Economics Alternative

In The Fiat Standard, world-renowned economist Saifedean Ammous applies his unique analytical lens to the fiat monetary system, explaining it as a feat of engineering and technology just as he did for bitcoin in his global best seller The Bitcoin Standard. This time, Ammous delves into the world's earlier shift from the gold standard to today's system of government-backed fiat money—outlining the fiat standard's purposes and failures; deriving the wider economic, political, and social implications of its use; and examining how bitcoin will affect it over time.

The legendary bestseller that encouraged millions of readers to look at the hidden side of everything Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? What do real estate agents and the KKK have in common? These may not sound like typical...

“One of the greats….Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon.” – Stephen King From the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust — and the man who risks everything to reunite them. A bleak moon...

The second volume of William T. Vollmann's epic book about the factors and human actions that have led to global warming begins in the coal fields of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Over the course of four years, Vollmann finds hollowed out towns with coal-polluted streams and acidified drinking water; makes covert visits to mountaintop removal mines; and offers documented accounts of unpaid fines for federal health and safety violations and of miners who died because their bosses cut corners to make more money.

This novel contains a possible adjustment to fractional reserve banking and other structural modifications that society should consider to achieve maximum benefit from our ever-on-going forward progression. It seems naive to believe our societal structures have reached maximum potential. The concept first came to me in early 2012. I wrote this book as discovery writing in 2018 to develop my concept, and in return, I was left with an economic model for society, that I call a needs-based money supply system. I have written largely from self-study, and am in no way an expert in some of the ...

Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang brilliantly debunked many of the predominant myths of neoclassical economics. Now, in an entertaining and accessible primer, he explains how the global economy actually works - in real-world terms. Writing with irreverent wit, a deep knowledge of history and a disregard for conventional economic pieties, Chang offers insights that will never be found in the textbooks.

Freakonomics lived on the New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing two years. Now authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with more iconoclastic insights and observations in SuperFreakonomics—the long awaited follow-up to their New York Times Notable blockbuster. Based...

Winners Take All meets Nickel and Dimed in this provocative debunking of accepted wisdom, providing the pathway to a sustainable, survivable economy. Confronted by the terrifying trends of the early twenty-first century – widening inequality, environmental destruction, and the immiseration of...

From the author of the acclaimed book Fierce Conversations comes the antidote to some of the most wrongheaded practices of business today. · “Provide anonymous feedback.” · “Hire smart people.” · “Hold people accountable.” These are all sound, business practices, right? Not so...

Trump, Credit Cards, and the $1 Trillion Reset How a 15% Interest Cap and a Single Benefits Card Could Rewire the American Economy What if the most powerful financial reform of the modern era didn’t come from Congress—but from a deal with credit card companies? In this speculative policy outline, a Trump-era negotiation changes everything: a nationwide 15% cap on credit card interest, paired with a single universal benefits card that replaces fragmented government assistance programs, slashes administrative waste, and puts spending power directly back into local communities. At the ...

Graeber expone una historia alternativa a la aparición del dinero y los mercados, y analiza cómo la deuda ha pasado de ser una obligación económica a una obligación moral. Desde el inicio de los primeros imperios agrarios, los humanos han usado elaborados sistemas de crédito para vender y comprar bienes, antes incluso de la invención de la moneda. Es hoy, transcurridos cinco mil años, cuando por primera vez nos encontramos ante una sociedad dividida entre deudores y acreedores, con instituciones erigidas con la voluntad única de proteger a los prestamistas.

Edwin Black, award-winning author of IBM and the Holocaust, has mined scores of corporate and governmental archives to assemble thousands of previously uncovered and long-forgotten documents and studies into this dramatic story. Black traces a continuum of rapacious energy cartels and special interests dating back nearly 5,000 years, from wood to coal to oil, and then to the bicycle and electric battery cartels of the 1890s, which created thousands of electric vehicles that plied American streets a century ago.  

Previously Published as A Field Guide to Lies We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track...

Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life and offer solutions to them, too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children who live very different lives in different parts of the world: the Midwest USA and in Ethiopia. He compares the obstacles facing them and the processes that shape their lives, their families, and their futures. He shows how economics uncovers these processes, finds explanations for them, and how it forms policies and solutions.

Shann Jones never expected to fall in love with a Welsh farmer at the age of 41. She didn't anticipate leaving her city-girl existence as a radio talk show host in San Francisco to end up running a 25-acre self-sustaining farm in Wales. And she certainly didn't expect to find herself locked in a...

In a world where artificial intelligence has erased the need for survival, humanity faces a deeper crisis: purpose. The Cities of Refuge were built as the final answer. When a citizen refuses to contribute, society does not punish them—it rescues them. Stripped of comfort and placed into a brutal system of consequence, every individual enters with a debt. Every meal must be earned. Every privilege must be rebuilt. The rule is absolute: if you do not work, you do not eat. Soren Hayes has spent years buried beneath the utopia, choosing apathy over purpose. But when the system pulls him out ...

A searing, on-the-ground examination of the collapsing coal industry—and the communities left behind—in the midst of economic and environmental crisis. Despite fueling a century of American progress, the people at the heart of coal country are being left behind, suffering from unemployment...

Back in 2009, a group of people came together to try to create a currency that would change the economic system for the better. They called it the Bristol Pound. By 2015 it was one of the world’s most prominent local currencies, featured in the Financial Times and Time Magazine, and even covered by Chinese state television. However, the Bristol Pound stopped circulating in 2021, and in 2023 the organisation finally wound up.

The Old Game Is Ending. The New Game Has Begun. For generations, humanity has played by the same rules — rules written in an age of scarcity, competition, and extraction. Like a global game of Monopoly, the early rounds may feel open and full of promise, but the end is inevitable: a few players accumulate nearly everything while the rest are left to fight over scraps. History shows what comes next: economic conditions tighten, jobs are lost, frustration grows. Civility erodes. Anger hardens into division. Authoritarians, dictators, and demagogues rise to fan the flames, pointing fingers ...

Brought to you by Penguin. What would a fair and equal society actually look like? The world-renowned economist and bestselling author Yanis Varoufakis presents his radical and subversive answer. Imagine it is 2025. Years earlier, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, a global hi-tech...