Too much stuff: Capitalism in crisis - Hardcover

Kozo Yamamura

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1447335651 ISBN 13: 9781447335658

Publisher: Policy Press, 2017

Synopsis

Where has capitalism gone wrong? Why are advanced capitalist economies so sick and why do conventional policy solutions, such as reduced taxes and increased money supply, produce only wider income disparity and inequality? We now live in a new world in which we enjoy the highest living standard in history, acquiring ever more goods and services as necessary luxuries. Yet current policies only serve to expand public debt and exacerbate socio-economic inequality. In Too much stuff, Yamamura upends conventional capitalist wisdom to provide a new approach. He suggests the only way for capitalism and democracy to thrive is to increase investment to meet societal needs such as improving social safety nets, infrastructure, and better education and health care for all, but this means raising taxes. Both solutions-orientated and accessibly written, this book argues that this will help reduce the growing wealth gap which threatens global democracy. With fascinating examples from the US, Japan and Germany, as well as convincing evidence from across the Western world, this bold book challenges the economic orthodoxy and offers practical steps forward that we can all support.

About this title

Review:

A bold and heterodox diagnosis of capitalism's illness, and a bracing prescription: It's time for government to invest in basic needs, rather than encouraging us to make and buy growing mounds of junk. We will be talking about this book for years. --Walter Hatch, Oak Institute for Human Rights, Colby College

A compelling argument for a fairer, smarter form of capitalism which prioritises spending on public goods like health, infrastructure, education, and the environment. At a time of sharpening political end economic divides, this book is a must read. --Miranda Schreurs, Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich

This book is right on time: the leading post-WWII economies are losing economic momentum and facing threats to their democratic institutions. Kozo Yamamura demands a prompt systemic change of the capitalist system in order to revitalize growth and secure democracy. --Guenter Heiduk, World Economy Research Institute, Warsaw School of Economics

About the Author:

Kozo Yamamura was until recently the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor of Asian Studies and Economics at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has also worked at universities in the US, Japan, Germany and France. He has published or edited 25 books from in the US, UK and Japan, many focused on the Japanese economy and economic history, in addition to several books on Comparative Economic Institutions and Policy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1447335651
• ISBN 13: 9781447335658
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224