Waterstones Good Economics for Hard Times
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Price: £10.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: From the winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics. In this revolutionary book, prize-winning economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day. From immigration to inequality, slowing growth to accelerating climate change, we have the resources to address the challenges we face but we are so often blinded by ideology. Original, provocative and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times offers the new thinking that we need. It builds on cutting-edge research in economics - and years of exploring the most effective solutions to alleviate extreme poverty - to make a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. A much-needed antidote to polarized discourse, this book shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780141986197
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780141986197
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Author: James
Rating: 5
Review: This book arrived a little late but I’ll still give 5 stars based on the content for the authors sake and not the sellers. Firstly the edition of this book is one of the nicest I’ve held recently, it’s a really nice paper bound hardback, the paper is high gsm and feels really nice to touch. This is the second book I’ve read on economics from someone who had no real understanding beforehand, I bought it as it was one of the bill gates summer reading list books, really glad I bought it! The book starts off with talking about the public perception of economists and how there is a large distrust, usually pedalled by ‘bad economics’ and politicians. Some fascinating things I’ve learned since reading: - Economics is not a perfect science, it’s hard to compare data between countries and periods in time, however most often things improve because we learn from past mistakes (e.g. the Great Depression). - Immigration IS a good thing, the argument that the more people arrive to our developed countries the more people are out of work as the supply demand model would indicate, though this isn’t true as when people move to a new location for work, they earn a wage, pay tax and then spend their money on the local economy which boosts growth. Though remittance has a negative effect on the economy. - Interesting points about the efficiency wage, generally most employers won’t pay minimum wage and there is no evidence that most of them do due to the fact that it’s often costlier to keep re-hiring new people and they would rather pay a better wage and keep the employee. - Fascinating comparisons between western economics (mostly focusing on France the U.K. and the states) vs China and India’s economies. - Lower paid workers in SE and developing countries aren’t necessarily worse off, i.e if you stop buying cheap goods for moral reasons you’re reducing the income to these countries and families. Actually the more we spend having products manufactured in the developing world the more the inflow of cash and so the higher the standard of living for the residents. This is seen in China which less than 100 years ago experienced extreme famine under the Mao regime, now the huge growth (The China Shock) is seeing China moving away from large scale cheap labour manufacturing and more into new growth areas in tech (think Huwawie, Zoom and TikTok). - Interesting reads on automation and the replacement of humans in the workforce. As someone that works in the tech sector this really made me revaluate things. Simply put, some jobs can be replaced by machines but it’s not necessarily a good thing to do so. Companies would opt to do this for cost saving reasons, however doing this would cause a huge slump in the labour market. I.e poorer people would be out of work and therefore not paying tax, or claiming welfare and not spending much on the local economy. The results being the companies get bigger and richer but the people don’t. Some predictions actually say large scale automation would have a negative effect on GDP. Fascinating chapter. Last chapter (and I’ve not mentioned them all such as likes wants and needs, climate change and trade) was about universal basic income. This is relatively new turf but I think we’ll see a lot more of it in the future. Essentially people would get a guaranteed income regardless of their employment status. This is fascinating as it eliminates the survival instinct for work, meaning people would be less risk averse in their job often coming up with newer riskier ideas etc. Which is essential for growth (as shown by the Solow model). An interesting concept exists in Denmark called Flexicurity, whereby workers don’t have job security and companies can fire people without legal protection but they automatically receive UBI if they are found out of work. This in essence allows businesses to refine and streamline their business models and allows workers to move onto other work. In essence it’s the complete opposite of a ‘job for life’ mentality which Japan proved doesn’t work that well in the 1990s. I’m going to end this review here but thanks for reading all this if you have!! I’ve actually been inspired to start studying economics with the open university as a result of reading this book. Thanks very much to Abhijit and Esther for their work on this!!
Author: GS
Rating: 1
Review: Ever thought how the narrative of pain and suffering of the poor is exploited by people to become rich and famous? This is a book that starts off by saying "we are ready go wrong as long as ... it takes us to a human world", and that reminds me of the saying "the worst possible crimes in the world against humanity has been done with the best of intentions". This is another spin off from those who want to be rich and famous by spinning off ideas that will eventually lead to more suffering of the poor. Ever thought inspite of all these Nobel prize winners and top college graduates who always appear to be saying "we want to do good to humanity" like the Miss Universe contestants why the rich continue to become rich and poor even poorer? Ever considered how manipulative people use the suffering of the poor to misdirect them into creating profits for the rich? Ever thought why these so called academics take foreign citizenships build money and comfort in rich nations while using the poverty and suffering of the poor to create credibility? This book is everything that is wrong with the academics today - make more money by creating a false narrative of trying to make poor peoples lives better while in reality create a world where the suffering of teh poor increases. The genius is that with your high college degrees, Nobel prizes, and support from peers you can hide the true narrative of using poverty and suffering of poor to make yourself and your cohorts richer and better, hide behind false maths, papers, and intentions.
