Employers’ Economics versus Employees’ Economy

How Adam Smith’s Legacy Obscures Public Investment in the Private Sector

Locate

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list


Buy this book

Last edited by MARC Bot
September 3, 2025 | History

Employers’ Economics versus Employees’ Economy

How Adam Smith’s Legacy Obscures Public Investment in the Private Sector

This book argues that economic activity in the public sphere now underwrites private corporations, and rejects rigid adherence to traditional economic theories that no longer apply. Adam Smith's widely used "merchant's model" assumes that most investment is private, when in fact research demonstrates that public investment in the workforce through education and training far outweighs the private sector, and does not account for the growing presence of consensual pricing, the diversification of modern businesses, or the increasing internal authoritarianism of globalizing companies. With de facto public support for these adaptations undermining the universally presumed economic model, private corporations are able to increase their profits while misrepresenting the investment of their own global labor forces. This book suggests an "economy of laws" solution that balances the needed degree of central investment planning with the continuation of our pluralist economy of largely autonomous firms, principally by extending the full rights of citizens into the workplace itself.

Publish Date
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Language
English
Pages
191

Buy this book

Book Details


Edition Notes

Source title: Employers’ Economics versus Employees’ Economy: How Adam Smith’s Legacy Obscures Public Investment in the Private Sector

Classifications

Library of Congress
HJ9-9940, HC79.P83 M33 2017

The Physical Object

Format
hardcover
Number of pages
191

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL28054945M
ISBN 10
3319501488
ISBN 13
9783319501482
OCLC/WorldCat
962006404

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL20742129W

Community Reviews (0)

No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON