Most traditional business people cringe when they see the words "caring" and "economics" next to each other in the same sentence, let alone on the cover of a powerful book.Yet the sheer depth of insight behind this book and its scholarly author, Riane Eisler, forces readers to take a second look. Social scientist and former UCLA law professor, Eisler methodically lays out compelling guidelines for an economic system that includes human compassion. Lest you think Eisler is pipe dreaming, the feminist scholar makes a compelling argument that people and the natural environment are the most valuable assets in an economy. Eisler writes, "Conventional economic models fail to value and support the most essential human work: caring and caregiving."
Caring economics is not a new idea and goes by many other names in recent years.Yet the concept that traditional "women's work" is one of humanity's greatest acts is radically refreshing. Ask anyone with children, elderly parents, or disabled loved ones and they will heartily agree.
A unique aspect of The Real Wealth of Nations follows the author as she moves away from specific economic systems like capitalism and socialism and calls for a new finanical system that honors the people who support it. Eisler convincingly expresses the need for a system where "feminine" principles of caring and partnership trump socially destructive "masculine" strategies of domination. In the wake of the current global economic crisis and the profoundly tragic human suffering resulting from it, this book is worth its weight in gold. reviewed by MM 5 GoodB Stars *****
Paperback
ISBN 9781576756294
Berrettt-Koehler Publishers
From: http://www.prabhuguptara.blogspot.com/
Unified Financial Analysis: The Missing Links of Finance by Willi Brammertz (Wiley, UK, 2009) Reviewed by Professor Prabhu Guptara
Can our current systems of accounting, which are so expensive and murky, be replaced by a system that produces genuine financial transparency without being even more expensive?
I did not think so, till I read this book.
With increasing astonishment, I realized that if, as a result of the current crisis, there actually is increased regulation, and companies simply respond in their usual way –"each regulatory request triggers new projects inside each bank, lasting for many man years" – then increasing regulation will increasingly strangle all companies, whether financial or non-financial. But the good news is that there is a way through.
It starts, as does the book, with understanding how and why we have such an "expensively produced mess" of a system in all companies around the world, because of which everyone from Chairmen and Chief Executives to Treasurers, Auditors and CFOs is doomed to have an insufficient idea of what is in their own accounts. (If that seems an extreme statement, consider that that was the precise defense offered by such officials when summoned as a result of the current crisis to legislative leaders around the world to explain why they should not be thrown in jail – and consider further that that explanation was accepted as valid by the legislators). Read More
Unified Financial Analysis : The Missing Links of Finance
Willi Brammertz, Ioannis Akkizidis, Wolfgang Breymann, Rami Entin, Marco Rustmann
ISBN: 978-0-470-69715-3
Hardcover
460 pages
May 2009
