Mainly known as a pioneer of the general equilibrium theory, French economist Leon Walras was also a thinker on human nature, mores, scientific inquiry and knowledge and a great defender of human freedoms and social justice. His normative economic ideas on the distribution of social wealth were...

Bureaucracy is not a recent phenomenon. Its beginnings go a long way back in history. Looking into the issue of bureaucracy is a good starting point for the study of two social systems – capitalism and socialism. Such an analysis must be built onto the comparison between profit based...

International financial services in their most basic conceivable forms have been provided, in one form or another, for at least two millennia. The growth of international finance as we know it (financial services, institutions and markets) has been shaped by history in response to requirements...

Definitely one of the most controversial terms in recent history, globalization (also spelt globalisation) was called “the most abused word of the 21 st century” by The Economist. Many authors fear that it is bound to become the cliché of our times. The concept behind the word radiates such...

The word luxury recurs and recurs in contemporary advertising as an attempt by retailers to imply exclusiveness, associated with expensiveness and rarity. It is an inducement to consumption. Yet, the concept is frequently used in a loose or clichéd manner in both everyday language and...

The origins of the stock market go back to the early 1600s, when the first stock (primarily involving the shipping and spice markets) was issued. Later on, the governments of the time decided to sell bonds to raise money for the wars they were involved in. That is precisely what the new U.S....

Water, like many natural resources, has been conceptualized — and managed — as either a public good or a commodity.The United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights issued a statement declaring access to water a human right and stating that water is a social and cultural...

The history of ethics is an essencial part of the history of philosphy. Utilitarianism is an abstract ethical doctrineat the core of which lie the concepts of pleasure and pain. This approach to normative ethics may be regarded as England’s most prominent contribution to the development of the...