Showing titles in Public Policy

A “fascinating” and “rare” (National Review) biography of Thomas Sowell, one of America’s most influential conservative thinkers Thomas Sowell is one of the great social theorists of our age. In a career spanning more than a half century, he has written over thirty books, covering...

The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2), and these CO2 emissions are a major driver of climate change. Carbon capture offers a path to climate change mitigation that has received relatively little attention. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Howard Herzog offers a concise guide to carbon capture, covering basic information as well as the larger context of climate technology and policy.  

The 2018 Nobel laureate for economics analyzes the politics and economics of the central environmental issue of today and points the way to real solutions.  

Science doesn't speak for itself. Neck-deep in work that can be messy and confounding and naïve in the ways of public communication, scientists are often unable to package their insights into the neat narratives that the public requires. Enter celebrities, advocates, lobbyists, and the funders behind them, who take advantage of scientists' reluctance to provide easy answers, flooding the media with misleading or incorrect claims about health risks. In Bad Advice, Paul A. Offit shares hard-earned wisdom on the dos and don'ts of battling misinformation.

In the last few years, China's aid program has leapt out of the shadows. But China's tradition of secrecy about its aid fueled rumors and speculation, making it difficult to gauge the risks and opportunities provided by China's growing embrace. This well-timed book, by one of the world's leading experts, provides the first comprehensive account of China's aid and economic cooperation overseas. Deborah Brautigam tackles the myths and realities, explaining what the Chinese are doing, how they do it, how much aid they give, and how it all fits into their "going global" strategy.

We are marching towards a future in which three-quarters of humans live in cities, and a large portion of the planet's landmass is urbanised. With much of the rest covered by human-shaped farms, pasture, and plantations, where can nature still go? To the cities - is Menno Schilthuizen's answer in this remarkable audiobook. And with more and more wildlife carving out new niches among humans, evolution takes a surprising turn. Urban animals evolve to become more cheeky and resourceful, city pigeons develop detox-plumage, and weeds growing from cracks in the pavement get a new type of seeds. 

At the close of the twentieth century, corporate capitalism extended its reach over the globe. While its defenders argue that globalization is the only way forward for modern, democratic societies, the spread of this system is failing to meet even the most basic needs of billions of individuals around the world. Moreover, the entrenchment of this free market system is undermining the foundations of healthy societies, caring communities, and personal wellbeing.

When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions - about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be - remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe.

O conceito de Cidades Inteligentes (ou Smart Cities) está ganhando espaço e se tornando cada vez mais relevante para agentes públicos, empresas privadas e cidadãos por um motivo muito simples: cidades mais inteligentes são capazes de se adaptar aos movimentos da sociedade e resolver os grandes problemas urbanos.

Меньше чем через десять лет наша планета изменится до неузнаваемости. Пенсионеры, накопившие солидный капитал, и средний класс из Индии и Китая будут определять развитие мирового потребительского рынка, в Африке произойдет промышленная революция, в списках богатейших людей женщины обойдут мужчин, на заводах роботов будет больше, чем рабочих, а главными проблемами человечества станут изменение климата и доступ к чистой воде.

A must-listen book for every leader—and every American—who insists that their government deliver better results Broken. Ineffective. Dysfunctional. Those are the words Americans often use to describe the government they pay for and depend upon to meet some of their most basic needs. But what if governments routinely delivered better results? What if government leaders invested in more effective solutions that improved lives and saved taxpayer dollars? Do What Works shares stories of progress and impact from communities across the country where that's happening right now.

“[Gouged] might be the book of the year.” —Matt Novak, Gizmodo “A thrilling true crime story about how the largest corporate monopolies in America have hatched a scheme to pick our pockets. Gouged is the book corporate America does not want you to read.”—Robert B. Reich, former U.S...

“One of the best-kept secrets of the last thirty years is that big business, government, and the wider culture have waged a silent war against parents, undermining the work that they do…parents have been left twisting in the wind by a society intent on other agendas.”—from the book In...

A child’s mind is hungry for knowledge, stimulation, and the excitement of learning which school should provide—yet most American schools fall far short. From kindergarten through high school, our public educational system is among the worst in the developed world. In disdaining...

The period following the Civil War was one of the most controversial eras in American history. This comprehensive account of the period captures the drama of those turbulent years that played such an important role in shaping modern America. Eric Foner brilliantly chronicles how Americans, black...

Economic sanctions dominate the landscape of world politics today. First developed in the early twentieth century as a way of exploiting the flows of globalization to defend liberal internationalism, their appeal is that they function as an alternative to war. This view, however, ignores the dark paradox at their core: designed to prevent war, economic sanctions are modeled on devastating techniques of warfare.

In this inspiring manifesto, an internationally renowned ecologist makes a clear case for why protecting nature is our best health insurance, and why it makes economic sense.

Bestselling author Bethany McLean reveals the true story of fracking's impact -- on Wall Street, the economy and geopolitics. The technology of fracking in shale rock -- particularly in the Permian Basin in Texas -- has transformed America into the world's top producer of both oil and natural...

Why is the Atlantic slowly filling with crude petroleum, threatening a millions-of-years-old ecological balance? Why did traders at prominent banks take high-risk gambles with the money entrusted to them by hundreds of thousands of clients around the world, expanding and leveraging their investments to the point that failure led to a global financial crisis that left millions of people jobless and hundreds of cities economically devastated?

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine.