Social Economics

What would the world look like if everybody had everything they wanted or needed? Trekonomics, the premier book in financial journalist Felix Salmon's imprint PiperText, approaches scarcity economics by coming at it backward - through thinking about a universe where scarcity does not exist. Delving deep into the details and intricacies of 24th-century society, Trekonomics explores postscarcity and whether we, as humans, are equipped for it.

In 2016, the World Economic Forum declared that by 2030, “you’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.” The backlash was swift. The WEF scrambled to reframe the statement as merely one possible “scenario.” But the damage was done—not because the statement was shocking, but because it was honest. It described, in plain language, the operational endgame of a system that has been under construction for nearly a century. This book documents the endgame and how it is being brought about. It is not future tense. It is happening now!

Like F.A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises moved beyond economics in his later years to address questions regarding the foundation of all social science. But unlike Hayek's attempts, Mises' writings on these matters have received less attention than they deserve. Theory and History, writes Rothbard in his introduction, "remains by far the most neglected masterwork of Mises". Here Mises defends his all-important idea of methodological dualism: one approach to the hard sciences and another for the social sciences.

The appearance of the famous (and massive) volumes of Rothbard's Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought in a new edition is cause for great celebration. Every paragraph bursts with intellectual energy and the author's fiery passion to tell the listener the remarkable story of economics. Many reviewers have remarked that Rothbard's accomplishment seems superhuman. He seems to have read everything. His originality is overwhelming. His passion for liberty and integrity in science is evident.

Eliot Spitzer built his reputation as Attorney General of New York by redefining the role and purpose of the public prosecutor. The cases he brought against the largest corporations on Wall Street and others - both criminal and civil - targeted pervasive misconduct and structural flaws in the economy that were metastasizing in the years leading up to 2008. The cases themselves and the remedies they produced were precedent setting. Today, after the financial crisis has exposed the faults that were brewing and the ever-expanding gap between the 1% and the 99%, it is clear that Eliot Spitzer was prescient.

Care is the foundation of organic life. But its fate in the economy is precarious and uncertain. In our hearts it’s honoured as an irreducible good. But in the market it’s treated as a second-class citizen – barely recognized in the relentless rush for productivity and wealth. How did we arrive in this dysfunctional place? And what can we do to change things? Renowned ecological economist Tim Jackson sets out to tackle these questions in a timely and deeply personal book.

Capitalism has blessed the world with wealth and technological miracles. It has also cursed it with urban slums, powerless workers, and the vicious boom-and-bust economy. If only there were some way to fix the problems of capitalism and keep all its benefits. In 1897, Henry George published his solution to this puzzle, Progress and Poverty. He suggested that, unlike all other taxes, a tax on land doesn't discourage entrepreneurship. A single tax on land can raise the revenues we need to help the poor without destroying the incentive to create wealth.

At the close of the twentieth century, corporate capitalism extended its reach over the globe. While its defenders argue that globalization is the only way forward for modern, democratic societies, the spread of this system is failing to meet even the most basic needs of billions of individuals around the world. Moreover, the entrenchment of this free market system is undermining the foundations of healthy societies, caring communities, and personal wellbeing.

In Viking Economics - perhaps the most fun economics audiobook you've ever listened to - George Lakey dispels these myths. He explores the inner-workings of the Nordic economies that boast the world's happiest, most productive workers, and explains how, if we can enact some of the changes the Scandinavians fought for, surprisingly recently, we too can embrace equality in our economic policy.

Spread through the public in the form of popular stories, ideas can go viral and move markets - whether it's the belief that tech stocks can only go up or that housing prices never fall. Whether true or false, stories like these - transmitted by word of mouth, by the news media, and increasingly by social media - drive the economy by driving our decisions about how and where to invest, how much to spend and save, and more. But despite the obvious importance of such stories, most economists have paid little attention to them. Narrative Economics sets out to change that.

This book provides a fascinating insider's look at how China is changing rapidly today, how these changes pose grave risks to the rest of the world, and how the US and its allies can best address these challenges. Trade wars and US presidents may come and go, but the fundamental dynamics of the US-China relationship will remain in place for years to come.

Robert Prechter proposes a new science called socionomics. It's the study of how humans interact and how that interaction determines the course of the economy, culture, and history.

In 1890s America Thorstein Veblen attacked a careless acceptance of prevailing social structures, identifying ancient roots for ‘pecuniary culture’ and ‘conspicuous consumption’–realities that promoted materialism and squashed fulfilment. In The Theory of the Leisure Class the worthy Engineer, creating essential products for all, is pitted against the predatory Businessman, exempt from grubby industrial toil and focussed on useless profits.

One of the most ambitious legacies of the 20th century was the universal commitment to ensure freedom from want as a human right. But to what extent are countries across the world living up to this commitment? This path-breaking book develops an innovative, evidence-based index for comparing performance on education, food, health, work, and housing across very differently situated countries and over time. It explores the factors influencing performance and provides empirical evidence to resolve some long standing controversies over the principle of "progressive realization".

Succinct, accessible, and authoritative, Thomas Piketty’s The Economics of Inequality is the ideal place to start for those who want to understand the fundamental issues at the heart of one the most pressing concerns in contemporary economics and politics. This work now appears in English for the first time.

In this groundbreaking economic analysis, Juan Rodriguez Aceves reveals a stunning truth hidden behind the headlines of violence and arrest statistics. Mexican cartels haven't just become criminal enterprises—they've evolved into the economic backbone of entire regions, employing millions of people and contributing tens of billions of dollars to Mexico's economy annually.

In 2025 we saw the biggest far right rally in Britain's history, after a summer of flag-waving protest. In this short, urgent and brilliantly illuminating book Daniel Trilling explains how we arrived at this perilous moment and what we can do to change course before it's too late. The language...

About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans - and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few. Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as ‘The Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert?

In his latest and arguably most pathbreaking book, Parkview Institute president John Tamny asks listeners to contemplate government debt in an all-new way, and in doing so makes a powerful case that deficits and the national debt will continue to grow precisely because left, right and supply side profoundly misunderstand why there’s debt in the first place.

Las consecuencias económicas de la paz es un análisis profético sobre las repercusiones económicas de la Primera Guerra Mundial y los errores cometidos en la Conferencia de Paz de París en 1919. Keynes argumenta que las condiciones impuestas a Alemania llevarían a un resentimiento duradero y a futuros conflictos. Su obra desafía las políticas económicas predominantes de la época y advierte sobre las devastadoras consecuencias de imponer reparaciones excesivas a los países derrotados.