Assigned READINg

Make the most of your efforts to acquire quality information because it provides a strong foundation for making quality decisions in life.

Below are those topicals listed under 'readings assigned' in your syllabus. Some you may be able to download, find for purchase online, available your education facility, or at your local library.

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Referenced Works

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Engender Learning

General Reading

Highlighted Reading

Knowledge Base

Library Assist

Additional Resources

Wealth Distribution

Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people. Two key ideas in economics: that goods are scarce and that society must use its resources efficiently.

Economics

The Republic of Beliefs

A New Approach to Law and Economics. By Kaushik Basu. Summarizes standard, neoclassical law and economics before looking at the weaknesses underlying the discipline. Bringing modern game theory to bear, he develops a "focal point" approach, modeling not just the self-interested actions of the citizens who must follow laws but also the functionaries of the state.
ISBN 978-0-691-17768-7

Post-Capitalist Society

By Peter F. Drucker. This book argues that First World nations have already moved to a society beyond capitalism, in that capital is owned by organisations rather than individuals. Regular citizens therefore become the owners of enterprises and therefore the owners of capital, meaning capitalism is changed without being destroyed. Drucker concludes by arguing that organisations will continue to become highly specialised, and that outsourcing rather than diversification will define the future. ISBN 0-88730-6616 (pbk.)

The upside of inequality

How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class. By Edward Conard.
The social benefits of inequality, arguing against the commonly held view that the wealthy 1% of US citizens are the cause of many social problems. The book was met with broadly positive reviews even by those who disagreed with its argument, such as esteemed economist Larry Summers. Its controversial central theme makes for interesting reading, whether or not you agree with the premise it sets.
ISBN 9780698409910 (e-book)

The Wealth of Nations

By Adam Smith. An 'oldie but goodie'. Adam Smith's magnum opus that was published two hundred and fifty years ago remains one of the fundamental works of classical economists. Written as the industrial revolution was taking its first baby steps, it discusses free markets, productivity, the division of labour, and attempts to offer practical solutions based in solid economic theory that would replace the culture of mercantilism that dominated at the time. A bestseller that sold out within months at the time of publication, The Wealth of Nations is one of the essential economics books that professionals and laypeople alike ought to have read.
ISBN 9781541027848

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Evaluation and analysis

Public policy studies combines economics, political science, sociology and other academic fields to provide rigorous interdisciplinary tools to understand the role of public policy in society with implications for the global community.

Policy

Policy Analysis

Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practices. By Weiner, David L. and Aidan R. Vining. 2004. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
ISBN-13: 978-1138216518

Often described as a public policy “bible,” Weimer and Vining remains the essential primer it ever was. Now in its sixth edition, Policy Analysis provides a strong conceptual foundation of the rationales for and the limitations to public policy. It offers practical advice about how to do policy analysis, but goes a bit deeper to demonstrate the application of advanced analytical techniques through the use of case studies.

A Primer For Policy Analysis

A Primer For Policy Analysis. By Stokey, Edith, and Richard Zeckhauser. 1978. New York: Norton.
ISBN-13: 978-0393090987

A Primer for Policy Analysis is an overview of economic theory as it is applied to environmental problems. It does not, however, consider other approaches to such problems. In their book, Stokey and Zeckhauser argue that policy-making decisions are economic decisions and economic theory is applicable to policy-making.

Theories of the Policy Process

Theories of the Policy Process. By Christopher M. Weible and Paul A. Sabatier. 2018. Westview Press.
ISBN-13: 978-0813350523

Theories of the Policy Process provides a forum for the experts in the most established and widely used theoretical frameworks in policy process research to present the basic propositions, empirical evidence, latest updates, and the promising future research opportunities of each framework. This well-regarded volume covers such enduring classics as Multiple Streams (Zahariadis et al.), Punctuated Equilibrium (Jones et al.), Advocacy Coalition Framework (Jenkins-Smith et al.), Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (Schlager and Cox), and Policy Diffusion (Berry and Berry), as well as two newer theories―Policy Feedback (Mettler and SoRelle) and Narrative Policy Framework (McBeth et al.).

Policy Analysis as Problem Solving

Policy Analysis as Problem Solving. By Rachel Meltzer and Alex Schwartz. 2019. Routledge, NY. ISBN-13: 978-1138630178

Drawing extensively from real-life cases, Policy Analysis as Problem Solving helps students develop the analytic skills necessary to advise government officials and nonprofit executives on a wide range of policy issues. Unlike other texts, Policy Analysis as Problem Solving employs a pragmatic, heterodox approach to the field. Whereas most texts on policy analysis are anchored in microeconomics, emphasizing economic efficiency, this book takes a broader view, using realistic examples to illustrate the full scope of policy analysis. The book provides succinct but thorough discussions of the key elements of the policy-analytic process, including problem definition, objectives and criteria, development of alternative policy options, and analysis of these alternatives.

Dealing with Uncertainty

Uncertainty: A Guide to Dealing with Uncertainty in Quantitative Risk and Policy Analysis. By M. Granger Morgan, Max Henrion, and Mitchell Small. 1990. Cambridge Uni. Press. ISBN-13: 978-0521427449

The authors explain the ways in which uncertainty is an important factor in the problems of risk and policy analysis. This book outlines the source and nature of uncertainty, discusses techniques for obtaining and using expert judgment, and reviews a variety of simple and advanced methods for analyzing uncertainty. Powerful computer environments and good graphical techniques for displaying uncertainty are just two of the more advanced topics addressed in later chapters.

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global interdependence

Sustainable development brings about changes in knowledge, attitude and skill to emphasize progress of health, education, agriculture, and social reform to meet the needs of the present with long-term plans to secure future generations.

Development

Financing Sustainable Development

This book is among the first to address the issue of assessing the efficiency of sustainable development financing from a theoretical and methodical point of view. The innovative nature of research is expressed through the study of new phenomena in finance including sustainable financial systems, sustainable finance, ESG risk and individual and institutional motivations of financial managers in the sustainability concept. The book aims to draw attention to the significant gap in the existing research.The concept of Sustainable Development, if placed in an economic category, requires a lot of attention, but seeing the cognitive category from the perspective of the discipline of finance, the latter is unsatisfactory, with questions remaining unanswered.

At the same time, the rank problem, its strategic dimension and the amount of financial resources allocated and disbursed for the purposes of focusing around sustainable development, identification of financial phenomena accompanying this category is seen as a priority. Most measures financing Sustainable Development and measures of public spending efficiency are measures subject to rigor and rules due to their specificity, which means actions aimed at increasing efficiency are treated as a priority. This book will be of interest to leading representatives of academia, practitioners, executives, officials, and graduate students in economics, finance, management, statistics, law and political sciences.

Components of Sustainable Development

This book focuses on the application of sustainable development principles through consultation with, and partnerships between commerce and the community. Offering international perspectives, the authors show that the issues are global and that we can best arrive at solutions through a synthesis of these various perspectives. The book also examines changes to corporate and institutional behavior and discusses the extent to which the focus has changed, making it necessary to consider new approaches to our understanding of sustainability and differing effects in practice.

This approach is based on the tradition of the Social Responsibility Research Network, which in its 17-year history has sought to broaden the discourse and to treat all research as inter-related and relevant to business. This book consists of the best contributions from the 17th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility and 8th Organisational Governance Conference, held in Bangalore, India in September 2018.

The Age of Sustainable Development

Jeffrey D. Sachs is one of the world's most perceptive and original analysts of global development. In this major new work he presents a compelling and practical framework for how global citizens can use a holistic way forward to address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems of persistent extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and political-economic injustice: sustainable development.

Sachs offers readers, students, activists, environmentalists, and policy makers the tools, metrics, and practical pathways they need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Far more than a rhetorical exercise, this book is designed to inform, inspire, and spur action. Based on Sachs's twelve years as director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, his thirteen years advising the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and his recent presentation of these ideas in a popular online course, The Age of Sustainable Development is a landmark publication and clarion call for all who care about our planet and global justice.
ISBN 978-0231-17345-5 (pbk)

STRATEGIC PLANNING MODULE

Strategic criteria for long-term planning - The Prallagon Strategic Platform.

Human Commonalities

Everything is integral and interacts with everything else. This means that nothing is itself without everything else. There is a commonality, an integrity, an intimacy of the universe with itself.

Plan The Future

A global education is one that incorporates learning about the cultures, religions, geographies, histories, and current issues of all the world’s regions. It seeks to develop people’s profound knowledge to engage with their peers as citizens of the world.

Education

Building A Global Civic Culture

Education for an Interdependent World. A John Dewey Lecture series. This book is a primer of civics to help us envision a newly imagined connection between education and global culture.

Dialectic Thinking in Education

Dialectic thinking is a process of thought by which contradictions, opposites, are seen to merge themselves in a unifying principle that comprehends them.

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The Wealth of Nations

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Public discou

global requirement

Global public health is one of the foremost challenges facing humanity; not any one nation, not any coalition of nations, but all of humanity. It us not just the work of governmental agencies, or international organizations, but of key personnel.

Public Health

Social Disorder

One of the pressing problems that confront most of the political and social systems today is the problem of corruption. Its presence is so prominent that scholars are engaged in conceptualizing its totality. They agree to discuss the problem from two perspectives: historical and contextual. The problem revolves around a fundamental question: Is it a systemic problem, a non-systemic issue-based problem, or an issue-specific problem? If it is systemic, much depends upon the system itself, they may find a remedy within that specific system. If it is a non-systemic issue, perhaps the solution to the problem lies with the specific issue discussed.

