Consists of eight comparative studies drawn from history, archeology, economics, economic history, geography, and political science. The studies cover a spectrum of approaches, ranging from a non-quantitative narrative style in the early chapters to quantitative statistical analyses in the later chapters. The studies range from a simple two-way comparison of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, to comparisons of 81 Pacific islands and 233 areas of India. The societies discussed are contemporary ones, literate societies of recent centuries, and non-literate past societies. Geographically, they include the United States, Mexico, Brazil, western Europe, tropical Africa, India, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands.

Written by two experts in the field, A. Michael Spence, winner of the 2001 Noble Prize for Economics, and Garth Saloner, the Jeffrey S. Skoll Professor of Electronic Commerce, Strategic Management, and Economics at Stanford University, Creating and Capturing Value: Perspectives and Cases on Electronic Commerce is an introduction for students to the volatile, developing world of e-commerce. The book has two parts, "Perspectives" and "Cases." "Perspectives " provides an overview of important issues in electronic commerce such as the technologies that preceded the Internet, how the new technologies are changing the landscape and how new and established firms must respond to changes in the business environment. "Cases" includes 22 cases that have been developed at Stanford over the past couple of years.

How should we feel about taxes that redistribute income? Ask how parents feel about children who forcibly "redistribute" other children's toys. How should we respond to those who complain that their neighbors are too wealthy? Ask how parents respond when children complain that their siblings got too much cake. By insisting that fairness can't mean one thing for children and another for adults, Landsburg shows that the instincts of the parent have profound consequences for economic justice.