Markets Don't Fail!

Book Description

Markets Don't Fail! addresses many of the popular arguments made by economists and other intellectuals against the free market. Using numerous examples as well as moral and epistemological arguments, this book claims that free market economies raise the standard of living of all individuals who live in them, and allow human life to flourish.

Customer Reviews:

This Books Needs To Have Been Written.......2007-04-27

Markets Don't Fail! is a book that needs to have been written--to enable both undergraduate students and intelligent lay persons to better understand the true nature of laissez-faire capitalism. This book defends the market economy against the many attacks made today by contemporary economists. Ranging from the theory of economic monopoly and its basis in the doctrine of pure and perfect competition to the theory of asymmetric information, the author point by point thoroughly demolishes the myriad varieties of alleged market failure. A skillful blending of economics with its foundations in philosophy.

false dichotomy.......2006-06-07

This book is essentially a list of arguments based upon false dichotomies and taking everything to an imaginary extreme. For example, the author wishes as one point to argue that egoism and criminality are not related, and so he suggests (p. 18) that criminals are acting against their own self interest. This is because either 1) they will get caught and the punishment will be worse than the crime, or 2) they will spend their lives avoiding authority, and thus will be acting in ways severely detrimental to their own self interest. I think we all know that this is an incredible oversimplification. Many criminals die long before they are caught, many don't worry much about the authorities because they are careful in their crimes, and the rest obviously decide that the trade-off is a good one. If criminals are not attempting to improve their own well-being, I don't really know what they are doing. Anyway, I can certainly come up with situations where it is clear that the criminal would not get caught and would not have to fear authorities. Is criminality OK under those circumstances? Or, if I know that someone else will get blamed and I can get away with it and never have to worry about the "authorities", does that make criminality OK? What about if the President promises to pardon me? And so on. Similarly, the entire argument about how acting "altruistically" is really acting to bring about one's own demise is pretty silly in today's economy where sustinence can be purchased for far less than the median income.

The chapter that I was most interested in was the one on externalities, but I was as disappointed with this chapter as with the rest. The author dismisses the entire discussion of negative externalities by suggesting that it would be silly to ask Henry Ford to compensate buggy-producers for the fact that he drove them out of business. But that is COMPETITION, not an externality. Surely the author knows the difference. Never does the author argue why Pigouvian taxation is a bad idea when it comes to pollution, and it doesn't really seem to cross his mind that his Henry Ford example does not prove his point. He says that we can use the courts to sue in clear-cut cases of damage, and just suck it up in cases where, for example, cars produce pollutants that cause damage. Why this is a better solution than simply asking the markets to internalize the costs is never explained (except that then Henry Ford would never have invented the automobile).

All in all, I can't imagine anyone would find this really worth the time to read, unless they were trying simply to convince themselves of an argument that they already believed. But even for that there are better books.

Especially recommended for professional and academic library reference collections.......2006-02-09

Especially recommended for professional and academic library reference collections, as well as Political Science and Economics Studies student supplemental reading lists, Markets Don't Fail! by Brian P. Simpson (Assistant Professor, School of Business and Management, National University, La Jolla, California) fundamental economics issues ranging from Capitalism, Socialism, and the Mixed Economy, to Monopoly, antitrust laws and predatory pricing, "externalities", economic inequality, public goods, and asymmetric information. So expertly written as to be accessible for even the non-specialist general reader with an interest into how free markets work, and concluding with an Epilogue, Markets Don't Fail! is enhanced with a substantive bibliography and a comprehensive index.

Book Description

Have you implemented high-performance work teams in your organization? Here are many best practice success stories from the real world that also illustrate aspects of teaming that failed. Learn from the best how to avoid some problems and to apply methods and techniques that have been successful at other organizations.

Book Description

Engineering the Farm offers a wide-ranging examination of the social and ethical issues surrounding the production and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with leading thinkers and activists taking a broad theoretical approach to the subject. Topics covered include:

the historical roots of the anti-biotechnology movement
ethical issues involved in introducing genetically altered crops
questions of patenting and labeling
the "precautionary principle" and its role in the regulation of GMOs
effects of genetic modification on the world's food supply
ecological concerns and impacts on traditional varieties of domesticated crops
potential health effects of GMOs

Contributors argue that the scope, scale, and size of the present venture in crop modification is so vast and intensive that a thoroughgoing review of agricultural biotechnology must consider its global, moral, cultural, and ecological impacts as well as its effects on individual consumers. Throughout, they argue that more research is needed on genetically modified food and that consumers are entitled to specific information about how food products have been developed.