The problem of corruption, political and social, leads to another factor—one that relates to people’s confidence in the political process and the social wellbeing of the country in question. Any analysis of political and/or social corruption should include assessing public behavior towards political actors and social extremities. Another important aspect that demands attention is the area of ‘autonomy’, both political and social, which guides and controls the nature of political and social processes.

The problem is vast and seems insurmountable, but workable solutions will require integrated moral, spiritual, and ethical criteria.

Economic Disparity

In our modern world, everything we do reflects our social, political, and economic ideologies. To understand the failures of our economic system on the scale of an illicit global economy, we must understand how issues such as government theft, drug trafficking, global wealth, money laundering, and the ‘shadow’ financial system contribute to some of our most intractable issues ranging from poverty to hunger, terrorism, and periodic economic crises.

For humanity to progress, we don’t just require an advanced economy. We require an economy that functions as it should, bringing equity and opportunity to all of its participants. It is essential that we disconnect politics and economics. Political instruments are the only tools we have to deal with illicit mechanisms, and until politics to incentivised economics cease, the will for action will not exist.

Market forces do not exist separate from humanity; they result from human will and persistent endeavours. It did not emerge from nowhere… we made it. Whether we like it, we must admit responsibility and be accountable for the illicit economy.

Addressing economic challenges will require fundamental changes in how our world works. Many of these changes would come at a massive perceived cost, but the outcomes—over several generations- would exceed even the most utopian vision of a peaceful and fair world.

—Thought Economics, June 2012.

Political Dysfunction

The problem of corruption, political and social, leads to another factor—one that relates to people’s confidence in the political process and the social wellbeing of the country in question. Any analysis of political and/or social corruption should include examining public behavior towards political actors and social extremities. Another important aspect that demands attention is the area of ‘autonomy’, both political and social, which guides and controls the nature of political and social processes.

The problem is vast and seems insurmountable, but workable solutions will require integrated moral, spiritual, and ethical criteria.

Nefarious Activity

The word ‘Nefarious’ describes a person’s actions if they are evil or wicked. It comes from the Latin ‘nefas’, meaning “crime, impiety.” If something is nefarious, it can be both criminal and malicious.

It may be impossible to eliminate nefarious activities at this adolescent stage in human evolution, but in some circumstances and under certain conditions, a nefarious activity diminishes if we apply corrective measures within predetermined situations and institutional structures. This requires collaboration, investigation, in-depth analysis, moral courage, and a collective will to engage agreed-upon solutions. Monitoring is mandatory, and in certain situations, it may require mentoring.

Actions taken will not be an easy task, but it will be a teachable experience with long-term positive results as more people become interested in protecting social welfare.

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Worldwide, forces in play are stressing humanity’s social anating instead mainly on contrivances to preserve the status quo.

‘As we confront the hard facts of ecological devastation, ahnology, working independently or with each other, can offer a unified/unifying vision that faithfully reflects the integrated complexity of this World.

We must develop r the social and ecological crisis we face on

Impact Assessment

Identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to decisions taken and commitments made. It is to ensure that due consideration given prior to proceeding with a project.

environment

Policy initiative

Policy initiatives and related processes, procedures, and functions are performance orientated. We evaluate them in reference to global human development and associated activities, and thay remain integral to the dictum ‘humankind lives scientifically comfortable in its oneness as a species’, the guiding principle that signifies momentous events yet to be achieved.

Assessment

Assessment gathers information from processes and procedures, analysis, and actions taken to resolve major issues. It includes monitoring, summarizing, and providing feedback with results provided to stakeholders, administrators, management, and others so that issues receive corrective measures. Assurances are given that planning, policy guidelines, and overall goals and objectives remain congruent with overriding principles and objectives. Incorporating methods to maintain the institutional focus guard against failure to plan long-term and to plan within global parameters.

Action Plan

Planners, stakeholders, administrators, managers, and leaders collaborate to plan solutions to major problems encountered. The assessment may reveal a lack of knowledge and weaknesses in training as primary culprits hindering the successful completion of the processes and desirable results need. We give serious consideration to establishing a ‘Center for Collective Knowledge’, that would also include comprehensive education and training to assist ‘frontline’ aspirants in their efforts to resolve difficult challenges.

Intervention

With intervention, leadership takes steps as outlined in the action plan and starts the implementation process. Leadership advises frontline actors of the series of changes taking place, and also reveal changes made to the original action plan. The Center for Collective Knowledge would organize education and training programs in a way that’s least disruptive to ongoing strategic operations.

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Evaluat