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Those who teach undergraduate courses on the history of economic thought are on a constant and alert lookout for a suitable textbook—more so than those who teach other courses. Such a book must introduce readers to the chief dramatis personae in a full and accurate manner and—no less important—have the sense to leave out the minor characters. Such a book must describe clearly the breakthrough ideas—and their evolution over time—and also have the confidence to sidestep the duds. It must be deep enough to not trivialize the magnificence of the major works, and it must also be able to hold the interest of the Nintendo generations in the classroom.

Argues that the high job mobility observed most prominently among workers in Japanese firms is consistent with the behaviour of risk‐averse individuals when neither private nor public income insurance is widely available to displaced workers. Laissez faire is suboptimal and involves higher job mobility than is socially optimal. Public provision of income insurance yields a Pareto improvement and reduces job rotation. Government job training schemes may push rotation levels even higher than the levels under laissez faire and could, therefore, be counterproductive.

Practical conservation of heritage buildings in Kolkata started in the 1990s and the first restoration project was the Town Hall, a public building built by the British in 1813, in the central business district by a public‐private partnership. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the restoration process and adaptive reuse of the Town Hall as a case study.

A team of conservationists, architects and structural engineers worked during 1996‐1998. The methodology included surveying and documenting the existing structure; examining old materials and methods of construction, earlier repairs and the suitability of matching new materials; analysing the structure, defects and their causes; prescribing remedial measures; preparing items of work, estimating and tendering for appointment of contractors; allocating funds for restoration; supervision and monitoring of the works.

It was necessary to undertake structural strengthening and physical restoration through corrective measures, and reinstallation of all service systems, which resulted in the opening up of this edifice again for various kinds of public use, that included a museum.

This was a pilot project for the state administration and the people of Kolkata. After this project, the conservation of historic buildings became an agenda of government and civil society. The lessons learned here were applied to the restoration of other similar buildings in Kolkata.

Conservation‐researchers, academics and practitioners will gain from this paper an in‐depth understanding of the restoration process in Kolkata.

Critics maintain that for profit, business corporations should be more “responsible,” that they should take account of all constituencies affected by their operations and should even assume responsibility for broader societal problems which they may only impact tangentially. Defenders of a narrower set corporate goals and constituent interests argue that corporations should be concerned exclusively with maximizing the profits they can earn for shareholders within the law. This controversy regarding corporate goals and stakeholder interests has spanned most of the twentieth century.