Books in the Manchester Capitalism series

Aeron Davis looks at the growing crisis of leadership in Britain today. He argues that increasingly self-interested elites are not only damaging society they are destroying the basis of Establishment rule itself. The book, based on over 350 elite interviews, asks: how did we end up producing the leaders that got us here and what can we do about it? -- .

For thirty years, the British economy has repeated the same old experiment of subjecting everything to competition and market because that is what works in the imagination of central government. This book demonstrates the repeated failure of that experiment by detailed examination of three sectors: broadband, food supply and retail banking. The book argues for a new experiment in social licensing whereby the right to trade in foundational activities would be dependent on the discharge of social obligations in the form of sourcing, training and living wages. Written by a team of researchers and policy advocates based at the Centre for Research on Socio Cultural Change, this book combines rigour and readability, and will be relevant to practitioners, policy makers, academics and engaged citizens.

Documents how outsourcing has penetrated every part of the public sector, and balances critique with practical suggestions for policy reform -- .

One hundred years ago the idea of 'the economy' didn't exist. Now, improving the economy has come to be seen as perhaps the most important task facing modern societies. Politics and policymaking are conducted in the language of economics and economic logic shapes how political issues are thought about and addressed. The result is that the majority of citizens, who cannot speak this language, are locked out of politics while political decisions are increasingly devolved to experts. The econocracy explains how economics came to be seen this way - and the damaging consequences. It opens up the discipline and demonstrates its inner workings to the wider public so that the task of reclaiming democracy can begin.

As the tragedy of the Grenfell tower fire has slowly revealed a shadowy background of outsourcing, private finance initiatives and a council turning a blind eye to health and safety concerns, many questions need answers. Stuart Hodkinson has those answers. -- .

This book is about how a new form of social contract, which we call the spatial contract, can help revitalize the economies of the basic things that matter - the core systems which build and provision the settlements human beings call home. -- .

This book argues that misconceptions about the economy are rife in the general population and that this democractic deficit is caused by institutional bias and wilful misrepresentation at our most powerful institutions. This book exposes the structures of bias that distort public perceptions and understandings of the economy. -- .

This book shows how the foundational economy - public services, infrastructure, education and health care - was built up between 1880 and 1980 so that they were collectively paid for, collectively delivered and collectively consumed. This system of provision has been undermined in the age of privatisation and outsourcing. -- .

Reclaiming economics for future generations argues that to build economies which serve people and the planet we need a diverse and decolonised curriculum. How does the global economy currently fail people and the planet, and why has mainstream economics knowledge inadequately addressed the pressing issues of today? -- .