Recently Mentioned Books

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.

You can order it here .  My previous coverage of Carl T. Bogus is here .

Here is a 2009 paper of mine with Sam Papenfuss (pdf), a later version of which was published in this book edited by Joshua Hall .  The paper deliberately sidesteps the recent scandals and focuses on fundamentalist explanations of why higher education might be provided on a non-profit or for-profit basis.

That is from Aaron Bobrow-Strain , interesting throughout, I just pre-ordered his new book White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf .  For the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald .

Krugman defines “potential GDP is a measure of how much the economy can produce” but keep in mind that this quite possibly won’t be a unique number.  With what risk premium?  With what enthusiasm of supply?  See my Risk and Business Cycles for an extended discussion and also numerous citations.

That is the new book by Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman and the subtitle is Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career .  if you are starting a career, it is an excellent book for thinking through the practical issues you will face in branding yourself in what is becoming a more volatile and very different labor market.  The book’s home page is here .

You can pre-order the book on Amazon here .  For Barnes & Noble here .  For Indiebound.org here .

I recommend Michael Grabell, Money Well-Spent?: The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, The Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History .  It is a very good journalistic account of how the money was spent, and less scandal-mongering than the title might indicate.  I found it to be quite an objective account.  There should be more books like this, looking at the nuts and bolts of economic legislation.

There is The Southern Tiger: Chile’s Fight for a Democratic and Prosperous Future , by Ricardo Lagos, Elizabeth Dickinson, and Blake Hounshell, next up on my Kindle.

I loved Arthur Schnitzler’s Casanova’s Homecoming, free on Kindle , which I never had read before. Alice James: A Biography , by Jean Strouse, is a very good look at her life (she is the sister) and the life of the James family.

I loved Arthur Schnitzler’s Casanova’s Homecoming, free on Kindle , which I never had read before. Alice James: A Biography , by Jean Strouse, is a very good look at her life (she is the sister) and the life of the James family.

Jo Guldi, Roads to Power: Britain Invents the Infrastructure State is a good and also conceptual history of 19th century road building.

Christopher Balding, Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Intersection of Wealth and Politics is a useful overview.

Alessandra Casella, Storable Votes: Protecting the Minority Voice , calls for a system where you can abstain from voting on one measure and receive an extra vote on something else.

I reviewed Ruth Grant’s new Strings Attached: When do Incentives Corrupt ? here , for Science , university readers can get through the gate.

There is Ruchir Sharma, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles , due out in April.

Larry Kotlikoff and Scott Burns have their new The Clash of Generations: Saving Ourselves, Our Kids, and Our Economy , due out in March.  I believe they are still fiscal pessimists.