The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance. Rich with anecdotal evidence, piercing analysis, and a truly astonishing range of erudition, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is a "picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight" (Kenneth Arrow) as well as one of the most audaciously ambitious works of history in decades.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and best-selling author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century. In this brilliant #1 bestseller, "the most important columnist in America today" (Walter Russell Mead, The New York Times) demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Thomas L. Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.

The world of business is changing fast. The prevailing model for creating wealth--a model that has its roots in the industrial revolution and that dominated the last century no longer applies. Natural Capitalism introduces an alternative, a new paradigm. Praised by business and political leaders as well as economists and environmentalists around the globe, this groundbreaking book reveals how tomorrow's most successfuLglobal businesses will draw profit from their own environmental responsibility.

Free to succeed . . . Whether in troubled economic times or during years of prosperity,there is a proven way for companies to boost productivity, profits,and growth. Remarkably, it costs nothing––whether cost is measuredin terms of monetary resources or time– –and is simply based on thebelief that, if only people can be free to act in the bestinterests of their company, the results will be tremendous.Freedom, Inc. presents the evidence that this is not thePollyannaish wish of a few dreamers, but a reality built bybottom-line-focused leaders. . . . The culture of freedom works–and Freedom, Inc. reveals thesecrets of a successful business paradigm based on a trusting,nonhierarchical, liberated environment. The visionary leaders profiled here performed near-miracles indriving their companies to unheard-of levels of success, often fromunlikely or disheartening beginnings. Businesses as diverse asinsurance company USAA, winemaker Sea Smoke Cellars, Gore Associates,

In The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally--the bestselling, BookerPrize-winning author of Schindler's List--combines the authority ofa brilliant historian and the narrative grace of a great novelistto present a gripping account of the Irish diaspora. The nineteenth century saw Ireland lose half of its population tofamine, emigration, or deportation to penal colonies inAustralia--often for infractions as common as stealing food. Amongthe victims of this tragedy were Thomas Keneally's own forebearers,and they were his inspiration to tell the story of the Irish whostruggled and ultimately triumphed in Australia and North America.Relying on rare primary sources--including personal letters, courttran*s, ship manifests, and military documents--Keneallyoffers new and important insights into the impact of the Irish inexile. The result is a vivid saga of heroes and villains, fromGreat Famine protesters to American Civil War generals to greatorators and politicians.

A brilliant reconsideration of the Gilded Age in America, whenan oligarchy of wealth triumphed over democracy, when dreams offreedom and equality died of their impossibility. Jay Gould, the“Mephisto of Wall Street,” never runs for office, but he rules.This was his time (and John D. Rockefeller’s and AndrewCarnegie’s), and this was his country. At the end of the Civil War, with the rebellion put down andslavery ended, America belonged to Lincoln’s “plain people.” But“government of the people” and economic democracy were betrayed bypolitical parties that fanned memories of the war to distractAmericans from government of the corporation. Synthesizing the research of a new generation of scholars, JackBeatty gives us a fresh look at the “revolution from above” ofindustrialization that forged modern America. In Age of Betrayal,Supreme Court justices turn the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of“equal protection of the laws” to the freed slave into the shieldof the corpora

This is a book about a handful of men with a curious claim to fame. By all the rules of schoolboy history books, they were nonentities: they commanded no armies, sent no men to their deaths, ruled no empires, took little part in history-making decisions. A few of them achieved renown, but none was ever a national hero; a few were roundly abused, but none was ever quite a national villain. Yet what they did was more decisive for history than many acts of statesmen who basked in brighter glory, often more profoundly disturbing than the shuttling of armies back and forth across frontiers, more powerful for good and bad than the edicts of kings and legislatures. It was this: they shaped and swayed men's minds. And because he who enlists a man's mind wields a power even greater than the sword or the scepter, these men shaped and swayed the world. Few of them ever lifted a finger in action; they worked, in the main, as scholars -- quietly, inconspicuously, and without much regard for what the world had to say abou

'Truly eye-opening ...There is almost no situation that Harford cannot dissect with his sharp economist's tools ...economics has never been this cool' NEW STATESMAN If humans are so clever, why do we smoke and gamble, or take drugs, or fall in love? Is this really rational behaviour? And how come your idiot boss is so overpaid? In fact, the behaviour of even the unlikeliest of individuals - prostitutes, drug addicts, racists and revolutionaries - complies with economic logic, taking into account future costs and benefits, even if we don't quite realise it. We are rational beings after all.

