Upon first reading Economics for Everyone I was disappointed. At the time of its publication I was a doctoral student at the end of a long road of education in and around economics, political economy and traditional political science and I was looking for a concise and penetrating settling of theoretical scores. After a couple years, with the polemical hangover nearly dissipated, I reread Economics for Everyone (Economics) from the perspective of a professor evalu- ating a potential introductory textbook on economics and political economy. Viewed from this angle Economics is an impressive introductory text. Normal.dotm 0 0 1 959 5467 ///////////// 45 10 6713 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false

With respect to introductory economic textbooks there is really only a choice between two genres. The first introduces students to the basic elements of neoclassical economic analysis and its mathematical formulizations. The second genre introduces students to the origins, evolution, key institutions, and social relations that obtain in a capitalist economy. It is to this second genre that Jim Stanford’s text belongs. One of the inherent challenges for texts of the second genre is that there is a stark difference between educating students about the economy and educating students about the practice of economics as a social science (i.e. the discipline of economics). More often than not heterodox textbooks end up serving as introduction to the history of the polemics and controversies of economics as a discipline and thus function more as prelude or substitute for actually talking about capitalism and its key institutional underpinnings. Economics for the most part avoids this trap.

Economics is organized into five sections beginning with a discussion of why we should study economics; the origins and evolution of capitalism as a distinct form of economic organization; and the political economy of economics. All in 64 pages! Clearly the only way to achieve such a concise statement is via the hegemonic voice. Yet this voice is the voice of agnostic radicalism (I here use “radical” in the sense of the late Latin radicalis) rather than an orthodox unitarianism. From an educator’s point of view, the schematic nature of the introductory section serves well enough to delimit the objects of analyses while at the same time introducing students to the idea that capitalism is both historically novel and socially mutable. This is important because the world is indeed populated by a series of extant capitalist “models” which produce qualitatively different results across a broad range of metrics. Stanford’s agnostic radicalism thus finds its empirical grounding in the reality that many different types of policies are indeed possible within capitalism.

Section two of Economics is dedicated to the gear box of capitalism – work, tools (capital) and profit. In this section the central agents of the capitalist economies are introduced; i.e., workers and capitalists and their associative economic units and their linkages. Here I wish Stanford had paid closer attention to management and managers and the difference between profit producing labour (workers) and profit maximizing labour (supervisors and admi- nistrators). This is unfortunate because one of the major failings of orthodox economics is its near silence on the question of management. (It is true that within neoclassical institutionalism there is an account of the firm and management, but these theories are not usually broached in typical orthodox introductory texts.) Nonetheless,

Stanford does touch on the problem of work effort and some of the carrots and sticks employed by management to elicit higher productivity. Thus, for those wishing to go deeper into the issue of supervision and human resource management this text does provide an opening. The same can be said of Stanford’s treatment of the household as the site of reproduction. That is to say, there is enough in his schematic presentation to allow both instructors and students to delve deeper into subject matter should they choose.

The third section introduces the dynamic elements of capitalist economies: competition, investment and growth, employment and unemployment, distribution and the environment. Each is taken up with the same rapid fire vigour which, like the previous sections, should serve to stimulate the curiosity of students.

The fourth section is likewise a rather hefty presentation of the “Complexities of Capitalism”. The list of topics covered is too extensive to present here. All the traditional macroeconomic policy questions are dealt with from monetary and fiscal policy through to international trade and development which culminates in the presentation of a basic macro model of the economy. What I found interesting about this section was that it also raised three issues not custo- marily broached in introductory texts: the financialization of the economy, pensions and a rather long discussion of that much neglected topic in orthodox textbooks – the state and liberal democracy.

The last section deals with the age old dispute between reform liberals, socialist reformers and revolutionaries. It is a muddled conversation and I wish Stanford had simply presented the Nordic model as one possible alternative vision while noting Kelecki’s observations about the instability of high road equilibrium strategies. Students would be better served, in my opinion, to focus their attention on the structural barriers to any serious project of economic reform. This could have been partially accomplished by referring back to the chapter on the state and liberal democracy. The question is not if another world is possible for, in the abstract, it always is. The real question is how and under what conditions it could be possible.

The fuzzy nature of the last section is in no small part, perhaps, a function of Stanford’s agnostic radicalism. Indeed, the weakness of this text would only become apparent should Stanford choose to write an intermediate version. Then all the serious disputes between heterodox economists could not be papered over by the authority of the hegemonic voice that is characteristic of introductory textbooks.

That said, this is an introductory text- book and a very good one at that. It can be used in whole or part, depending on the needs of the instructor. There is also an online resource which has course outlines and lesson plans along with additional resources. Union educators and summer session instructors will particularly appreciate the truncated lesson plan for short intensive instruction. – Travis Fast, Laval University for Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations 66-3, 2011

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On the cover of Jim Stanford’s book Economics For Everyone there is a blurb by Naomi Klein that reads, “Stanford is that rare breed: the teacher who changed your life. He has written a book — both pragmatic and idealistic — with the power to change the world.” Anyone who scoffs at Klein’s description is not familiar with the work of Jim Stanford. For Stanford is anything but a dismal scientist: in his economic writing he makes clear complex concepts and processes, cuts through the ideology of the ruling class and their servants in the economics profession, and empowers the everyday people upon whose labour our economy rests. And he does this mercurially through a variety of mediums, whether in his column for The Globe and Mail, appearing on CBC television and radio, or in his work for the Canadian Auto Workers union. He’s Canada’s answer to American public intellectuals such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz — only more radical — and indeed our most formidable political economist since John Kenneth Galbraith migrated south so many years ago.

