The era of globalization has brought about unprecedented social, political, and environmental challenges for policy makers around the world due to the global impact of economic decisions. In view of these challenges, economics, as a discipline, needs to be taught with the goal of broadening the dialogue on social responsibility, and developing a new pluralist culture of decision making which is inclusive to different schools of economic thought. Pluralist Readings in Economics: Key-concepts and policy tools for the 21st century highlights the long-standing debates regarding economic systems, business models, criteria of justice, and economic policies by providing conceptual openings to economic theory in an engaging and accessible way. The author provides broad coverage of relevant topics through the selection of influential economic thinkers and introduces the reader to their ideas, context, and relevant interpretations. While dealing with complex problems, the author goes beyond commonly known concepts by presenting questions on the historical context of globalization. The study of economic concepts in this way leads to asking new questions concerning various issues relevant to economics. The goal of the text is to provide an interdisciplinary perspective to readers in order to equip them with information that is key to address global economic challenges. Thus, this pluralist approach calls for a reflection of the evolution of global social and economic conditions to demonstrate problem solving approaches that align with the goal of addressing these challenges. Pluralist Readings in Economics: Key-concepts and policy tools for the 21st century is suitable to a broad interdisciplinary readership as it will benefit all those who seek to better understand the complex stakes of the capitalist system, in the tensions between regulatory policies, free market equilibria, and participatory openings in governance. This introductory work also prepares the reader for debates and discussion in economic theory aimed at shaping policy transformations towards a more equitable, just and sustainable world.

The business cycle or economic cycle refers to the periodic fluctuations of economic activity about its long term growth trend. The cycle involves shifts over time between periods of relatively rapid growth of output (recovery and prosperity), alternating with periods of relative stagnation or decline (contraction or recession). These fluctuations are often measured using the real gross domestic product. One of the government's main roles is to smooth out the business cycle and reduce its fluctuations. To call those alternances 'cycles' is rather misleading as they don't tend to repeat at fairly regular time intervals. Most observers find that their lengths (from peak to peak, or from trough to trough) vary, so that cycles are not mechanical in their regularity. Since no two cycles are alike in their details, some economists dispute the existence of cycles and use the word 'fluctuations' (or the like) instead. Others see enough similarities between cycles that the cycle is a valid basis of studying the state of the economy. A key question is whether or not there are similar mechanisms that generate recessions and/or booms that exist in capitalist economies so that the dynamics that appear as a cycle will be seen again and again. This new book presents leading-edge research in this field.

Monographic compilation of readings on economic theories of labour economics - studies theories of labour supply concerning migration, married women (woman workers) and labour productivity, racial discrimination, etc., The role of trade unions in wage policy collective bargaining, relationships between human capital and wage differentials, wage structure and the macroeconomics of the labour market, etc. Graphs, references and statistical tables.