Rethinking Income and Money
This Palgrave Pivot is immensely relevant to current policy debates on poverty, welfare policy, monetary policy, ‘fiscal rules’, and the impact of automation on the economy. Geoff Crocker sets out a concise but detailed re-interpretation of economic theory, specifically of income, money, and technology.
The book critiques mainstream orthodox economic theory and explores alternative paradigms, focusing specifically on the twin urgent need to get adequate sustainable income to all households, while simultaneously redefining and reducing national debt. It also explores how incorporating technology into economics is essential for understanding economic outcomes and alternatives, showing how consumption, production, employment, distribution, and transactions all shift radically with technological change. The book develops major policy proposals including hybrid welfare schemes with reduced conditionality, an element of universal income, and a proposal for direct money financing of government expenditure, all without stoking inflation.
This book will appeal to academic and professional economists, policy analysts, economic journalists and others who are interested in a more radical reshaping of the economy.
Geoff Crocker graduated in economics, followed by a master’s degree in the philosophy of science. He worked in industry strategy for more than 25 years, specialising in strategic analysis of international industry sectors with high technology content for senior client management.
His previous books include A Managerial Philosophy of Technology (Palgrave 2012)_and Basic Income and Sovereign Money: The Alternative to Economic Crisis and Austerity Policy (Palgrave 2020).