The most complete and authoritative account to date of the response of the central bankers to the global financial crisis.
Holding that monetary policy is too subtle and complex to entrust to politicians beholden to the whims of an uninformed electorate, Washington Post financial columnist Irwin convincingly argues that independent central banks are an essential element of responsible economic stewardship.
The author rises to the defense of those who control the money supply, delivering a paean to central banking and the almost mystical power it wields over the economy. His characterization of Ben Bernanke, Jean-Claude Trichet and Mervyn King, leaders of the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England, respectively, as almost demigods is perhaps a bit hyperbolic; he claims that their actions in 2007 and 2008 “would create the world to come.” Unexpected wit and an eye for drama keep the meticulously researched minutiae of monetary policy from reading too much like a baseball box score, but readers without a background in economics or finance may find all of the jargon bewildering. Irwin is effusive in his praise for the overall performance of the central banks. He singles out Bernanke specifically for his measured response and political savvy, while King, who “seemed to disdain bankers personally, and was privately contemptuous of their views,” receives mixed marks for his failure to play well with others. The close personal relationships of the three, forged over countless hours communing in exclusive clubs and at the sidelines of global conferences, are contrasted favorably with the messy backbiting and rabble-rousing of the political process. Enlightening chapters about the winding history of central banking and the People’s Bank of China have less to do with the main narrative but add depth to the book as a whole, making it an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand the role played by the guardians of the economy.
The most complete and authoritative account to date of the response of the central bankers to the global financial crisis.Pub Date: April 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59420-462-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
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
SEEN & HEARD
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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