Good Economics for Hard Times
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-04-19 11:55:42
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Abhijit V. Banerjee
- ISBN：1610399501
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Summary
Two prize-winning economists show how economics， when done right， can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day
The experience of the last decade has not been kind to the image of economists: asleep at the wheel （perhaps with the foot on the gas pedal） in the run-up to the great recession， squabbling about how to get out of it， tone-deaf in discussions of the plight of Greece or the Euro area; they seem to have lost the ability to provide reliable guidance on the great problems of the day。
In this ambitious， provocative book Abhijit V。 Banerjee and Esther Duflo show how traditional western-centric thinking has failed to explain what is happening to people in a newly globalized world: in short Good Economics has been done badly。 This precise but accessible book covers many of the most essential issues of our day--including migration， unemployment， growth， free trade， political polarization， and welfare。 Banerjee and Duflo will confound and clarify the presumptions of our times， such as:
Why migration doesn't follow the law of supply and demand
Why trade liberalization can drive unemployment up and wages down
Why macroeconomists like to bend the data to fit the model
Why nobody can really explain why and when growth happens
Why economists' assumption that people don't change their minds has made has made polarization worse
Why quite often it doesn't take a village， especially if the villagers aren't that nice
In doing so， they seek to reclaim this essential terrain， and to offer readers an economist's view of the great issues of the day--one that is candid about the complexities， the zones of ignorance， and the areas of genuine disagreement。
The experience of the last decade has not been kind to the image of economists: asleep at the wheel （perhaps with the foot on the gas pedal） in the run-up to the great recession， squabbling about how to get out of it， tone-deaf in discussions of the plight of Greece or the Euro area; they seem to have lost the ability to provide reliable guidance on the great problems of the day。
In this ambitious， provocative book Abhijit V。 Banerjee and Esther Duflo show how traditional western-centric thinking has failed to explain what is happening to people in a newly globalized world: in short Good Economics has been done badly。 This precise but accessible book covers many of the most essential issues of our day--including migration， unemployment， growth， free trade， political polarization， and welfare。 Banerjee and Duflo will confound and clarify the presumptions of our times， such as:
Why migration doesn't follow the law of supply and demand
Why trade liberalization can drive unemployment up and wages down
Why macroeconomists like to bend the data to fit the model
Why nobody can really explain why and when growth happens
Why economists' assumption that people don't change their minds has made has made polarization worse
Why quite often it doesn't take a village， especially if the villagers aren't that nice
In doing so， they seek to reclaim this essential terrain， and to offer readers an economist's view of the great issues of the day--one that is candid about the complexities， the zones of ignorance， and the areas of genuine disagreement。
Reviews
Joonia
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Summary: https://www。allencheng。com/good-econo。。。 Summary: https://www。allencheng。com/good-econo。。。 。。。more
Dragon
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The book covers a wide range of topics related to our present society。 Author is able to tell the story without being caught in boredom and justified with stats property。 Though there "AI related job loss" part couldn't convience me much but rest of the book was worth the time。 Go ahead with the book。 The book covers a wide range of topics related to our present society。 Author is able to tell the story without being caught in boredom and justified with stats property。 Though there "AI related job loss" part couldn't convience me much but rest of the book was worth the time。 Go ahead with the book。 。。。more
Erin Crane
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This was dense！ So I did not retain much， though I did take notes to try to keep track of some takeaways。 I appreciate how much the authors are trying to solve real problems of poverty and unemployment from irrelevance or automation。 They constantly refer to studies to back up their arguments but point out the limitations of the studies。 That’s rare in these books， I feel。 Economists want to say for sure x is the answer and will result in y when there are so many other factors。 I’m no economics This was dense！ So I did not retain much， though I did take notes to try to keep track of some takeaways。 I appreciate how much the authors are trying to solve real problems of poverty and unemployment from irrelevance or automation。 They constantly refer to studies to back up their arguments but point out the limitations of the studies。 That’s rare in these books， I feel。 Economists want to say for sure x is the answer and will result in y when there are so many other factors。 I’m no economics expert， so I’m sure there are flaws in this book and arguments against them。 But it feels like a sincere effort to address poverty， which is refreshing。 。。。more