Despite its increasing role in worldwide food production, little has been written about the broader social and ethical implications of GMOs. Engineering the Farm offers a unique approach to the subject for academics, activists, and policymakers involved with questions of environmental policy, ethics, agriculture, environmental health, and related fields.

Customer Reviews:

Engaging & Informative.......2002-09-02

When it comes to topics like bioengineering, a lot of people publish theses and dissertations or they rant on in a political diatribe. Bailey is the rare exception who knows what she's talking about and makes it interesting. It's a refreshing surprise to come across a writer who has not only the scholarly credentials to do the work, but has the life experiences to draw upon to bring the points home. This is like reading a good novel except the characters are real, the planet is ours and the facts are astounding. This book will keep you not only informed and educated on the subject but it will entertain you as well. Now that's the kind of book we all enjoy reading.

A terrific follow-up to "Against the Grain"...........2002-08-04

"Engineering the Farm" is a must-read for anyone who eats...like "Against the Grain" (Lappe & Bailey's first book on the issue), "Engineering" explores the issue of agricultural biotechnology. In this book, Bailey & Lappe turn to a dozen or so other experts, each of whom provides a unique perspective on the impact of biotechnology on our lives--physical, environmental, social, ethical, and even spiritual effects which are too often ignored. Pick one up (and then pass it along!)

Book Description

Although the basic statistical theory behind modern genetics is not very difficult, most statistical genetics papers are not easy to read for beginners in the field, and formulae quickly become very tedious to fit a particular area of application. Introduction to Statistical Methods in Modern Genetics distinguishes between the necessary and unnecessary complexity in a presentation designed for graduate-level statistics students. The author keeps derivations simple, but does so without losing the mathematical details. He also provides the required background in modern genetics for those looking forward to entering this arena. Along with some of the statistical tools important in genetics applications, students will learn: · How a gene is found · How scientists have separated the genetic and environmental aspects of a person's intelligence · How genetics are used in agriculture to improve crops and domestic animals · What a DNA fingerprint is and why there are controversies about it Although the author assumes students have a foundation in basic statistics, an appendix provides the necessary background beyond the elementary, including multinomial distributions, inference on frequency tables, and discriminant analysis. With clear explanations, a multitude of figures, and exercise sets in each chapter, this text forms an outstanding entrée into the rapidly expanding world of genetic data analysis.

Customer Reviews:

nice introduction to stat methods in genetic research.......2002-03-12

Mark Yang is a University of Florida Professor of Statistics. He has a strong engineering background and good training in biology and biochemistry. This interest led him to a careful understanding of the subject and the modern methods that are employed which rely more and more on statistics.

What is particularly nice about the book is its simplicity. The study of genetics can be very complicated. Also various useful statistical tools including Markov chain Monte Carlo, bootstrap methods, the EM algorithm and multiple comparisons can be complex as well. But Professor Yang is careful to extract only the essentials to make both the statistics and teh genetics understandable to the layperson.

On the statistical side the emphasis is on the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the likeihood equations in pedigree analysis. Rather than go through complicated Markov Chain theory to demonstrate the equilibrium result Professor Yang demonstrates using simple conditional probabilities. This approach works because the convergence occurs exactly after two steps.

For the benefit of the statistician who knows nothing about genetics Chapter 1 is a primer on molecular genetics that gives the essential to understand recombinant methods, recombination fraction, the Haldane distance mapping function, linkage, RFLP and PCR techniques needed for subsequent chapters.

Most of the work in genetic inference involves calcualting the formula for the likelihood equations. This involves basic discrete probability calculations and combinatorics for the main part.

Once we learn the basics we are ready to understand gentic fingerprinting which is used to establish paternity or identify criminals.

The book has interesting examples and exercises and many good references. The only major drawback to the book is that it does not cover microarray analysis.

However, I recently took a short course from Dr. Yang based on this book. In the course he spent a great deal of time on microarray technology by supplementing the text with some notes on microarrays and a recent paper he published on the reliabiity on the technique. The text certainly gives the reader the proper background for microarray analysis or other genetic developments.

