Show and Biz - by María Blanco & Alberto Mingardi (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

How is capitalism represented in popular culture today? Are profits seen as a legitimate reward of entrepreneurship? Are thrift and effort still considered a cornerstone of a healthy society? Or is it that inequalities are eliciting scandal and reproach? How is the ecosystem portrayed, vis-à-vis profit seeking companies? Are they irreconcilable, or maybe not? Are there any established trends with respect to the presentation of entrepreneurship, and that complex legal artefact that is the modern limited liability company?

These are questions that will be at the core of this book. But they are not examined through the usual theoretical point of references, but looking at TV series produced in 2000-2020.

Each chapter of this book is a case studies, covering some of the most popular, successful and engaging TV shows of the last 20 years. And showing how deep economic ideas and biases lie, at the roots of some of our times' most successful entertainment products.

Review Quotes

"Razor-sharp analyses uncover the economic and political premises embedded in some of the most popular TV programs of the past two decades. This volume can significantly change the way we look at television-and economics." --Jo Ann Cavallo, Professor of Italian and Italian Department Chair at Columbia University, USA

"There is a lot written about the cultural biases of TV and its complex relationship to entrepreneurial capitalism, but rarely in as broad-reaching, comprehensive, and well-documented a manner as in this collection. Show and Biz offers scholars in many fields exciting new perspectives about a subject of considerable cultural importance and demonstrable relevance." --Alan Kahan, Université de Paris-Saclay, France

"Popular culture, television, and good economics are not often enough considered together. Show and Biz? is a breakthrough work which helps to remedy this longstanding gap. It is highly readable and entertaining as well as instructive." --Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University, USA

"This edited volume of fifteen chapters covering fourteen shows is a much-needed update to the literature on economics and popular culture. It would be a welcome addition for the classroom and for the general reader." --The Independent Review

About the Author

María Blanco is Associate Professor of Economic History and Institutions at Universidad San Pablo-CEU in Madrid, Spain.

Alberto Mingardi is Associate Professor of the history of political thought at IULM University in Milan, Italy. He is also Director General of Istituto Bruno Leoni and a Presidential Scholar in Political Theory at Chapman University (Orange, Ca).