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  • About us
    • Who we are
    • Society activities
      • Annual Conference
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      • Rybczynski Prize
        • Rybczynski Prize Terms & Conditions
        • Winning essays (Reading~Room)
        • Recent winners
      • Statistics Community
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  • What's on
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Reading Room
  • Book reviews
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Book reviews

Wrong

Nine economic policy disasters and what we can learn from them

Reviewer: James Howatt, Capital Economics

In recent years, the world has been rocked by major economic crises. In Wrong, economist Richard Grossman addresses why these came about, shining a light on the poor thinking behind nine of the worst economic policy mistakes of the past 200 years, missteps whose outcomes ranged from appalling to tragic.

The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator

Reviewer: Adrian Woods, Eurekazone

The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator" provides a welcome challenge to conventional wisdom in social entrepreneurship. It highlights the personal stories of ten social innovators from around the world.

The Great Depression of the 1930s

Lessons for today

Reviewer: Bill Allen

This edited collection provides an authoritative introduction to the Great Depression as it affected the advanced countries in the 1930s

The Locust and the Bee

Predators and Creators in Capitalism’s Future

Reviewer: Rebecca Harding, Delta Economics

Geoff Mulgan argues in this compelling, imaginative, and important book, that the economic crisis also presents a historic opportunity to choose a radically different future for capitalism, one that maximizes its creative power and minimizes its destructive force.

Globalization and Development

Why East Asia Surged Ahead and Latin America Fell Behind

Reviewer: Mina Toksoz, Emerging Market and Country Risk Consultant

Why has there has been such a pronounced divergence in the economic fortune of developing countries? Comparing the experience of East Asia and Latin America since the mid-1970s, Elson identifies the key internal factors common to each region which have allowed East Asia to take advantage of the trade, financial, and technological impact of a more globalized economy to support its development, while Latin America has not.

The Dollar Trap

How the U.S. Dollar Tightened Its Grip on Global Finance

Reviewer: Ian Harwood, Redburn

Looks at how the American dollar came to be of central importance in the world economy, and why it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, due to a firmly established, dollar-centric international finance system.

The Road To Recovery

How and Why Economic Policy Must Change

Reviewer: Mark Cleary, Kinetic Economics

Providing practical guidance on reducing government, household and business debt, a well-respected economist stresses the importance of revising the neoclassical consensus governing global-economic decision-making to avoid the next financial collapse.

Rediscovering Growth

After the Crisis

Reviewer: David Smith, Economics Editor, Sunday Times

Andrew Sentance rightly identifies a number of key lessons for policymakers today as they seek to deliver a balanced and sustainable growth path going forward.

Double Entry

How the Merchants of Venice created Modern Finance

Reviewer: Rosemary Connell

Describes the history of accounting and double-entry bookkeeping from Mesopotamia to the Renaissance to modern finance and explains how a system developed that could work across all trades and nations.

Investing for Prosperity

A Manifesto for Growth

Reviewer: Vicky Pryce

What institutions and policies are needed to sustain UK economic growth in the dynamic world economy of the twenty-first century?

GDP: A brief but affectionate history

Reviewer: Bill Allen

Looks at the history of the complex Gross Domestic Product statistic, from its precursors to its use today, giving insight into what it measures, how it has changed, and what its strengths and weaknesses are.

The Price of Inequality

Reviewer: Mark Cleary, Consultant Economist, Kinetic Economics

There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, or as Joseph Stiglitz puts it, America. Stiglitz tells us that 20% of Americans own 85% of America's wealth. This is, as he points out, not a happy state of affairs.

First Principles

Five Keys to Restoring America’s Prosperity

Reviewer: Stephen Hannah, Lecturer in Economics, NYU in London

This is a pre-election, pro-Republican polemic with a glowing recommendation from Congressman Ryan. So you should not be surprised by the content and its tone. However, you may well be disappointed, even saddened, by the argument.

The New Tycoons

Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry that Owns Everything

Reviewer: Nooman Haque

Taking readers behind the scenes of private equity firms and into the secret worlds of founders Henry Kravis, Steve Schwarzman and others, this revealing book examines one of the most important trillion-dollar corners of the global economy that has transformed the industry.

Affluence & Influence

Reviewer: David Fell, Director, Brook Lyndhurst

Given the manifest political, social and environmental difficulties with which the world is now grappling, in large part as a result of the failure of a very particular economic ideology, Robinson's entreaty is surely now more important than ever.

Lost Causes

The Retreat from Classical Liberalism

Reviewer: Dame Kate Barker

Lost Causes is Professsor Lal's collected thoughts on the state of the United Kingdom today, taken from pamphlets compiled for various UK think tanks from the late 1980s.

Good Strategy; Bad Strategy

The Difference and why it Matters

Reviewer: Rebecca Harding

Even though everyone is talking about it, there is no concept in business today more muddled than 'strategy'. Richard Rumelt, described by McKinsey Quarterly as 'a giant in the field of strategy' and 'strategy's strategist', tackles this problem head-on in a jargon-free explanation of how to develop and take action on strategy, in business, politics and beyond

How Do We Fix This Mess?

The Economic Price of Having It All And The Route to Lasting Prosperity

Reviewer: Diane Coyle, Enlightenment Economics

In Robert Peston's book he explains in his characteristically straightforward way how the world got itself into the current economic mess - and how we might get out of it.

'How do we fix this mess? I don't know. But don't stop reading now. Perhaps if we have a clearer understanding of what went wrong, we'll have a better idea of what needs to be done. This book is a map of what needs to be fixed.'

New Ideas on Development After The Financial Crisis

Reviewer: Mark Henstridge, Chief Economist, Oxford Policy Management

Editors Nancy Birdsall and Francis Fukuyama bring together leading scholars to explore the implications of the global financial crisis on existing and future development strategies.

Whats the Use of Economics?

Teaching the Dismal Science After the Crisis

Reviewer: Peter Sinclair, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Birmingham

With the financial crisis continuing after five years, people are questioning why economics failed either to send an adequate early warning ahead of the crisis or to resolve it quickly. The gap between important real-world problems and the workhorse mathematical model-based economics being taught to students has become a chasm. This book examines what economists need to bring to their jobs, and the way in which education in universities could be improved to fit graduates better for the real world.

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Articles reflect the authors’ views which are not necessarily shared by the Society or the Editor. The Editor welcomes comments, ideas and articles on a wide range of applied economics topics and related issues of more general interest.

For Books and Reviews contact:
Ian Harwood
Book Reviews Editor, The Society of Professional Economists
harwoodfive@btinternet.com

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