Recently Mentioned Books

4. Complete Haydn string quartets , Mosaiques Quartet.  My favorite of all the complete recordings of these.

2. Calypso: Musical Poetry in the Caribbean 1955-1969 , best on vinyl.

1. Sd Laika, That’s Harakiri , a new sound world, best on vinyl.

The authors are Till Düppe and E. Roy Weintruab and the subtitle is Arrow, Debreu, McKenzie and the Problem of Scientific Credit .  I very much liked this book, which provides an inside look at the discovery of some key theorems in economics, with an emphasis on the problem of joint discovery.  McKenzie, by the way, is the one who received the least credit, an example of the Matthew Effect .

The paperback edition of Average is Over is out soon on August 26, you can order it here .

Which is to say that while Cowen’s point about the global picture is both interesting and correct, his political stance is backwards. It’s not fans of Capital in the 21st Century who are pushing nationalism as an alternative to plutocracy, but its detractors. And though the recent politics in the US Congress have been driven by the somewhat odd sequence of events around the arrival of unaccompanied minors from Central America , the underlying pattern runs much deeper than that.

8. Stephen L. Carter, Back Channel: A Novel .

7. Dan DiSalvo, Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences .

6. Paul Know, editor, Atlas of Cities .

6. Lawrence A. Cunningham, Berkshire Beyond Buffet: The Enduring Value of Values .  Maybe the title doesn’t sound promising, but this is a substantive take on what actually goes on out there.

5. Steven Conn, Americans Against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century .  Good background for understanding today’s blue-red divide and the origins of progressivism.

4. David Eimer, The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China .  A look at China’s outermost regions and their ethnic minorities, an excellent perspective on The Middle Kingdom.

3. Jonathan Rottenberg, The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic .  More intelligent and thoughtful than most other books in this area, this treatment stresses the (partial) cognitive advantages of having a tendency toward depression.

2. The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age , by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh.  A popular book on how a lot of future jobs will be very short-term and how to deal with this world on a practical basis.

1. Walter Lippmann: Public Economist , by Craufurd D. Goodwin.  An excellent study of the man who was probably the most influential economics columnist and commentator of his era, even though he is not usually remembered as such.

The author of this new and excellent book is my colleague Peter T. Leeson and the subtitle is Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think .  Here is one excerpt:

The subtitle is An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness , and the author is Russ Roberts.  The focus is on Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and why that is an important book.  This is Russ’s best book in my opinion, so you should consider buying it here .  My favorite section is the discussion of the Chilean maid, definitely recommended.

6. The wisdom of the confident crowd ?  And top economists do not generally favor monetary policy rules .  And Barry Eichengreen has a new forthcoming book .  It looks like a major work.

The subtitle is Words of a Yanomami Shaman , and the shaman is Davi Kopenawa from the Amazon, with transcription and assistance from French anthropologist Bruce Albert.  Imagine 487 pp. of a highly intelligent, articulate shaman telling you what he thinks, and perhaps more importantly telling you what he thinks about.  Here is one bit:

3. Jason Brennan and Lisa Hill, Compulsory Voting: For and Against .  I like Jason’s chapter entitled “Should We Force the Drunk to Drive?”

1. Jason Brennan, Why Not Capitalism?

From the FT there is more here .  You don’t have to regard any of those points as arguments against a “Taylor Rule.”  But it is disingenuous to think that peddling the Taylor Rule as a monetary option counts as a rule for those who have general reasons for believing in monetary rules over discretion.  The Taylor Rule is lucky enough to be called a “rule,” and besides, any reaction function can be described as a rule of sorts. In those two senses it is indeed a rule .  But the Republicans who are...

The editors are Dow James and Glen Whitman and the subtitle is Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science .  Authors include Steven Horwitz, Sarah Skwire, Ilya Somin, and also Hollis Robbins, “Killing Time, Dracula and Social Coordination”, among others.

3. Honest ontology, fantasy, and comedy .  And here is Eric Kaplan’s forthcoming book Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation .  He is connected to the show Big Bang Theory .

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness