by James Rickards ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2019
For those inclined to hide their savings in the mattress, this book may provide all the justification needed.
Economic analyst Rickards (The Road to Ruin: The Global Elites' Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis, 2016, etc.) prophesies scary times to come as the economic crisis of 2007-2008 grinds on.
“This coming crisis is as predictable as spring rain.” So writes the author of the enervating effects of economic policies that remain in place despite the damage they have wrought. For instance, he argues, the net effect of low interest rates as a means to stir up action in the economy was “the housing bubble and subprime mortgage crisis that exploded in 2007.” The next two years saw the near destruction of the international monetary system and the need to bail banks out worldwide—and according to Rickards, things haven’t gotten much better. The weak links in the chain are many, including likely debt crises in emerging markets such as Turkey and Indonesia, to say nothing of money market funds that seem to exist in order to finance the banks, not reward investors, and use strategies made all the more vulnerable by reliance on algorithms and “robo-advisers.” The author advises numerous ways to harden one’s finances against what he sees as the inevitable apocalypse lurking in plain view: He extends the usual advice to diversify, for example, by urging that readers invest in “cash, gold, and alternatives” and otherwise allocate investments in a “barbell portfolio” that consists of equal parts inflation protection (in gold and other hard assets) and deflation protection (in Treasury notes and the like), all balanced by cash. His views are a touch alarmist, but those who remember the events of a dozen years ago will likely form a persuadable audience. In any event, his advice seems largely sound and well defended, especially his exhortations to be wary of passive investments and asset-draining managers.
For those inclined to hide their savings in the mattress, this book may provide all the justification needed.Pub Date: July 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-1695-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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BOOK REVIEW
by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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SEEN & HEARD
by Enrico Moretti ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2012
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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