Average customer rating:

Best of 7 books I have read

Good introductory book

Good for beginner and the more seasoned sailor

A great book to give to your new crew

This is the ticket to winning races

Getting Started in Sailboat Racing
Adam Cort , and Richard Stearns
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sailing | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0071424008

Book Description

A complete course in the fundamentals, Getting Started in Sailboat Racing dispels the sport’s elite aura and makes racing accessible to any sailor who wants to give it a try. This illustrated manual takes readers around the buoys, explaining the rules and tactics that govern starts, finishes, mark roundings, and boat-to-boat struggles for speed and advantage.

Customer Reviews:

Best of 7 books I have read.......2007-07-27

I have raced my 36 ft sloop lightly for the last 5 years and wanted a book to help me improve my finish (2nd every time but only 5 in class). I have now read 7 books on the subject. Most frustrated me as they only talk about racing upwind and downwind. My class races up, down, and reaching. To make matters worse, my class is no spinnaker. So, typically the upwind talk is how to tune a boat with a fractional rig, which I don't have, or a spinnaker, which I don't use. Some only talk about boats so small you can tip them over. This book covers everything, up, down, reaching, no spinnaker. It talks about little and big boats. It does as good a job on tactics as any of the books and in fact better than most. It is an easy read and not full of typos like some of the others. I highly recommend it.

Good introductory book.......2007-06-19

I'm going to use this in our yacht club's "Introduction to Sailboat Racing" class. It's a good starter book for someone just getting into the sport and it's written with a nice blend of folksy antecdotes and hard "bullet point" information. There just enough of each subject to get a taste, but not so much as to overwhelm. Other books and on-the-water experience will fill in the blanks. Q&A review at the end of the chapters highlights the key information. If you're just getting started in sailboat racing, "Getting Started" is a good way to do it.

Good for beginner and the more seasoned sailor.......2006-07-29

Each time I pick this book up I learn something new. While it's written to introduce racing, it's really a useful reference to improve your racing over time.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject, regardless of skill level.

A great book to give to your new crew.......2006-03-13

An easy to read overview of all the basics. Perfect for someone getting started in club racing and a great book to bring new crew up to speed.

This is the ticket to winning races.......2005-11-21

Stearns and Cort do a great job explaining sailboat racing with clarity and brevity and a dash of humor. I've read Melges, the Colgates, Stuart Walker and those are all fine authors. But I think "Getting Started.." is much easier to understand. The little quizzes with their answers right after the questions at the end of each section hammer home the essential principles.

This might just be a series of happy accidents but I bought the book at the beginning of September, '05, and we won the next four races in our Colgate 26 racing on Lake Michigan near Holland, MI.

Average customer rating:

Getting Started in Sailboat Racing
Adam Cort
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG0R0I

Average customer rating:

Wonderful book!

Terrible advice

Best wedding planning book EVER!

OUTSTANDING! Best I've seen in wedding planning!

The Bargaining Bride: How to Have the Wedding of Your Dreams Without Paying the Bills of Your Nightmares
Shirit Kronzon , and Andrew Ward
Manufacturer: New Page Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Marriage & Family | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1564147983

Book Description

Dr. Shirit Kronzon has taught hundreds of students at the prestigious Wharton School of Business how to negotiate everything from their first job offer to their latest promotion.

Now she is going to teach you how to negotiate your wedding!

If you are like so many brides-to-be, you will spend months preparing for the most important day of your life. There will be dozens of decisions to make as you try to secure the best wedding gown, photographer, music, flowers, cake, invitations, and reception location…without having to mortgage your parents' house —or your own—to pay for them.

Each one of these decisions presents an opportunity to bargain for a better deal. At the core of wedding planning is a skill you may not realize you need: you must know how to negotiate. After all, the cost of a wedding can easily exceed that of a fancy car or even a starter home!

The Bargaining Bride will help you get the wedding of your dreams without paying the bills of your nightmares. It will show you proven strategies to help you save money on the most important elements of your wedding without sacrificing the splendor of the event, including:

How to get that dream dress (or bouquet, or cake, or reception location) at a fraction of the price.

How to recognize and respond to common vendor pressure tactics such as "the bait and switch," "nibbling," and "entrapment."

