Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy

List of Tables ; List of Figures ; Preface ; First Essay: Innovation and Dynamism ; 1 Introduction ; 2 Capitalism, Socialism, and Technical Progress ; 2.1 Revolutionary new products ; 2.2 Following the pioneers, the diffusion of innovation ; 2.3 Innovative entrepreneurship under capitalism ; 2.4 The impossibility of innovative entrepreneurship under socialism ; 2.5 Political factors and technical progress ; 2.6 First summary: systems and technical progress ; 3 Transformation and the Acceleration of Technical Progress ; 3.1 New innovator entrepreneurs ; 3.2 The acceleration of follow-up and diffusion ; 3.3 Creative destruction ; 4 Reflection of Historical Reality in People's Minds ; 4.1 The basic phenomenon: lack of understanding ; 4.2 The responsibility of the economic profession ; 4.3 The responsibility of politicians ; 4.4 Interconnectivity and democracy ; 5 Concluding Remarks ; Second Essay: Shortage Economy - Surplus Economy ; 1 Introduction ; 1.1 Impressions ; 1.2 A first approach to clarification of concepts ; 1.3 The place the approach taken in the essay occupies in economic discourse ; 1.4 An advance look at the bounds of the subject-matter and its structure ; 2 The Market for Goods and Services: The Mechanism for the Reproduction of Surplus ; 2.1 An example from economic history: the US telephone system ; 2.2 Supply-related processes ; 2.3 Demand-related processes ; 2.4 The pricing process ; 3 The Market for Products and Services: The Conceptual Apparatus and ; Measurement Methods ; 3.1 <"Pure,>" easily handled cases ; 3.2 The first difficulty: continual mutual adjustment of supply and demand ; 3.3 The second difficulty: parallel occurrences of excess supply and ; excess demand ; 3.4 Diversion: observing the obstacles to and micro constraints on production ; 3.5 The third difficulty: distinguishing <"necessary>" from <"superfluous>" stocks ; 3.6 The fourth difficulty: unjustified aggregation ; 3.7 Pragmatic suggestions for measurement and a conceptual apparatus ; 3.8 Formation of synthetic indicators or <"composite indices>" ; 4 The Labor Market: The Mechanism for the Reproduction of Surplus ; 4.1 Conceptual clarification and measurement ; 4.2 The shock to the labor market caused by the change of system ; 4.3 <"Keynesian>" unemployment ; 4.4 Structural unemployment ; 4.5 Mismatched adjustment, frictional unemployment, and demand ; 4.6 The efficiency wage ; 5 A Summary of the Positive Description and Causal Analysis ; 5.1 The workability of the concept of <"equilibrium>" ; 5.2 Asymmetry ; 5.3 A summary account of the two demand-supply regimes ; 5.4 The generation of a surplus economy by the capitalist system: the causal chain ; 5.5 Genetic propensities ; 6 The Effect and Assessment of the Surplus Economy ; 6.1 A view of the effects and the value judgments ; 6.2 Innovation ; 6.3 The sovereignty and manipulation of the consumer ; 6.4 Productivity and coordination ; 6.5 Adaptation ; 6.6 Distribution of income and wealth ; 6.7 <"Materialistic>" and <"spiritual>" values ; 6.8 The direction of corruption ; 6.9 The advantages and drawbacks of capitalist competition, through the example ; of the automotive industry ; 6.10 A stand in favor of capitalism and the surplus economy ; 6.11 The scope for a theoretical synthesis and its constraints ; 6.12 The demand for mathematical models with explanatory force ; 7 Departures from the General Scheme ; 7.1 Fluctuations of the business cycle ; 7.2 The war economy ; 7.3 Historic changes and lasting tendencies in modern capitalism ; 8 A Personal Postscript ; Appendix ; References ; Index