Recently Mentioned Books

In my pile is Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (how many times has this book been written by now?), Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo, A Model Discipline: Political Science and the Logic of Representation (philosophy of science), and Robert V. Dodge, Schelling’s Game Theory: How to Make Decisions .

In my pile is Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (how many times has this book been written by now?), Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo, A Model Discipline: Political Science and the Logic of Representation (philosophy of science), and Robert V. Dodge, Schelling’s Game Theory: How to Make Decisions .

In my pile is Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (how many times has this book been written by now?), Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo, A Model Discipline: Political Science and the Logic of Representation (philosophy of science), and Robert V. Dodge, Schelling’s Game Theory: How to Make Decisions .

David Wolman, The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers — and the Coming Cashless Society , an informed and well-written look at the continuing evolution of money.

Alan Peacock, Anxious to do Good: Learning to be an Economist the Hard Way , memoirs, gentlemanly not juicy.

David Tuckett, Minding the Markets: An Emotional Finance View of Financial Instability , a behavioral/cognitive/neuro interpretation of the actions of four fund managers, as they related to the financial crisis.

Alasdair Roberts, America’s First Great Depression: Economic Crisis and Political Disorder After the Panic of 1837 , stronger on aftermath than causes.

Jean Edward Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace , very well written, not that much economics.

2. The new George Dyson book on the origins of the computer , I just bought mine here .

The new Bruce Bartlett book on taxes is out , I presume it is excellent.  Here is his column on the Romney and Obama plans .

That is from Sinn’s new book The Green Paradox: A Supply-Side Approach to Global Warming .

Really, find them here !  They promise me there will be plenty to come and soon.  The blog is related to their very good forthcoming book Why Nations Fail .  It is no exaggeration to place their work at the very very top of “institutional economics” in today’s profession.  They are now in my RSS feed.

The author is David Hackett Fischer and the subtitle is A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States .  Excerpt:

That is the new book by Andrei Shleifer , and it collects his major and very important writings on regulation and law and economics, many with notable co-authors.  Some of these papers have been discussed previously on MarginalRevolution .  If you wish to own those papers, this is your book.

5. Alan Beattie, illustrious FT correspondent, Who’s in Charge Here?: How Governments are Failing the World Economy , eBook only, due out in March.

3. Matthew D. Adler, Well-Being and Fair Distribution: Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis .  A detailed examination and defense of social welfare functions, which I have not read.

2. Noam Scheiber, The Escape Artists: How Obama’s Team Fumbled the Recovery .  I enjoyed reading this book very much, though I am not the one to judge its account of “inside baseball.”  There is plenty on Geithner and Summers.  Here is Warsh on Scheiber on Summers .

1. The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take On Today’s Problems , edited by Stiglitz, Edlin, and DeLong, useful excerpts from the journal.

1. There is a widespread belief that inflation helped cause the initial mess (not to mention centuries of other macroeconomic problems, plus the problems from the 1970s, plus the collapse of Zimbabwe), and that therefore inflation cannot be part of a preferred solution.  It feels like a move in the wrong direction, and like an affiliation with ideas that are dangerous.  I recall being fourteen years of age, being lectured about Andrew Dickson White’s work on assignats in Revolutionary France , a...

The review, by Aaron C. Brown , offers other points of interest.  I’ve ordered the underlying asset itself ( the book ) and I will report back on it.  It was reviewed in today’s FT , still no permalink.

I usually find “derelict fiction” unappealing (I don’t for instance enjoy Trainspotting , although I admit its aesthetic merits, nor did I like Drugstore Cowboy ; someone should write an essay on the merits and demerits of drug-based fiction), but these books are for me compulsively readable and the prose is more vital than almost anything else being written.  They are by Edward St. Aubyn and you can buy the first four of them here , the final one here .   By no means should you let these novels...

I usually find “derelict fiction” unappealing (I don’t for instance enjoy Trainspotting , although I admit its aesthetic merits, nor did I like Drugstore Cowboy ; someone should write an essay on the merits and demerits of drug-based fiction), but these books are for me compulsively readable and the prose is more vital than almost anything else being written.  They are by Edward St. Aubyn and you can buy the first four of them here , the final one here .   By no means should you let these novels...

I usually find “derelict fiction” unappealing (I don’t for instance enjoy Trainspotting , although I admit its aesthetic merits, nor did I like Drugstore Cowboy ; someone should write an essay on the merits and demerits of drug-based fiction), but these books are for me compulsively readable and the prose is more vital than almost anything else being written.  They are by Edward St. Aubyn and you can buy the first four of them here , the final one here .   By no means should you let these novels...

I usually find “derelict fiction” unappealing (I don’t for instance enjoy Trainspotting , although I admit its aesthetic merits, nor did I like Drugstore Cowboy ; someone should write an essay on the merits and demerits of drug-based fiction), but these books are for me compulsively readable and the prose is more vital than almost anything else being written.  They are by Edward St. Aubyn and you can buy the first four of them here , the final one here .   By no means should you let these novels...

Need, Speed, and Greed: How the New Rules of Innovation Can Transform Businesses, Propel Nations to Greatness, and Tame the World’s Most Wicked Problems , by Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran.