Customer Reviews

Capitalism and Its Economics: A Critical History

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'Capitalism and its Economics' is an excellent critical overview of the history of capitalism and the history of the field of economics. Before most people realized that mainstream economics has virtually no predictive power (see Fall, 2008), and is effectively so much nonsense, Dowd detailed its dubious historical origins. Reacting to Marx's revolutionary application of Classical Political Economy (Smith, Ricardo, et al.), Neo-Classical Political Economy increasingly separated itself from any relationship to history and society. Now more than ever -- see the problematic but still informative "Inside Job" -- university economic departments train students in an entirely abstracted lexicon whose main purpose is to justify -- or merely obfuscate the workings of -- contemporary capitalism. Dowd additionally delivers a sweeping and memorable history lesson on the development of capitalism itself, surveying the historic preconditions for and consequences of the rise of that system. Dowd's work is far more sophisticated -- and opinionated -- than standard introductory texts, but it is nonetheless a friendly and enormously helpful teacher. The book is radical, illuminating, often funny (with numerous informative tidbits in the footnotes), and is likely the best introductory text you'll find on the subject.