Over its eighty-seven-year history,American International Group,better known as AIG,has achieved unparalleled success by adjusting to changing economic trends,regulatory rules,and political situations.While founder Cornelius Vander Starr—who led this Shanghai start-up for fifty years—built an extraordinary insurance franchise,it was his hand-picked successor,Maurice "Hank" Greenberg,who would turn that franchise into one of the world's most profitable and powerful financial services companies. Now,in Fallen Giant,author Ron Shelp—who worked alongside Greenberg and within the AIG organization for more than a decade—sheds light on AIG,the company,and Hank Greenberg,the man.Through in-depth research,candid interviews,and firsthand experiences,Shelp provides a detailed look at how AIG was originally created and reveals the trouble that Greenberg and company eventually ran into when New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer turned his sights on them. Entertaining and informative,Fallen Gian

A collection of Peter Ferdinand Drucker's legendary essays onbusiness, management, economics and society, written between 1972and 1980. They reflect an international viewpoint and are concernedwith what Drucker called "social ecology" and especiallyinstitutions - governments, organized science, business or schools.This hardcover release is being published as part of the HarvardBusiness Press Drucker Library.

Written during the winter of 1857-8, the "Grundrisse" wasconsidered by Marx to be the first scientific elaboration ofcommunist theory. A collection of seven notebooks on capital andmoney, it both develops the arguments outlined in the CommunistManifesto (1848) and explores the themes and theses that were todominate his great later work "Capital". Here, for the first time,Marx set out his own version of Hegel's dialectics and developedhis mature views on labour, surplus value and profit, offering manyfresh insights into alienation, automation and the dangers ofcapitalist society. Yet while the theories in "Grundrisse" make ita vital precursor to "Capital", it also provides invaluablede*ions of Marx's wider-ranging philosophy, making it a uniqueinsight into his beliefs and hopes for the foundation of acommunist state.

Twenty-five new runways would eliminate most air travel delays in America; fifty patent owners are blocking a major drug company from creating a cancer cure; 90 percent of our broadcast spectrum sits idle while American cell phone service suffers. These problems have solutions that can jump-start innovation and help save our troubled economy. So, what’s holding us back? Michael Heller, a leading authority on property, reveals that while private ownership creates wealth, too much ownership means that everyone loses. Startling and accessible, The Gridlock Economy offers insights on how we can overcome this preventable paradox.

Published in 1778, The Wealth of Nations was the first book oneconomics to catch the public's attention. It provides a recipe fornational prosperity that has not been bettered since, based onsmall government and the freedom of citizens to act in their bestinterests. It reassuringly assumes no knowledge of its subject, andover 200 years on still provides valuable lessons on thefundamentals of economics. This deluxe, selected edition is astylish keepsake from the Capstone Classics series. This edition includes: An abridged selection of all 5 books for the contemporaryreader An original commentary offering new research and analysis byclassic literature guru Tom Butler-Bowdon A biography and chronology of Adam Smith's life and the eventssurrounding the original publication of the work Today, The Wealth of Nations is still essential reading for anybusiness or self-development library, reminding us that it is theingenuity and drive of people, not governments, that remains thesou

Today’s “managerial” capitalism has grown hopelessly out oftouch with the people it should be serving. The SupportEconomy explores the chasm between people and corporations andreveals a new society of individuals who seek relationships ofadvocacy and trust that provide support for their complexlives. Unlocking the wealth of these new markets can unleash the nextgreat wave of wealth creation, but it requires a radically newapproach—“distributed” capitalism. The Support Economy is acall to action for every citizen who cares about the future.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Big Short,Liar’s Poker and The Blind Side! The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planetbetween 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon:it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to revealaspects of their characters they could not normally afford toindulge. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a pi?ata stuffedwith cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack atit. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted tostop being Irish. The trademark of Michael Lewis’s bestsellers is to tell animportant and complex story through characters so outsized andoutrageously weird that you’d think they have to be invented.(You’d be wrong.) In Boomerang, we meet a brilliant monk who hasfigured out how to game Greek capitalism to save his failingmonastery; a cod fisherman who, with three days’ training, becomesa currency trader for an Icelandic bank; and an Irish real estatedevelope

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fueled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's no better time to understand the ascent of money.

In this short, powerful book, multimillionaire and bestsellingauthor Steven K. Scott reveals King Solomon’s breakthroughstrategies to achieve a life of financial success and personalfulfillment. Steve Scott flunked out of every job he held in his first six yearsafter college. He couldn’t succeed no matter how hard he tried.Then Dr. Gary Smalley challenged him to study the book of Proverbs,promising that in doing so he would achieve greater success andhappiness than he had ever known. That promise came true, makingScott a millionaire many times over. In The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, Scott reveals Solomon’s key forwinning every race, explains how to resolve conflicts and turnenemies into allies, and discloses the five qualities essential tobecoming a valued and admired person at work and in your personallife. Scott illustrates each of Solomon’s insights and strategieswith anecdotes about his personal successes and failures, as wellas those of such extraordinary people as Benjamin Franklin, ThomasEdis

Unrivaled in its unique combination of analytical rigor and accessibility, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach has garnered one of the broadest adoption lists in the market. Now appearing in its Sixth Edition, Professor Varian's hallmark text is better than ever, featuring new treatments of game theory and competitive strategy, and a variety of new illustrative examples. Modern, authoritative, and above all crafted by an outstanding teacher and scholar, Intermediate Microeconomics, Sixth Edition will expand students' analytic powers and strengthen their understanding of microeconomics.

The knowledge, resources, and computing power of billions ofpeople are self-organizing into a massive new collective force.Interconnected and orchestrated through blogs, wikis, chat rooms,peer-to-peer networks, and personal broadcasting, the Web is beingreinvented to provide the first global platform for collaborationin history. Encouraging consumers, employees, suppliers, partnersand competitors alike to share information and ideas, masscollaboration marks a profound change in the way business isconducted and radically alters the future of corporatearchitecture, strategy and management. WIKINOMICS is the definitiveinvestigation into how small businesses can achieve success byusing a dynamic ecosystem of partners to co-create and peer-producevalue in this newly-emerging, networked economy.

Unrivaled in its unique combination of analytical rigor and accessibility, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach has garnered one of the broadest adoption lists in the market. Now appearing in its Sixth Edition, Professor Varian's hallmark text is better than ever, featuring new treatments of game theory and competitive strategy, and a variety of new illustrative examples. Modern, authoritative, and above all crafted by an outstanding teacher and scholar, Intermediate Microeconomics, Sixth Edition will expand students' analytic powers and strengthen their understanding of microeconomics.

《活动策划全攻略(第2版)》版向读者介绍了活动策划的基本准则，而第二版在版坚实的基础上，又加入了活动策划业内所出现的新领域和新内容，以达到与时俱进的目的。目前的活动策划已经发展成规模庞大的产业，从事这一行业的包括有筹办企业活动、社交活动、非营利活动以及婚庆活动（婚庆策划目前已发展为数十亿美元的大产业，隶属专业活动策划）的专业活动策划公司、会奖公司、会议策划师、自由策划师、公司内部负责营利活动的高管以及企业内部的活动策划人员和非营利活动策划人员。 For event planners, there’s no such thing as a dressrehearsal! Any event you plan and stage is a reflection of your organization’simage — from the initial invitation to onsite operations. Whetheryou’re planning a product launch, conference, sales meeting, anincentive event, or a gala fund-raiser, remember that the magic ofa truly memorable

For the Third Edition, 2001 Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz joins forces with new co-author Carl Walsh, who brings both economic expertise and teaching savvy to the project. Together, Stiglitz and Walsh thoroughly integrate contemporary economics into the traditional curriculum. Recognizing the limitations of the traditional AS/AD model, the authors offer an improved framework for the analysis of macroeconomic fluctuations. This approach emphasizes the role of the Fed and the federal funds market in the determination of short-term interest rates. The result is an analysis of fluctuations in inflation/output space and a model reflecting the real world of macroeconomics that students encounter in the business press and other media.

Are there tangible benefits in flossing? Is it wrong to fake orgasms? What does the perfect online dating ad look like? Should we bother doing the ironing? Is it really impossible to buy the perfect Christmas gift? (Other than this book, of course.) Economists might not be the first people you would think of to give you advice on such diverse areas as parenting, the intricacies of etiquette or the dark arts of seduction. But for years bestselling author Tim Harford has been doing just that: answering the most challenging questions in his brilliant column, where he uses the tools of economics to give practical advice about everyday dilemmas, conundrums and concerns. From family rows and the stock market to buying socks or speed dating, you'll find within these pages a witty - and of course rational - explanation for almost everything you ever wanted to know about life.