seminal work which provides us with new insights of the legacy of racial divisions that now plague the Guyanese body politic.

This book makes very interesting reading for expert and layperson alike. It is a study that portrays Guyana as a set of physical and political contrasts and contradictions - contrasts between the beauty of the land and of its rewards, between coast and hinterland and, contradictions between pronouncement and intent, between opportunities and their exploitation. Among the many interesting pictures found in the book is that of the beautiful, but little-known, Chinakuruk Falls on the Essequibo. The falls have the appearance of a chimera or mirage - a theme of the book!

Carl Greenidge worked as a research and teaching economist in the UK, Africa and Guyana prior to taking up the post for which he is better remembered in the Caribbean - Minister of Finance and Planning of Guyana in the 1980s. The style of the book reflects that varied background, especially in teaching, and makes for easy reading. He writes about land settlement schemes but does so through the lens of the wider political, economic and social developments over the last 120 years.

Land settlement schemes were initially established for Chinese emigrants but they primarily benefited East Indians. Their objectives have changed over time, which means that in time they affected other ethnic groups also. They touched, and were a contrast to, early the village settlements. Subsequently, they too spawned villages. Initially, they served the sugar plantocracy, then the rice barons and the managers of `Cooperative Socialism' in different ways with many, often hidden, consequences for the politics and social life of Guyana. The stated objective of these schemes has been to establish a peasantry but life beyond settlement has always been precarious and the economic stability of small farming has never been assured. The story of this sector and of the attempts at its modernisation is told against a historical background but ironically the lessons remain pertinent today.

So, although the book is about agricultural policy, its triggers and its consequences, it is of much wider interest. It is about Guyana, its policies and economics, its struggles and ethnic tensions as well as its prospects. The book is meticulously footnoted, draws on a wide range of primary, as well as secondary sources and, contains an extremely extensive bibliography on Guyana. The latter alone would be welcome to many students due to the paucity of current, well-researched material on Guyana.

Mr Greenidge draws on the works of a number of well-known Guyanese novelists, current and past - Melville, Shinebourne and Mettleholzer, for example - to illustrate his theme of contradictions and mirages and of the link between the physical and social. An extensive foreword has been provided by Dr Professor Cedric Grant, head of the School of Caribbean and Political Studies at Clarke University. Grant positions the book in the setting or context of the current political debate on Guyana and highlights the significant academic importance of this contribution to the debate on public policy as well as ethnicity in the Caribbean.

This is highly recommended reading and a worthwhile purchase for both the expert and the intelligent observer of Guyana and Caribbean affairs!!

14/6/2001.

It's so rare to find an organization that is not only unafraid to let teens be teens, but puts them in charge. Croya does it and does it well. This book gives a solid look into the Croya organization: past, present and future. I'd long held the theory that if given the opportunity young people can do amazing things - Croya proves it. Well worth the read for anyone who has kids or works with them.

Empowering Teens: A Guide To Developing A Community Based Youth Organization provides insight and guidance to anyone wishing to improve the quality of life for their community adolescents, whether in an inner city setting, a suburban area, or a rural region. Elaine Slayton presents a cogent analysis of program methodology, detailing how it works. Very highly recommended and essential "how to" reading for youth workers, parents, educators, counselors, governmental policy makers, community organization leaders, parks and recreation supervisors, and concerned adolescents, Empowering Teens provides a blueprint for enacting workable and effective changes in any community of any size or demographic makeup in order to improve the lives, safety, and general well-being of American youth.