Saravanan Mani
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An eye-opening read that blends economics and social behaviour to comment on the need for dramatic policy overhaul in many of our modern societies。 Must read and hopefully more people are willing to take up on the challenges raised here。
Katrina Aldaba
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Read this since it was a suggested pre-reading for my masters degree in International Development。 The book gives believable， evidence-based claims， and conducting its own experiments to back their claims， and it definitely gave me more insight to better governance and policies。 Also， it gave me newfound respect for economists。 I used to think economists just cared about money and all worked in banks but there are some out there actually trying to use numbers and graphs to help society for the b Read this since it was a suggested pre-reading for my masters degree in International Development。 The book gives believable， evidence-based claims， and conducting its own experiments to back their claims， and it definitely gave me more insight to better governance and policies。 Also， it gave me newfound respect for economists。 I used to think economists just cared about money and all worked in banks but there are some out there actually trying to use numbers and graphs to help society for the better。 。。。more
Bryan
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This is a great book， it covers economic problems in this 21st century。 Automatization， Immigration， welfare， and even global warming。 Good book！
Fuad Ali
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What do Trump， Bolsonaro， and Brexit have in common？ Bad Economics。 We like to think that we have opinions on issues like immigration， the minimum wage， and taxation; opinions that are decently well-informed by data。 So when others disagree with us， we vehemently oppose them， touting a soundbite from our favorite politician， or perhaps an outdated statistic。 Turns out， a lot of what we think is pretty unanimous amongst economists。 So why do we still believe in opposing a wealth tax and blockin What do Trump， Bolsonaro， and Brexit have in common？ Bad Economics。 We like to think that we have opinions on issues like immigration， the minimum wage， and taxation; opinions that are decently well-informed by data。 So when others disagree with us， we vehemently oppose them， touting a soundbite from our favorite politician， or perhaps an outdated statistic。 Turns out， a lot of what we think is pretty unanimous amongst economists。 So why do we still believe in opposing a wealth tax and blocking immigration， even though both have been shown to drastically increase the welfare of a nation？Good Economics for Hard Times， written by 2019’s Nobel Prize winning economists， Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee， attempts to answer this。 Just finished the read， and can’t recommend more highly！ Absolutely changed my view on labor markets， the intricacies of welfare， and how to critically approach Universal Basic Income。 。。。more
Alejandro Rentería
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Very thick book， I struggled a bit in the middle chapters but I got through。 It provides a good view of what type of economic policies can help humanity to become a society with fewer divides， inequality and a better welfare system with more dignity without slowing growth down。 Nobody knows with certainty how growth works anyway。。。
Lien Nguyen
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Another book supports left wing politics。 Enormous amount of knowledge but quite disorganized in my opinion （except the chapters about Immigration and Free Trade， the rest is quite random。。）。 No new ideas about social programmes or policies on how to make the world more inclusive。
Rishikesh Ranjan
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If you are interested in economics， and you carry any curiosity for how public policy has been determining the fate of human mankind， then this book can be a must read for you。 The book starts with sensitive topics such as immigration。 It clearly lays out how the hype of anti-immigration sentiment is sourced from peoples own complexity， which has nothing to do with immigration。 It takes you through some intriguing nature of economics。 The sticky nature of peoples' behaviour has been shaping soci If you are interested in economics， and you carry any curiosity for how public policy has been determining the fate of human mankind， then this book can be a must read for you。 The book starts with sensitive topics such as immigration。 It clearly lays out how the hype of anti-immigration sentiment is sourced from peoples own complexity， which has nothing to do with immigration。 It takes you through some intriguing nature of economics。 The sticky nature of peoples' behaviour has been shaping society architecture since centuries。 The book raises the topic of misallocation。 How the high priority of public policy should be to fix misallocation of resources。 It also looks into the issue of climate。 Who are the people creating it and who are the people suffering it。 And how should be the future course of action。 For civilisations， humans have been carrying the concept of taxes for solving resource redistribution and meeting infrastructural requirements。 But is it all。 Doesn't it call for any further innovations。 What about the time when machines and artificial intelligence will take over。 Is the concept of universal basic income a solution or rather another problem。 How future human jobs should look like。 If you carry any curiosity about any of these topics， then this is a must read for you。。 。。。more