It’s only fitting then that Stanford would undertake the sorely needed task of writing a popular introduction to modern capitalism. Such books face a dilemma: do they provide a thorough but lengthy guide to the subject or risk dumbing down the material in the cause of accessibility? To his credit, Stanford has written an accessible but methodical introduction to the economics of capitalism which explicates the subject from the ground up, beginning with a discussion of the basics (work, tools, and profit) to the complexity of globalization, financial markets, and the causes behind the peaks and troughs of our volatile economic system. The book’s conclusion, A Dozen Big Things To Remember About Economics, is an excellent capstone which lays bare the absurdity of neoclassical economics. The witty illustrations of Tony Biddle that accompany Stanford’s text make the most serious and demanding subject matter a little more bearable.

Socialists might be somewhat disappointed with the space that Stanford devotes to a discussion of alternatives, but the absence of a blueprint for a democratically controlled socialist economy is less a comment on the author than it is on the current impasse of socialist politics and thought. With the current economic crisis, the book may be in need of a second edition. While the imbalance between the real productive economy and the speculative paper economy that has been a theme of Stanford’s work for years gets decent treatment, Economics For Everyone was published just prior to the global meltdown of the capitalist economy. However, a great addition to the book is the accompanying website (www.economicsforeveryone.ca) which contains lesson plans for educators, including a sample course outline, lecture slides, and a comprehensive glossary of terms. While the lesson plan section of the site is not complete, it is due to be finished in the near future.

All in all, Economics For Everyone is an invaluable book and a necessary addition to the library of popular educators, trade unionists, activists, or any person trying to make sense of the conundrum that is modern capitalism. And as Stanford makes clear, the first step to transforming the system is knowing how it works and for whom. To this end, Economics For Everyone has made a vital contribution.

—Simon Black, Canadian Dimension, Aug. 26, 2009

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 Only a few short pages into Economics for Everyone, Jim Stanford warns his reader to “never trust an economist with your job”. This bold statement makes Stanford, an economist for the Canadian Auto Workers Union, a true iconoclast in a field which has increasingly become dominated by supply-sided neoliberal practitioners. These are the experts” who can be seen on television and in print treating economic questions as apolitical abstractions, reinforcing the hegemonic logic of unregulated free-market capitalism, even in a time of economic crisis.

In this book Stanford breaks with convention to present a populist, worker-centered perspective on economics that challenges the prevailing apolitical models of capitalist economic orthodoxy. Stanford accomplishes this task by structuring the book into short, readable chapters, free from excessive economic jargon or mathematics. The use of cartoons and easy-to-read flow charts throughout helps the reader connect their actual lived economic circumstances in the workplace, at home, and in their communities to the bigger economic picture and the capitalist system as a whole. Stanford has also included a blog, a Web-based glossary, and ready-made lecture slides to accompany the book, thus giving activists the tools necessary to teach a popular economics course, based on the content of the book.

The book is organized into five parts, each containing a number of small chapters. Part I introduces the reader to basic economic and political concepts. The next section reviews the concept of work (both paid and unpaid), focusing on the relationship between bosses, workers, companies, and profit. Part III considers capitalism as an economic system and introduces the reader to the concepts of competition, investment, employment relations, and the distribution of wealth. This is followed by an examination of the monetary and financial systems that sustain capitalist economics both nationally and internationally. The final section evaluates the capitalist system with a report card, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, before imagining alternative economic systems.

Three chapters stand out. Chapter 8 effectively explains, in plain language, the adversarial nature of the employment relationship under capitalism. Chapter 15 focuses on reproduction and documents the important role that domestic labor plays in the capitalist system. An in an analysis of capitalism and the environment, chapter 15 explores issues of sustainability and growth, casting doubt on market-based mechanisms, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade, as effective means to address the important issue of global warming.

Although Stanford does a good job explaining the relationship between capitalism and the class power structure throughout the book a sustained discussion or even a stand-alone chapter on the relationship between capitalism and the racial power structure would have helped to make the book even more relevant the a wider audience.

Finally, while Stanford does hold out hope for an alternative to capitalism, he provides no real road map for activists interested in building a transformative political project. For segments of the activist Left who are forever asking< “What is to be done?” Stanford’s discussion of alternatives to capitalism will likely disappoint. That said, understanding the system one seeks to replace is a good starting point for any activist with aspirations of changing the world. To that end, Stanford’s Economics for Everyone is an exceptionally valuable contribution to the field of union education and could easily be adopted as a course text in introductory labor studies courses at the post secondary level.

- Larry Savage, Brock University for Labor Studies Journal, 2009 (posted with permission from Sage Publications US).

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