How to negotiate with family members and in-laws. And much, much more.

You will see how effective negotiation skills can mean the difference between paying too much for an unremarkable event and getting an exceptional deal on the most memorable day of your life.

Dr. Shirit Kronzon received her B.A. in Psychology from Stanford and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Princeton. She has taught at Wharton for five years.

Dr. Andrew Ward, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, has conducted research on negotiation for the past 15 years. His work has been featured in such popular magazines as Glamour, Self, Allure, and Redbook.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful book!.......2006-02-22

Wonderful book! Lots of helpful hints! I have two points to offer:

First, I loved how the authors actually tell you what to say to the various wedding service providers that I am dealing with. The book even includes a mock conversation with a photographer about how to get your final photographs when photographers take their time returning your pictures.

Second, as a woman who is planning her wedding I was very intimidated by how I should interact with the wedding vendors and I LOVED the book's central idea, that is, that if you are afraid of a formal negotiation, just think of it as ASKING questions so that you can make informed decisions about your wedding planning. I wholeheartedly agree: It is less scary to ask questions than to visualize a tough bargaining session.

This book is saving me hard-earned money - well done!

Terrible advice.......2006-02-22

I got married very recently. I went through the whole planning experience...

Though there are some decent ideas, most of what this book tells you will actually hurt your big day and create stress.

For example, this book teaches you to treat your vendors like car salesman. Smart idea. Plan and dream of your wedding all your life, but then chose the cheapest people, turn off your vendors by nickel and diming them to death to which only the most desperate will agree to. Very smart.

As a recent groom, my experience is that you get what you pay for, and creating a situation where you pick the cheapest/most desperate vendors will only create more stress for you. I done this with one vendor and regretted it. I have shot some weddings in my life as well, and in one or two cases where I accepted the hard negotiation, it really made me resent the clients. When I didn't accept it, the clients picked some desperate person and they without exception came to me to fix their photos which was not possible.

I also wonder if the authors salaries were negotiated like car salesman for this book.

There are many books that help plan a wedding without going into big debt. This however, is not the way to do it. The authors are just trying to take advantage of the bride's willingness to save money and they are in fact the people who remind me of car salesman but taking advantage of this.

Best wedding planning book EVER!.......2006-01-05

I read dozens of books when I planned my wedding, and this is by far the best of all. It gave actually useful advice, and it was really fun to read. The fact that the advice was all scientifically based just made it that much more persuasive.

OUTSTANDING! Best I've seen in wedding planning!.......2005-12-22

I've looked at several wedding planning books (as do many brides-to-be), but never have I seen one so well written, thoughtful and practical.

I picked up this book while putting the last details on my own wedding planning. I specifically used its advice in negotiating price and arrangements for the wedding gown and flower arrangements. I saw so many of the tricks coming and now have extra money left over to indulge in an extravagant honeymoon! I wish I had found the book earlier!

I'm sure these negotiation tactics will even carry over into my consulting career. Believe me, take a look.

Book Description

The fiercest battles and proudest warriors throughout Klingon history are said to reflect the honor and glory of the race's first emperor, Kahless the Unforgettable. But history is not always truthful. And for both the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets, the real truth may be too difficult to accept.

In the pages of a novel disclaimed by Starfleet, an enemy offers his perspective on events that transpired during the formative years of Klingon-Federation relations in the early twenty-third century. Chronicling the life story of Krenn, a Klingon war strategist who learns of peace while on a mission to Earth, the novel is a testimony to his efforts to preserve the honor of his people¨by preventing total war against the then-struggling Federation.

Nearly a century later, a clone of the revered Kahless oversees the Klingon Empire. But when the myths and legends associated with the original emperor are disputed following the discovery of an ancient scroll, the new Kahless faces treason from within his own council, and impending civil war that could tear the empire apart. His sole chance for restoring his people's shattered faith must come from the outside -- specifically, from Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Lieutenant Worf of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Customer Reviews:

WARNING: COMPILATION, NOT A ST NEW NOVEL.......2005-01-17

This is NOT a new Star Trek novel: it is merely a compilation of two previously released ST novels, Kahless, and The Final Reflection. My one star rating reflects my annoyance at having to return what I thought was a new novel when I purchased it. The rating is not a commentary on either of the novels included in this compilation, both of which I thought were quite good.

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