Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change is an introduction to economics that explains how capitalism works, why it sometimes does not work as well as we would like, and how over time it not only changes its own functioning but also revolutionizes the world around us. Thebook does not assume that the reader has any prior knowledge of economics. The three-dimensional approach to economics offered in this book focuses not just on market competition, as highlighted in conventional economics textbooks, but also on relationships of command - the exercise of power in firms, among nations, and between social groups - and on processes ofhistorical change. The approach is multidisciplinary, making extensive use of examples from history, anthropology, and the other behavioral sciences as well as economics. The core idea uniting the three dimensions of competition, command, and change is the pursuit of profits by firms. Using this central idea, we analyze competition among firms, the search for profits as the driving force of investment and technical change, and profit seeking as a source of conflictamong owners, workers, governments, employers, and consumers. The book covers the standard topics of supply and demand, market competition, imperfect competition, aggregate demand, inflation, and unemployment. It emphasizes the extraordinary dynamism and material productivity of the capitalist economy; the psychological foundations of human behavior; the logicand limitations of Adam Smith's invisible hand; technical change and the information-based economy, global economic integration and its impact on national economies; and inequality both within and among nations. The book also provides a critical evaluation of the tenets of neoclassical economics anda clear introduction to contract theory as well as to new research in behavioral, institutional, and information economics. | Understanding Capitalism by Samuel Bowles, Paperback | Indigo Chapters