Ali Tbikh
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I found the book interesting because it contains insights about the mentality of poor people， therefore making me more empathetic to their situation
Santosh Shetty
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Fantastic read。 You don’t need to be an economist to read this。
Nic Bledsoe
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Wow。。。 Very Well WrittenTo start， I've read other books by Abhitjit and they're all very well written。 This book， though， stands out amongst prior work。 The depth of thought， the examples used， and the rational all are incredibly thought provoking。 My undergraduate degree is in economics and I've always thought about a UBI but this book really cleared up a lot on the subject for me。 I believe this was written to educate and facilitate thought。 To which it did a great job。 I just wish we could le Wow。。。 Very Well WrittenTo start， I've read other books by Abhitjit and they're all very well written。 This book， though， stands out amongst prior work。 The depth of thought， the examples used， and the rational all are incredibly thought provoking。 My undergraduate degree is in economics and I've always thought about a UBI but this book really cleared up a lot on the subject for me。 I believe this was written to educate and facilitate thought。 To which it did a great job。 I just wish we could leave out the political opinions at the end。 But， if you take anything away from this， know that we do need to approach every situation differently because you cannot treat Africa and India like America or Britain。 Very well done to the author's and I'm thankful books like this are published in Kindle format for my convenience。 。。。more
Raul Carbonell
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Gran libro de economía aplicada al mundo actual y comprensible por el ciudadano medio， no se requieren grandes conocimientos。Me gusta la manera en la que trata los temas expuestos， explicando la realidad actual， aportando evidencias científicas constantemente y proponiendo soluciones y alternativas apoyándose en esas evidencias。Se tratan temas de todo tipo: desigualdad， crecimiento， pobreza， sistemas de bienestar de países desarrollados， racismo， feminismo， fiscalidad， educación， etc。Por algo es Gran libro de economía aplicada al mundo actual y comprensible por el ciudadano medio， no se requieren grandes conocimientos。Me gusta la manera en la que trata los temas expuestos， explicando la realidad actual， aportando evidencias científicas constantemente y proponiendo soluciones y alternativas apoyándose en esas evidencias。Se tratan temas de todo tipo: desigualdad， crecimiento， pobreza， sistemas de bienestar de países desarrollados， racismo， feminismo， fiscalidad， educación， etc。Por algo este libro de estos recientes premios nobeles de economía tenía buena crítica。 A la altura de las expectativas。 。。。more
Solajma
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Dnf。 Annoyingly boring （is that a word？） 。 Why have they all read the same book about how to run the money of today's society。。。The solution is not only to '' tax the super rich'， ' to receive a much more' equal 'society。。。（（Says the one who lives in one of the most socialistic countries in the universe。。）） it's not the solution you are looking for。 Think outside the box， for once。。。。。 Dnf。 Annoyingly boring （is that a word？） 。 Why have they all read the same book about how to run the money of today's society。。。The solution is not only to '' tax the super rich'， ' to receive a much more' equal 'society。。。（（Says the one who lives in one of the most socialistic countries in the universe。。）） it's not the solution you are looking for。 Think outside the box， for once。。。。。 。。。more
ameya poyarekar
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Economic and it's impact to day-to-day life are explained in an simple and engaging way。 The author introduce you to various concept with help case study and real-life examples which creates an illusion of novel rather a book on economics。 Economic and it's impact to day-to-day life are explained in an simple and engaging way。 The author introduce you to various concept with help case study and real-life examples which creates an illusion of novel rather a book on economics。 。。。more
Isabel Lavenstein
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Optimistic consideration of the future of economic policy and the instrumental role it plays in progressing into a new era。 Enjoyed the in-dept studies and clear reliance on both big and small data。
Rahi
