The Business Cycle: Growth and Crisis under Capitalism

Description

Are the recurring recessions of the capitalist world merely short-term adjustments to changing economic circumstances in a system that tends, in general, toward equilibrium? In this accessible study of the business cycle, Howard Sherman makes a powerful case that recessions and painful involuntary unemployment are endogenous to capitalism. Drawing especially on the work of Wesley Clair Mitchell, Karl Marx, and John M. Keynes, Sherman explains why the nature of the business cycle produces serious economic loss and misery during its contraction phase, just as it produces growth in its expansion phase.Originally published in 1991.Reviews:"This excellent book offers a comprehensive empirical analysis of the business cycle. . . . [Sherman's] approach is a welcome complement to the heretofore excessively abstract modeling of the business cycle in recent years."--ChoiceEndorsements:"This work is more systematic and comprehensive than any other book on the business cycle. The integration of empirical evidence and relevant theory is unusually thorough and interesting, and Sherman's use of Wesley Clair Mitchell's work is especially welcome."--John E. King, La Trobe University.