Caplan argues that voters continually elect politicians who either share their biases or else pretend to, resulting in bad policies winning again and again by popular demand. Calling into question our most basic assumptions about American politics, Caplan contends that democracy fails precisely because it does what voters want. Through an analysis of American’s voting behavior and opinions on a range of economic issues, he makes the case that noneconomists suffer from four prevailing biases: they underestimate the wisdom of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the economy is going from bad to worse. Caplan lays out several ways to make democratic government work better|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/9b64a433/the-myth-of-the-rational-voter-bryan-caplan-9780691138732.jpg|9780691138732|The Myth of the Rational Voter : Paperback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138732 : 24 Aug 2008 : The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational …|new|1|1|2|22|0|GBP|Bryan Caplan|Princeton University Press|24 Aug 2008|Elections & referenda 9780691138602|Pursuits of Wisdom|42.99|https://wordery.com/pursuits-of-wisdom-john-m-cooper-9780691138602|This is a major reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life–and not simply an intellectual discipline. Distinguished philosopher John Cooper traces how, for many ancient thinkers, philosophy was not just to be studied or even used to solve particular practical problems. Rather, philosophy–not just ethics but even logic and physical theory–was literally to be lived. Yet there was great disagreement about how to live philosophically: philosophy was not one but many, mutually opposed, ways of life. Examining this tradition from its establishment by Socrates in the fifth century BCE through Plotinus in the third century CE and the eclipse of pagan philosophy by Christianity, Pursuits of Wisdom examines six central philosophies of living–Socratic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic, and the Platonist life of late antiquity. The book describes the shared assumptions that allowed these thinkers to conceive of their philosophies as ways of life, as well as the distinctive ideas that led them to widely different conclusions about the best human life. Clearing up many common misperceptions and simplifications, Cooper explains in detail the Socratic devotion to philosophical discussion about human nature, human life, and human good; the Aristotelian focus on the true place of humans within the total system of the natural world; the Stoic commitment to dutifully accepting Zeus’s plans; the Epicurean pursuit of pleasure through tranquil activities that exercise perception, thought, and feeling; the Skeptical eschewal of all critical reasoning in forming their beliefs; and, finally, the late Platonist emphasis on spiritual concerns and the eternal realm of Being.Pursuits of Wisdom is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what the great philosophers of antiquity thought was the true purpose of philosophy–and of life.|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/e5dd9c7d/pursuits-of-wisdom-john-m-cooper-9780691138602.jpg|9780691138602|Pursuits of Wisdom : Hardback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138602 : 27 May 2012 : Offers reinterpretation of ancient philosophy that recovers the long Greek and Roman tradition of philosophy as a complete way of life - and not simply an intel …|new|1|1|3|48|0|GBP|John M. Cooper|Princeton University Press|27 May 2012|Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 9780691139821|Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds|64.99|https://wordery.com/physiological-adaptations-for-breeding-in-birds-tony-d-williams-9780691139821|Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds is the most current and comprehensive account of research on avian reproduction. It develops two unique themes: the consideration of female avian reproductive physiology and ecology, and an emphasis on individual variation in life-history traits. Tony Williams investigates the physiological, metabolic, energetic, and hormonal mechanisms that underpin individual variation in the key female-specific reproductive traits and the trade-offs between these traits that determine variation in fitness. The core of the book deals with the avian reproductive cycle, from seasonal gonadal development, through egg laying and incubation, to chick rearing. Reproduction is considered in the context of the annual cycle and through an individual’s entire life history. The book focuses on timing of breeding, clutch size, egg size and egg quality, and parental care. It also provides a primer on female reproductive physiology and considers trade-offs and carryover effects between reproduction and other life-history stages. In each chapter, Williams describes individual variation in the trait of interest and the evolutionary context for trait variation. He argues that there is only a rudimentary, and in some cases nonexistent, understanding of the physiological mechanisms that underpin individual variation in the major reproductive life-history traits, and that research efforts should refocus on these key unresolved problems by incorporating detailed physiological studies into existing long-term population studies, generating a new synthesis of physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology.|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/628f0666/physiological-adaptations-for-breeding-in-birds-tony-d-williams-9780691139821.jpg|9780691139821|Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds : Hardback : Princeton University Press : 9780691139821 : 05 Aug 2012 : Offers comprehensive account of research on avian reproduction. This book investigates the physiological, metabolic, energetic, and …|new|1|1|2|70|0|GBP|Tony D. Williams|Princeton University Press|05 Aug 2012|Birds (ornithology) 9780691138787|Reordering the World|24.99|https://wordery.com/reordering-the-world-duncan-bell-9780691138787|A leading scholar of British political thought explores the relationship between liberalism and empire Reordering the World is a penetrating account of the complexity and contradictions found in liberal visions of empire. Focusing mainly on nineteenth-century Britain?at the time the largest empire in history and a key incubator of liberal political thought?Duncan Bell sheds new light on some of the most important themes in modern imperial ideology. The book ranges widely across Victorian intellectual life and beyond. The opening essays explore the nature of liberalism, varieties of imperial ideology, the uses and abuses of ancient history, the imaginative functions of the monarchy, and fantasies of Anglo-Saxon global domination. They are followed by illuminating studies of prominent thinkers, including J. A. Hobson, L. T. Hobhouse, John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, Herbert Spencer, and J. R. Seeley. While insisting that liberal attitudes to empire were multiple and varied, Bell emphasizes the liberal fascination with settler colonialism. It was in the settler empire that many liberal imperialists found the place of their political dreams. Reordering the World is a significant contribution to the history of modern political thought and political theory.|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/381aecab/reordering-the-world-duncan-bell-9780691138787.jpg|9780691138787|Reordering the World : Hardback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138787 : 07 Jun 2016 : A leading scholar of British political thought explores the relationship between liberalism and empire Reordering the World is a penetrating account of the c …|new|1|1|6|30|0|GBP|Duncan Bell|Princeton University Press|07 Jun 2016|Political science & theory 9780691138688|The Myth of Digital Democracy|19.99|https://wordery.com/the-myth-of-digital-democracy-matthew-hindman-9780691138688|Is the Internet democratizing American politics? Do political Web sites and blogs mobilize inactive citizens and make the public sphere more inclusive? The Myth of Digital Democracy reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the Internet has done little to broaden political discourse but in fact empowers a small set of elites–some new, but most familiar. Matthew Hindman argues that, though hundreds of thousands of Americans blog about politics, blogs receive only a miniscule portion of Web traffic, and most blog readership goes to a handful of mainstream, highly educated professionals. He shows how, despite the wealth of independent Web sites, online news audiences are concentrated on the top twenty outlets, and online organizing and fund-raising are dominated by a few powerful interest groups. Hindman tracks nearly three million Web pages, analyzing how their links are structured, how citizens search for political content, and how leading search engines like Google and Yahoo! funnel traffic to popular outlets. He finds that while the Internet has increased some forms of political participation and transformed the way interest groups and candidates organize, mobilize, and raise funds, elites still strongly shape how political material on the Web is presented and accessed. The Myth of Digital Democracy. debunks popular notions about political discourse in the digital age, revealing how the Internet has neither diminished the audience share of corporate media nor given greater voice to ordinary citizens.|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/6392d12d/the-myth-of-digital-democracy-matthew-hindman-9780691138688.jpg|9780691138688|The Myth of Digital Democracy : Paperback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138688 : 16 Nov 2008 : Is the Internet democratizing American politics? Do political Web sites and blogs mobilize inactive citizens and make the public sphere more inclusi …|new|1|1|1|25|0|GBP|Matthew Hindman|Princeton University Press|16 Nov 2008|Politics & Government books 9780691139081|Paying the Human Costs of War|24.99|https://wordery.com/paying-the-human-costs-of-war-christopher-gelpi-9780691139081|From the Korean War to the current conflict in Iraq, Paying the Human Costs of War examines the ways in which the American public decides whether to support the use of military force. Contrary to the conventional view, the authors demonstrate that the public does not respond reflexively and solely to the number of casualties in a conflict. Instead, the book argues that the public makes reasoned and reasonable cost-benefit calculations for their continued support of a war based on the justifications for it and the likelihood it will succeed, along with the costs that have been suffered in casualties. Of these factors, the book finds that the most important consideration for the public is the expectation of success. If the public believes that a mission will succeed, the public will support it even if the costs are high. When the public does not expect the mission to succeed, even small costs will cause the withdrawal of support. Providing a wealth of new evidence about American attitudes toward military conflict, Paying the Human Costs of War offers insights into a controversial, timely, and ongoing national discussion.|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/91816b85/paying-the-human-costs-of-war-christopher-gelpi-9780691139081.jpg|9780691139081|Paying the Human Costs of War : Paperback : Princeton University Press : 9780691139081 : 01 Mar 2009 : From the Korean War to the conflict in Iraq, this book examines the ways in which the American public decides whether to support the use of military …|new|1|1|1|30|0|GBP|Christopher Gelpi|Princeton University Press|01 Mar 2009|Armed conflict 9780691138831|Indifference Pricing|92.99|https://wordery.com/indifference-pricing-rene-carmona-9780691138831|This is the first book about the emerging field of utility indifference pricing for valuing derivatives in incomplete markets. René Carmona brings together a who’s who of leading experts in the field to provide the definitive introduction for students, scholars, and researchers. Until recently, financial mathematicians and engineers developed pricing and hedging procedures that assumed complete markets. But markets are generally incomplete, and it may be impossible to hedge against all sources of randomness. Indifference Pricing offers cutting-edge procedures developed under more realistic market assumptions. The book begins by introducing the concept of indifference pricing in the simplest possible models of discrete time and finite state spaces where duality theory can be exploited readily. It moves into a more technical discussion of utility indifference pricing for diffusion models, and then addresses problems of optimal design of derivatives by extending the indifference pricing paradigm beyond the realm of utility functions into the realm of dynamic risk measures. Focus then turns to the applications, including portfolio optimization, the pricing of defaultable securities, and weather and commodity derivatives. The book features original mathematical results and an extensive bibliography and indexes. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Pauline Barrieu, Tomasz R. Bielecki, Nicole El Karoui, Robert J. Elliott, Said Hamadène, Vicky Henderson, David Hobson, Aytac Ilhan, Monique Jeanblanc, Mattias Jonsson, Anis Matoussi, Marek Musiela, Ronnie Sircar, John van der Hoek, and Thaleia Zariphopoulou. The first book on utility indifference pricing Explains the fundamentals of indifference pricing, from simple models to the most technical ones Goes beyond utility functions to analyze optimal risk transfer and the theory of dynamic risk measures Covers non-Markovian and partially observed models and applications to portfolio optimization, defa …|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/47fe7417/indifference-pricing-rene-carmona-9780691138831.jpg|9780691138831|Indifference Pricing : Hardback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138831 : 18 Jan 2009 : Introduces the concept of indifference pricing in models of discrete time and finite state spaces where duality theory can be exploited readily. This book als …|new|1|1|2|98|0|GBP|Rene Carmona|Princeton University Press|18 Jan 2009|Finance 9780691138701|Dictionary of Untranslatables|52.99|https://wordery.com/dictionary-of-untranslatables-barbara-cassin-9780691138701|A one-of-a-kind reference to the international vocabulary of the humanities This is an encyclopedic dictionary of close to 400 important philosophical, literary, and political terms and concepts that defy easy?or any?translation from one language and culture to another. Drawn from more than a dozen languages, terms such as Dasein (German), pravda (Russian), saudade (Portuguese), and stato (Italian) are thoroughly examined in all their cross-linguistic and cross-cultural complexities. Spanning the classical, medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary periods, these are terms that influence thinking across the humanities. The entries, written by more than 150 distinguished scholars, describe the origins and meanings of each term, the history and context of its usage, its translations into other languages, and its use in notable texts. The dictionary also includes essays on the special characteristics of particular languages?English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Originally published in French, this one-of-a-kind reference work is now available in English for the first time, with new contributions from Judith Butler, Daniel Heller-Roazen, Ben Kafka, Kevin McLaughlin, Kenneth Reinhard, Stella Sandford, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Jane Tylus, Anthony Vidler, Susan Wolfson, Robert J. C. Young, and many more.The result is an invaluable reference for students, scholars, and general readers interested in the multilingual lives of some of our most influential words and ideas. Covers close to 400 important philosophical, literary, and political terms that defy easy translation between languages and culturesIncludes terms from more than a dozen languagesEntries written by more than 150 distinguished thinkersAvailable in English for the first time, with new contributions by Judith Butler, Daniel Heller-Roazen, Ben Kafka, Kevin McLaughlin, Kenneth Reinhard, Stella Sandford, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Jane Tylus, Anthony Vidler, Su …|Books|https://wordery.com/jackets/f051af68/dictionary-of-untranslatables-barbara-cassin-9780691138701.jpg|9780691138701|Dictionary of Untranslatables : Hardback : Princeton University Press : 9780691138701 : 09 Feb 2014 : Suitable for students, scholars, and general readers interested in the multilingual lives of some of our most influential words and ideas, this title …|new|1|1|80|58|0|GBP|Barbara Cassin|Princeton University Press|09 Feb 2014|Bilingual & multilingual dictionaries 9780691138749|The Warhol Economy|22.99|https://wordery.com/the-warhol-economy-elizabeth-currid-halkett-9780691138749|Which is more important to New York City’s economy, the gleaming corporate office–or the grungy rock club that launches the best new bands? If you said office," think again. In The Warhol Economy, Elizabeth Currid argues that creative industries like fashion, art, and music drive the economy of New York as much as–if not more than–finance, real estate, and law. And these creative industries are fueled by the social life that whirls around the clubs, galleries, music venues, and fashion shows where creative people meet, network, exchange ideas, pass judgments, and set the trends that shape popular culture. The implications of Currid’s argument are far-reaching, and not just for New York. Urban policymakers, she suggests, have not only seriously underestimated the importance of the cultural economy, but they have failed to recognize that it depends on a vibrant creative social scene. They haven’t understood, in other words, the social, cultural, and economic mix that Currid calls the Warhol economy. With vivid first-person reporting about New York’s creative scene, Currid takes the reader into the city spaces where the social and economic lives of creativity merge. The book has fascinating original interviews with many of New York’s important creative figures, including fashion designers Zac Posen and Diane von Furstenberg, artists Ryan McGinness and Futura, and members of the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The economics of art and culture in New York and other cities has been greatly misunderstood and underrated. The Warhol Economy explains how the cultural economy works-and why it is vital to all great cities.
