THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Considerable attention is paid to neoliberal (free market) capitalism and economic globalization since the 1980s, examining its ideas and their effects, with a culminating consideration of effects on the environment and the growing socioeconomic gap. Final chapters discuss how the financial sector’s "ten fatal flaws" led to the crisis of 2007–08. Ideas to reform modern capitalism conclude the book. Overall, the book explains capitalism in terms of its flaws as well as its benefits, challenging students to think critically—recognizing both positives and negatives—about capitalism’s role in promoting human well-being. The full textbook can be used as a teacher’s edition in conjunction with the Brief Edition, which condenses and simplifies the contents to 215 pages.