by Philip Coggan ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020
A sharp, readable introduction to how the modern economy came to be.
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes the world to stock your house with goods”—a broad-ranging survey of world trade and the global marketplace.
Contrary to the stances of certain world leaders, including Donald Trump, trade is a good thing, and the freer the trade the better. So argues Economist columnist Coggan (The Last Vote: The Threats to Western Democracy, 2013, etc.) in this sweeping, nontechnical history of the rise of the modern world economy, which has taken a long, winding course over millennia. With the development of agriculture and settled towns and cities, labor was able to diversify and become specialized, with the scope of the economy broadening. A village first consumed only its own goods, but then the goods of the next village came into offer, and then the next, all aided by a growing network of traders, brokers, and other harbingers of the market economy. Throughout much of history, however, trade was sometimes an afterthought. As Coggan notes, “neither the Greeks nor Romans seemed to have believed that it was their duty to try to expand the economy as a whole,” leaving it to Chinese, Arab, and Persian entrepreneurs to develop transcontinental trade routes. Europe later pulled ahead in a time of exploration and expansion, one that, in its mature phase, the author attributes to three factors: inexpensive transport, rising wages, and an improvement in living standards. The U.S. was a locus of this broadened economy. Coggan looks into past trends to suggest the outlines of future ones, such as a continued debate over state control of the economy. “Silicon Valley tycoons may think that they are setting the intellectual agenda with their calls to shrink the state,” he writes, “but for many people in the rest of the world, the more appealing example is China, with its heavy state direction and near 40-year record of rapid growth.” That widespread trade enriches is one thing, Coggan says, looking to the developing world, but it also serves as a means of encouraging democratization everywhere.
A sharp, readable introduction to how the modern economy came to be.Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61039-983-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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BOOK REVIEW
by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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