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Books by Brendan Sheehan

This book addresses the challenge posed by J.K. Galbraith over fifty years ago to make a construc... more This book addresses the challenge posed by J.K. Galbraith over fifty years ago to make a constructive contribution to a different style of economic analysis - the economics of abundance. It identifies a system of abundance inhabited by the 'people of plenty' and illustrates that the driver of growth in this system is spending by affluent consumers. The book provides essential heterodox economic theory to explain this spending and explore its key drivers and constraints. The greatest threat to this system is under-consumption. The book explains how the system spontaneously responds by creating the institution of marketing, which amplifies the drivers of spending and relaxes the constraints. However, all this has implications for the way in which markets work. The author expertly builds on themes first identified by J.K. Galbraith to introduce a new conceptual framework - that of corporate-guided markets for branded products. Written in a comprehensive style, this book will prove a valuable resource for academics in various fields including: economic and social history, sustainability, sociology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, marketing and cultural studies.
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Contents: Preface 1. Abundance, Scarcity and Sufficiency 2. The Institution of Marketing 3. Socio-Cultural Consumption 4. Subjective Consumption 5. Cognitive Consumption 6. The Role of Markets 7. Implications
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Economics-Abundance-New-Directions-Modern/dp/1843766701/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281622193&sr=1-4

The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money is the pinnacle of the intellectual achieveme... more The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money is the pinnacle of the intellectual achievements of John Maynard Keynes. This book is a primer for Keynes’ seminal work. Its persistent theme is to explain why the General Theory is a general theory. It provides a comprehensive overview of the General Theory and its setting, incorporating Keynes’ writings prior to and following the General Theory to contextualise key ideas. It outlines important background detail – the definitions, equations and diagrams - largely omitted from the General Theory, carefully covering both the more familiar and lesser known parts of Keynes’ seminal book. In addition it thoroughly examines the significant policy insights of Keynes. Finally it is never afraid to offer constructive criticisms of Keynes’ work when appropriate.
If there is one book every economist should read it is Keynes’ General Theory. But to get the most from the experience read this book first.

Papers by Brendan Sheehan

This essay identifies seven interacting and ineradicable traps – public debt, inequality, grey po... more This essay identifies seven interacting and ineradicable traps – public debt, inequality, grey power, immigration, the housing crisis, the NHS and net zero - into which the British political class have entered, and from which it’s impossible to escape. Individually and collectively these traps will guarantee that the next Labour government will only succeed in being deeply unpopular.

Did you ever wonder how banks can literally create money by granting loans, seemingly without lim... more Did you ever wonder how banks can literally create money by granting loans, seemingly without limit? Or were you ever curious about how central banks averted the bankruptcy of the big banks in 2008, and saved the global economy from a 21st century Great Depression? If so, this essay is for you as it answers both questions in an accessible manner. The content of the essay is a mixture of historical reviews of relevant developments in private and central banking, combined with simple numerical examples that illustrate the underlying forces at work and the interventions applied.

What’s to be done if we really want to stop the throwaway culture and limit the use of the planet... more What’s to be done if we really want to stop the throwaway culture and limit the use of the planet’s resources? The tendentious answer provided by the proponents of the ecological viewpoint lies in the establishment of an entirely new sustainable society which reverses the path that civilisation took two centuries ago and turns upside-down the assumptions of the growth society. An intriguing input to the ongoing discussion about the character of the sustainable society is provided by the French ‘visionary’ Philippe Bihouix. His contribution is inspired by the works of Illich and Schumacher, influenced by the degrowth movement, and fully in tune with the contemporary catastrophist zeitgeist. His vision of the sustainable society – a world of low technology and parsimonious resource-use – is, quite literally, revolutionary in its ramifications; if implemented, it would establish an entirely new form of human civilisation. And it makes an intriguing contrast with the vision of sustainability offered by Ernest Callenbach.

What might sustainable living in the sustainable society really look like? From the mid-1960s onw... more What might sustainable living in the sustainable society really look like? From the mid-1960s onwards, many have turned their minds to this question, but their collective visions at best can be described as inchoate. From them it’s impossible to get a mental picture of how the truly sustainable society (with distinctive values, mores, rules conventions and institutions) might operate? Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012), writer, academic journal editor and teacher of ‘Film’ at various universities, took the road less travelled to offer a much clearer vision of this new civilisation, where the all norms have been turned upside-down, in his best seller, Ecotopia, published in the mid-1970s. Ecotopia was hugely influential on the ecological movement at the time, being credited with being one of the driving forces behind the founding of the German Green Party. Latterly its influence has waned considerably, to such an extent that many ecologically-minded people know little about Callenbach’s seminal work. I would claim that for anyone interested in the ecological viewpoint it’s essential reading.

This essays sets out the contributions of twelve short century advocates of sustainability. The t... more This essays sets out the contributions of twelve short century advocates of sustainability. The twelve are Donella Meadows (posthumously), Jørgen Randers, Dennis Meadows, Sven Erik Jørgensen, Brian D. Faith, Søren Nors Nielsen, Frederico M. Pulselli, Daniel A. Fiscus, Simone Bastianoni, Peter Victor, Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neil. Each contribution deployed various arguments to persuade humanity to engage in transformational change in a post neo-liberal world. Most proposed action plans to bring about sustainability, and suggested ways in which the transition to the sustainable society might be enacted. Each included some broad-brush thoughts on what the sustainable society might look like. And, each demonstrated the continuing influence of the Dalyan legacy, to a greater or lesser degree.

