Creative Research in Economics

Creative Research in Economics
Author: Arnold Wentzel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2016-09-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1315518007

Researchers are expected to produce original findings, yet nobody explains how original contributions are conceived in economics. Recently there have been calls for more creativity in economic research, yet there is no literature that explores creative research apart from collections of biographical essays. This book aims to address that gap, exploring the process of conceiving and generating ideas for interesting and original research contributions in economics (and potentially other social sciences too). Creative Research in Economics serves both a practical and theoretical purpose. Theoretically it presents a unique way of thinking about the nature of problems and questions in economics and the role of social science researchers in society. As such it offers an interesting way to think about the philosophy of science and methodology in economics, and how new ideas emerge in the discipline. Practically it develops techniques for finding interesting and original research contributions (as opposed to conventional data-gathering research). Whether you are a graduate student looking for that first interesting question, a novice researcher in search of fresh avenues for research after your PhD, or a seasoned academic looking to teach the philosophy and methodology of economics in more interesting ways, you will find this book of great use.

Meme Wars

Meme Wars
Author: Kalle Lasn
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2013-01-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1609804333

From the editor and magazine that started and named the Occupy Wall Street movement, Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics is an articulation of what could be the next steps in rethinking and remaking our world that challenges and debunks many of the assumptions of neoclassical economics and brings to light a more ecological model. Meme Wars aims to accelerate the shift into this new paradigm that takes into account psychonomics, bionomics, and other aspects of our physical and mental environment that are often left out in discussions of economics. Like Adbusters, the book will be image heavy and full-color throughout. Lasn calls it "a textbook for the future" that provides the building blocks, in texts and visuals, for a new way of looking at and changing our world. Through an examination of alternative economies, Lasn hopes to spur students to become "barefoot economists" and to see that a humanization of economics is possible. Meme Wars will include contributions from Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Samuelson, George Akerlof, Lourdes Benería, Julie Matthaei, Manfred Max-Neef, David Orrell, Paul Gilding, Mathis Wackernagel and the father of ecological economics Herman Daly, among others. Based on ideas that were presented in a special issue of Adbusters entitled "Thought Control in Economics: Beyond the Growth Paradigm / An Activist Toolkit," Meme Wars will help move forward the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Architecture of Innovation

The Architecture of Innovation
Author: Joshua Lerner
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1422143635

In 'The Architecture of Innovation', Josh Lerner explores what lies behind successful innovation, and what managers and companies can learn from successful and unsuccessful cases. He combines both analysis of in-house innovation in corporate research labs with finance-based venture capital investment in innovation.

Creativity and the Contemporary Economy

Creativity and the Contemporary Economy
Author: Niina Koivunen
Publisher: Copenhagen Business School Press DK
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9788763002295

Creativity has become a central concept in trying to understand the contemporary economy. It is a universally accepted strategic asset and a key issue in developing economic policy. But at the same time, this lauding of the creative economy raises many questions. What can creativity really do for us? What challenges does it pose for the management and organization of companies? And, in an age when everyone tries to be creative, what does the concept even mean? This book deals with these issues, and is an engagement with the manifold ways in which creativity emerges as energy and functions as an organizing principle in modern organizations. The book presents a wide variety of approaches to understanding one of the most critical and exciting issues in modern management, with sections dedicated to the organization of innovation and creativity, leadership and management in creative endeavors, as well as creativity and organization change.

Craft and the Creative Economy

Craft and the Creative Economy
Author: S. Luckman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2015-03-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137399686

Craft and the Creative Economy examines the place of craft and making in the contemporary cultural economy, with a distinctive focus on the ways in which this creative sector is growing exponentially as a result of online shopfronts and home-based micro-enterprise, 'mumpreneurialism' and downshifting, and renewed demand for the handmade.

