The Economists' Hour: How the False Prophets of Free Markets Fractured Our Society (Paperback)

Binyamin Appelbaum (author)

£9.99

Paperback 352 Pages
Published: 03/09/2020

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Synopsis

‘A well-reported and researched history of the ways in which plucky economists helped rewrite policy in America and Europe and across emerging markets.’ The Economist

‘A highly readable, exhilaratingly detailed biographical account.’ Sunday Telegraph

As the post-World War II economic boom began to falter in the late 1960s, a new breed of economists gained influence and power. Over time, their ideas reshaped the modern world, curbing governments, unleashing corporations and hastening globalization.

Their fundamental belief? That governments should stop trying to manage the economy.

Their guiding principle? That markets would deliver steady growth and broad prosperity.

But the economists’ hour failed to deliver on its premise. The single-minded embrace of markets has come at the expense of economic equality, the health of liberal democracy and of future generations. Across the world, from both right and left, the assumptions of the once-dominant school of free-market economic thought are being challenged, as we count the costs as well as the gains of its influence.

In The Economists’ Hour, acclaimed New York Times writer Binyamin Appelbaum provides both a reckoning with the past and a call for a different future.

‘A reminder of the power of ideas to shape the course of history.’ New Yorker

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781509879151
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 314 g
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 30 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

This thoroughly researched, comprehensive, and critical account of the economic philosophies that have reigned for the past half century powerfully indicts them. - Publisher Weekly (starred)

A marvel of popular historical writing. - New York Times

A highly readable, exhilaratingly detailed biographical account. - Sunday Telegraph

That such sophisticated people presided over a dangerous build-up in financial risk suggests that something larger was at work than a naïve faith in markets. Appelbaum’s strength is that he generally acknowledges these complexities. - Atlantic

The New York Times financial writer maps the advance of economists - from the Kennedy administration onward - out of the academy and into government, elevating free markets in the sausage - making of public policy and sparking the inequity that plagues us today. - O Magazine

Lively and entertaining . . . The Economists' Hour is a reminder of the power of ideas to shape the course of history. - Liaquat Ahamed, New Yorker

"An entertaining and well-written look at how market-oriented ideas rose from the academy and transformed nations. - Tyler Cowen

Binyamin Appelbaum has written a powerful must-read for all those interested in reinvigorating the credibility of economics, especially in policymaking circles. - Mohamed A. El-Erian

Writing in accessible language of thorny fiscal matters, the author ventures into oddly fascinating corners of recent economic history . . . Anyone who wonders why government officials still take the Laffer curve seriously need go no further than this lucid book. - Kirkus

A well-reported and researched history of the ways in which plucky economists helped rewrite policy in America and Europe and across emerging markets. - Economist