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Why is money more valuable than the paper on which it is printed? Monetarists link the value of money to its supply and demand, believing the latter depends on the total value of the commodities it circulates. According to Prabhat Patnaik, this logic is flawed. In his view, in any nonbarter economy, the value we assign to money is determined independently of its supply and demand. Through an original and provocative critique of monetarism, Patnaik advances a revolutionary understanding of macroeconomics that highlights the "propertyist" position of Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. Unlike the usual division between "classical" economists (e.g., David Ricardo and Marx) and the "marginalists"...
Born in 1945 in Odisha, India, to parents who were deeply committed to the Communist cause as members of the Communist Party of India, Patnaik is one of the most outstanding economists of his generation and a leading Marxist theoretician in the world today. Through his work as an academic, he has contributed immensely to developing a theoretical understanding of India's economy and society, and the tactics and strategy needed to change it in a socialist direction. Patnaik is better known as a leading theoretician of the Left who has kept alive the need for advancing theory to support the struggle for an alternative society. He put into practice his ideas as a heterodox economist when he succ...
In A Theory of Imperialism, economists Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik present a new theory of the origins and mechanics of capitalism that sounds an alarm about its ongoing viability. Their theory centers on trade between the core economies of the global North and the tropical and subtropical countries of the global South and considers how the Northern demand for commodities (such as agricultural products and oil) from the South has perpetuated and solidified an imperialist relationship. The Patnaiks explore the dynamics of this process and discuss innovations that could allow the economies of the South to achieve greater prosperity without damaging the economies of the North. The result is an original theory of imperialism that brings to light the crippling limitations of neoliberal capitalism. A Theory of Imperialism also includes a response by David Harvey, who interprets the agrarian system differently and sees other factors affecting trade between the North and the South. Their debate is one of the most provocative exchanges yet over the future of the global economy as resources grow thin, populations explode, and universal prosperity becomes ever more elusive.
On the night of 8 November 2016, at 8:15 pm, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced in a televised broadcast to the nation that with effect from midnight, currency notes of denominations Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would no longer be legal tender. In one stroke, this involved the de-recognition of over 86 per cent of the value of Indian currency in circulation with only four hours’ notice. This important book provides a quick and concise explanation of the goals, implications, initial effects and the political economy of this major demonetisation move by the Government of India. It clarifies key concepts and offers astute economic analysis to guide the reader through the various claims, arguments and critiques that have been made; highlights the complexities of the processes that have been unleashed; and examines the likely outcomes in the long term as well as those that are immediately evident. Timely and lucid, this book will interest students and researchers in the fields of economics, finance, management, law, politics and governance as well as policy makers, legislators, civil society activists and the media.
Prominent economists analyze the impact of the emerging global economy on national sovereignty and standards of living.
Agrarian transition, exploitative production relations, bondage in the agriculture and informal sectors, food insecurity, and poverty are among the central concerns that have marked the work of the eminent economist and author Utsa Patnaik. She has sought to seek and define alternative economic models that address these concerns and that are therefore emancipatory in nature. This festschrift attempts to engage with the theoretical frameworks, historical analyses, and developmental questions that her remarkable academic contributions have raised. The volume delves deep into issues such as the agrarian question in contemporary India, the issue of primitive accumulation, displacement and land rights, the crisis of employment generation and women's work under present economic regimes, the challenge of environmental sustainability, and environmental constraints to development, left politics, issues of secularism and the social challenges of communalism--all of which are contradictions faced in the development process today. The editors hope that the volume will be useful to all whose praxis and work are anchored on the motivation to build a better and just world.
The Communist Manifesto is among the most widely read and disseminated texts in the world. It has been more influential in the making of the modern world than any other piece of political writing. Rarely has call to arms been phrased in a language of such zest, beauty and purity. One hundred and fifty years after it was written, the Manifesto shows us an image of our own, present-day globalized capitalism with stunning clarity and accuracy.
There is no area of Indian agrarian history that Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri has not traversed. This volume considers his work on the peasantry and the political economy of agriculture in eastern India, including the process of 'depeasantization' and the forcible induction of tribes and forest dwellers into settled agriculture.