Part History, Part Speculation

This book attempts to do three things at once, with varying degrees of success. The first is to provide potted biographies of the lives of various major economists from history - these sections were thankfully not overlong, as in most cases the lifespan of an economist turns out to be about as interesting as you’d expect (ie. not very).

The author’s second aim is to detail these economists’ major theories within the context of the times in which they lived. These passages struck me as the real meat of the book. I learned a lot about historical events and economic concepts which had previously been little more than names to me, and the chronological structure of the book made it interesting to see how various schools of thought had waxed and waned in influence across different generations of economists.

The third and final aspect of the book is what makes it more (and less) than just a history of economics, as the author attempts to apply each chosen economist’s theories to a current major world issue and so speculate as to what these figures from history might have had to say about our modern times. Unsurprisingly most of these sections focused on the 2007-8 financial crisis and its aftermath leading up to Brexit and Trump. Some of the author’s speculations felt dubious to me, especially since the historical passages made it obvious how much each economist had been shaped by their own particular times and how often they had changed their ideas when new events necessitated a fresh outlook. I also sometimes felt frustrated that each economist had effectively been allowed to comment on only a single aspect of modern finance - although this made the chapters more digestible, it had the effect of treating each issue in isolation rather than drawing a full range of connections between them. I wonder how it was decided which economist was most applicable to which issue, because at times the choices had the feel of recycled lecture notes, awkwardly cramming everything into a single syllabus.

The author reads the audiobook herself, which has both the pros and cons you’d expect - she obviously knows her material better than anyone, but also tends to be drily academic in style. On the whole this book was a mixed bag for me - I found my interest flagging in the later chapters, because by that point it felt like all the fundamental issues had already been covered and more recent economists were simply rehashing the same old debates. Ultimately I was left with the sense that even economists often understand very little about what might happen next in the economy, but are very good at retrospectively explaining why things went right or wrong.

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3 people found this helpful

Economics for all.!!!

great explanation of economics and the great economists. Examining how their theories have influenced others and what these past great thinkers would have thought about the global economic state of today . very intresting read , I will be seeking out other titles from this author without a doubt

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