San Antonio College Library

In a market economy, consumers have a wide choice of goods. This causes business competition that results in higher-quality goods at competitive prices-the basic principle behind supply-and-demand economics. The marketplace is trusted to answer the questions: What? How? And for whom? This is unlike centrally planned economies where the government determines the answers. In Russia, the IMF encourages these principles as the economy transitions into...

"In this moving oral history, workers displaced by plant closings in Louisville, Kentucky tell their stories, emphasizing their agency, demanding respect for their skills, casting judgment on business and government for not showing that respect, and articulating the sense of alienation that has resulted from violation of their values and trust. Even as they acknowledge the negative consequences of the closings, however, they also reveal the positive...

An examination of how scarcity--and our flawed responses to it--shapes our lives, our society, and our culture.

"Economists have long counseled reliance on markets rather than on government to decide a wide range of questions, in part because allocation through voting can give rise to a "tyranny of the majority." Markets, by contrast, are believed to make products available to suit any individual, regardless of what others want. But the argument is not generally correct. In markets, you can't always get what you want. This book explores why this is so and the...

"Modern health care cannot exist without professional nurses. Throughout the twentieth century, there was seldom a sustained period when the supply of nurses was equal to demand. Whether the complaint was too many or too few, there has been little satisfaction with the number of nurses working at any point of time since the inception of American professional nursing. Nursing the Nation offers a historical analysis of the relationship between the development...

Uses recent data from the San Francisco's Bay Area Longitudinal Survey (BALS) to evaluate characteristics of recruiting and screening methods, skill requirements in entry-level jobs, and promotional opportunities concerning jobs available to workers with little formal education or work experience. Finds that low-skilled jobs do require skills in English, mathematics, problem-solving and communication, often relatively high physical and mechanical...

The authors call for new, decentralized institutions suited to a dynamic economy in which change is constant and rapid. In particular, they see a need for job ladders and worker associations that cut across firm boundaries. These institutions would foster individual and collective learning, mark out career paths, and facilitate coordination among both individuals and organizations in a networked economy. The authors propose new rules to reshape labor...