Many of the radical ideas of present-day opponents of the growth society build upon a rich intell... more Many of the radical ideas of present-day opponents of the growth society build upon a rich intellectual heritage of opposition to growth, stretching back to the 1960s. What’s intriguing about the works of the past opponents of growth, the ‘old dissenters’, is that their indictment of growth doesn’t rely solely on the ‘silver bullet’ of excessive greenhouse gas emissions. This means that their intellectual arguments are more comprehensive and erudite than present-day critics who rely solely on climate change to clinch their case. This essay surveys the contributions of the most eminent of the ‘old dissenters’, in the hope that readers may acquire a more nuanced appreciation of the case against growth. The contributions surveyed are from Kenneth Boulding (1966), Garrett Hardin (1968), Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (1971), Donella and Denis Meadows, Jørgen Randers and William Behrens (1972), Arne Naess (1973), Ivan Illich (1973), E.F. Schumacher (1973) and Herman Daly (1989 and 1996).

This is a case study of corporate-guided market failure: Coca Cola Inc’s new branded product Coke... more This is a case study of corporate-guided market failure: Coca Cola Inc’s new branded product Coke Life, launched in 2013. ‘Brand failures’ are an accepted part of the business world and regularly feature in the business strategy literature. Here brand failure is reframed as corporate-guided market failure. The study begins by extending the conventional concept of ‘market failure’. Next, it sets-out the context of under-spending on soda drinks which prompted Coca Cola to instigate a new market. Then it analyses of the actions of the Coke Life brand managers within the framework of the seven aspects of a corporate-guided market. Lastly, it evaluates why Coke Life failed to stimulate sufficient sales.

In the third-quarter of the twentieth century John Kenneth Galbraith was probably the best-known ... more In the third-quarter of the twentieth century John Kenneth Galbraith was probably the best-known economist in the world. He gloried in taking the road less travelled, challenging the conventional wisdom, the doctrines and myths, which sustain the social order. But criticism was never enough for Galbraith. He created an alternative analysis, an unconventional wisdom, of how capitalism works: the general theory of advanced development. It emerged over the course of four of Galbraith’s key books: American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), The New Industrial State (1967) and Economics and the Public Purpose (1974). It’s an audacious economic, political and social theory in the eclectic tradition of North American Institutionalism, which gives a new twist to the insights of Edward Chamberlain, Joan Robinson and John Maynard Keynes. Disappointingly, mainstream economics has ignored it; no trace is to be found in modern economics textbooks.
The essay has five objectives. To provide a comprehensive explanation of the general theory of advanced development; to explain how corporate capitalism, faced with the twin threats of either depression or persistent inflation, evolved; to outline the social and political implications of this economic system; to set-out Galbraith’s innovative agenda of reform; and to provide a provisional assessment of his contribution to political economy.

2023

Why is there societal aversion to slow or no growth, and positive antipathy towards the thought... more Why is there societal aversion to slow or no growth, and
positive antipathy towards the thought of contracting economic activity?
At one level the answer is simple: we live in the growth society,
one predicated culturally, politically, economically, financially and
technologically on perpetual exponential growth. This means that any
deviation from this upward movement is portrayed negatively: as a slow-down, stagnation, worse still a recession, or heaven help us, a
depression. This essay, however, attempts to offer a more detailed
diagnosis of the agitated condition. It examines both the system of ideas
that justify the belief in the goodness of economic growth and the diverse
movement of growthers united by their fervent devotion to the pro-growth cause.
It takes an innovative approach, in that it contextualises
the last 70 years of the mystique of growth within the wider setting of the
last 70,000 years of the history of Homo-sapiens since it experienced its
Cognitive Revolution. The essay comes to a intriguing conclusion: that a
rock-bottom explanation of why growth is thought to be good and what
motivates growthers to be so passionate, is provided once one grasps the
essential nature of the deeply flawed species which is Homo-sapiens: creative, paranoid, invasive, expansionary and cursed by a fervent devotion to belief
systems.

This paper introduces the idea of a corporate-guided market. It highlights the seven aspects of c... more This paper introduces the idea of a corporate-guided market. It highlights the seven aspects of corporate-guided markets. As an exemplar, it explains the launch and subsequent development of Diet Coke by Coca Cola Inc. in terms of the seven aspects.

John Maynard Keynes was certainly the most famous and arguably the greatest political economist o... more John Maynard Keynes was certainly the most famous and arguably the greatest political economist of the twentieth century. His seminal publication, The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, published in 1936, changed economics irrevocably. Unfortunately, Keynes was not well-served by his followers, and much of his bold vision is missing from standard textbook treatments of his work. This essay sets the record straight by having four key objectives. First, as context, it provides a biographical sketch of Keynes achievements and the ‘interesting’ times which he experienced, the single most important event being the Great Inter-War Depression. Second, as further context, it introduces the essentials of the classical orthodoxy, the pre-Keynesian macro-economic theory of how economic society worked, and its conservative policy agenda, from which Keynes departed. Third, the core of the essay, it faithfully explains the key concepts and ideas of his new workable classification in which effective demand was the driving force, and the many-layered policy programme known as the Middle-Way, which he fashioned over time to meet the challenges posed by the Great Depression, World War 2 and the post-war world. Lastly, it sets-out the reasons why Keynes can be described as one of the greats of political economy.

Drafts by Brendan Sheehan

A proposal for a progressive alliance, a multi-party non-Tory electoral pact, has been bouncing a... more A proposal for a progressive alliance, a multi-party non-Tory electoral pact, has been bouncing around the UK political discourse for the last few years. To some it’s an appealing idea whose time might come, just as it has in the past, with the right political leadership, which at the moment is lacking. A more intriguing concept is the true progressive alliance, which relates to the existing political firmament viewed from an ecological stance. It points the way towards a transformational political re-alignment that might eventually emerge. I explain this in due course, but first a little about electoral pacts and the progressive alliance.

2023