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A solid book that takes modern challenges such as immigration， trade wars， poverty and global warming and tackles all assumptions。 It tries to induce fresh thinking and provide data driven solutions。
Alessandro Orlandi
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Interesting。
Piotr Stapp
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It is a difficult book and I needed time to think about most of the chapters。 It is even not a real 5-star book， but mentioned problems are 5-star problems。 The only thing I don’t like is too much examples from USA and India， but authors mention this in first chapter
Ha Tran Nguyen Phuong
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I love the evidence-based approach to this book！
Shanmugam Ramasamy
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Wow again a wonderful book。 I love how Abhijeet tries to get the reality from the ground and not be influenced based on popular rhetoric and bias 。 Definitely widens your horizon on a lot of topics like universal income， trade wars etc 。
Aayushmaan Jain
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Excellent book on economics and policy for a bunch of serious problems （hard times）。 A non mathematical foray into the subject with case studies backing each assertion， all researched exceptionally well and written in a manner that a reader with not much background in economics （me） could keep up。 They know what they don't know， which is a welcome change in a nonfiction book。I learned so many new things。 Recommended by Sanskriti Sharma。 Excellent book on economics and policy for a bunch of serious problems （hard times）。 A non mathematical foray into the subject with case studies backing each assertion， all researched exceptionally well and written in a manner that a reader with not much background in economics （me） could keep up。 They know what they don't know， which is a welcome change in a nonfiction book。I learned so many new things。 Recommended by Sanskriti Sharma。 。。。more
Craig
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Really good; delves deeply into areas （such as migration， and displacement of labor by increased international trade） where standard economics misses key motivations of real people。 One of the better economics books I've ever read。 Really good; delves deeply into areas （such as migration， and displacement of labor by increased international trade） where standard economics misses key motivations of real people。 One of the better economics books I've ever read。 。。。more
Robert Høgh
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Dejlig bog med god gennemgang af forfatternes syn på forskellige områder inden for økonomien。 Den er rodet skrevet， og der var for meget fokus på empiri og for lidt på teori til min smag。 Men sundt for mig at læse en økonomibog igen， ligesom i gamle dage， og særligt af venstreorienterede økonomer
Shivaraj Challapalli
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Analysis of various welfare schemes and their effectiveness and various factors impacting the final outcome 。 Is UBI the answer ？ Are unconditional transfers better than conditional transfers？ Arguments for and against higher taxes in rich etc。 Overall an interesting book to make an informed decision on various socioeconomic issues of our times。
Janna
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3。5 stars。 Didn’t finish the whole book but did read the remaining chapter summaries online which gave me what I needed to know。
Kevin M。 Femenias
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I would say this book is a great holistic view of global （with a clear focus on the US and India） economics。 It takes different social and economical issues and explain what good economics could be put into place to solve or reduce their impact。 It is a good read and， for a non-fiction， it is easy and fast paced。
Husein Hamzah
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I'm not an economist， but I really concern about all topics that this book addressing。 From immigration， the rise of tribalism that fueled racism， the myth of growth？， the environmental consequences of economic growth， all and all， up to the question about tax and universal basic income。And with someome who have minimum background of economics， I found this book enjoyable to read。 It might be not as straightforward as I expect， but at the end I can understand that it is neccesary to answer one o I'm not an economist， but I really concern about all topics that this book addressing。 From immigration， the rise of tribalism that fueled racism， the myth of growth？， the environmental consequences of economic growth， all and all， up to the question about tax and universal basic income。And with someome who have minimum background of economics， I found this book enjoyable to read。 It might be not as straightforward as I expect， but at the end I can understand that it is neccesary to answer one of the topic， we need to see multiple point of perspective。 I might be misunderstood though。。 but overall I （hope） can see the point。Thank you Mr Abhijit and Mrs Esther， knowing there is someone who really think about these issue really comforting me somehow。Anyway， highly recommended！ 。。。more
Luke Spooner
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