Creative Industries

Creative Industries
Author: Richard E. Caves
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2000
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780674001640

"To explain the logic of these arrangements, the author draws on the analytical resources of industrial economics and the theory of contracts. He addresses the winner-take-all character of many creative activities that brings wealth and renown to some artists while dooming others to frustration; why the "option" form of contract is so prevalent; and why even savvy producers get sucked into making "ten-ton turkeys," such as Heaven's Gate."--BOOK JACKET.

50 Economics Ideas You Really Need to Know

50 Economics Ideas You Really Need to Know
Author: Edmund Conway
Publisher: Quercus
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1623651824

What exactly is a credit crunch? Why do professional athletes earn so much more than the rest of us? Which country is likely to be the world's leading economy in ten years' time? Daily Telegraph economics editor Edmund Conway introduces and explains the central ideas of economics in a series of 50 essays. Beginning with an exploration of the basic theories, such as Adam Smith's "invisible hand," and concluding with the latest research into the links between wealth and happiness, he sheds light on all the essential topics needed to understand booms and busts, bulls and bears, and the way the world really works.

The Creative Economy

The Creative Economy
Author: John Howkins
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2002-06-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0140287949

Britain makes more money from music than from its car industry. In the United States the core copyright industries achieved foreign sales and exports of $60.18 billion - a figure which surpasses, for the first time, every other export sector, including automobiles, agriculture and aircraft. Howkins sets out to explore how we can harness creativity and the industry it sustains to our common interests. This book is not about information and the information society. It is about more basic matters, what we humans want and what we are good at.

The Economics of Creativity

The Economics of Creativity
Author: Thierry Burger-Helmchen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2013-02-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135103410

Understanding the economic implication of creative individuals and firms is at the heart of the new economy and of related fields such as the economics of knowledge, the economics of science and innovation management. This book brings together a panel of theoretical and empirical contributions which address the generation of creative ideas and their transformation into products and services by firms or universities, as well as the interplay of those organizations in networks and markets. The word ‘creativity’ has been used a great deal recently in relation to efforts to recover from the global financial crisis and re-launch economic activity. Little has been added to explain how and why an economic approach of creativity is useful and necessary. It is useful to understand how the most creative people work and think, and how to foster their creative productivity. It is useful to understand how organizations integrate and exploit creative ideas. It is useful to understand how market mechanisms can handle creativity and how policies must be adapted. It is necessary in the light of the recent economic crises that made innovation, invention and creativity the basis of a new industrialization and fuel for a new economic development. This new book assesses the economic impact of creativity, defining the term and then going on to explore theoretically and practically the economic consequences of creativity through a range of themes including: creativity and evolutionary theories of technological change; creativity and organizational learning; creativity and technological policy; and creativity and economics of networks. This volume offers a rich source of inspiration and ideas for the pursuit of research which merges economic tradition and management perspectives.

Zombie Economics

Zombie Economics
Author: John Quiggin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2012-05-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691154546

In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk the land. The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions behind market liberalism—the theory that market-based solutions are always best, regardless of the problem. For decades, their advocates dominated mainstream economics, and their influence created a system where an unthinking faith in markets led many to view speculative investments as fundamentally safe. The crisis seemed to have killed off these ideas, but they still live on in the minds of many—members of the public, commentators, politicians, economists, and even those charged with cleaning up the mess. In Zombie Economics, John Quiggin explains how these dead ideas still walk among us—and why we must find a way to kill them once and for all if we are to avoid an even bigger financial crisis in the future. Zombie Economics takes the reader through the origins, consequences, and implosion of a system of ideas whose time has come and gone. These beliefs—that deregulation had conquered the financial cycle, that markets were always the best judge of value, that policies designed to benefit the rich made everyone better off—brought us to the brink of disaster once before, and their persistent hold on many threatens to do so again. Because these ideas will never die unless there is an alternative, Zombie Economics also looks ahead at what could replace market liberalism, arguing that a simple return to traditional Keynesian economics and the politics of the welfare state will not be enough—either to kill dead ideas, or prevent future crises. In a new chapter, Quiggin brings the book up to date with a discussion of the re-emergence of pre-Keynesian ideas about austerity and balanced budgets as a response to recession.