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  • About us
    • Who we are
    • Society activities
      • Annual Conference
      • Annual Dinner
      • Rybczynski Prize
        • Rybczynski Prize Terms & Conditions
        • Winning essays (Reading~Room)
        • Recent winners
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  • What's on
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Reading Room
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Book reviews

Our Money

Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters

Reviewer: Geoff Crocker, Author, Rethinking Income and Money

How the creation of money and monetary policy can be more dramatic.

Rich World, Poor World

The Struggle to Escape Poverty

Reviewer: Leath Al Obaidi

A landmark history of the world economic order, exploring how developing countries have fought to escape impoverishment.

Environomics

How the Global Economy is Going Green

Reviewer: Neil Reeder

In this vibrant and eye-opening book, economist and broadcaster Dharshini David follows the course of an average day – from the moment we flick on the light in the morning – to reveal the green changes that are already taking place in every aspect of our world.

King Dollar

The Past and Future of the World’s Dominant Currency

Reviewer: Ian Harwood

An award-winning economic journalist on why the US dollar is positioned to maintain global primacy-and what that means for America and the World.

The Paradox of Debt

A New Path to Prosperity Without Crisis

Reviewer: Ollie Clark

In the Paradox of Debt, Richard Vague shows that the real factor that drives both financial crises and spiralling inequality - but also, paradoxically, economic growth - is ever-rising private debt.

Euroshock

How the Largest Debt Restructuring in History Helped Save Greece and Preserve the Eurozone

Reviewer: Max Magnacca

The inside story of the unprecedented restructuring of Greece's debt in 2012-the largest restructuring in history.

No One Left

Why the World Needs More Children

Reviewer: Vicky Pryce

A population calamity is unfolding before our eyes. It started in parts of the developed world and is spreading to the four corners of the globe. There are just too few babies being born for humanity to replace itself.

The Corporation in the 21st Century

Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business is Wrong

Reviewer: Bridget Rosewell

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroeder's Business book of 2024

The Art of Uncertainty

How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck

Reviewer: Ian Bright

From the Uk's 'statistical national treasure', a clever and data-driven guide to how we can live with the risk of uncertainty.

The Data Economy

Tools and Applications

Reviewer: Lavan Mahadeva

Tools from macroeconomics and finance to incorporate the central role that data plays in the economy

Kaput

The End of the German Miracle

Reviewer: Kevin Gardiner, Rothschild & Co/Cardiff Capital Region

Until recently, Germany appears to be a paragon of economic and political success. In 'Kaput', Wolfgang Munchau argues that the weaknesses of Germany's economy have, in fact, been brewing for decades.

Material World

A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future

Reviewer: Arno Hantzsche

Sand, Salt, Iron, Copper, Oil and Lithium. The built our world, and they will transform our future. The Sunday Times Bestseller and Radio 4 Book of the Week.

The Laissez‑Faire Experiment

Why Britain embraced and then abandoned small government, 1800‑1914

Reviewer: William A. Allen, National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Why Britain's attempt at small government proved unable to cope with the challenges of the modern world

What went wrong with Capitalism

Reviewer: Filippo Gaddo

A radical examination by a leading financial analyst, commentator and Investor of the ills of capitalism and how they can be fixed

The Measure of Progress

Counting What Really Matters

Reviewer: Kate Barker, Universities Superannuation Scheme

Diane Coyle argues that the framework underpinning today's economic statistics is so outdated that it functions as a distorting lens, or even a set of blinkers. Only with a new approach to measurement will we be able to achieve the right kind of growth for the benefit of all.

The Bailout State

Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People

Reviewer: Christine Shields

Martijn Konings exposes the inner workings of this sprawling infrastructure of government guarantees.

How to Think Like an Economist

Great Economists Who Shaped the World and What They Can Teach Us

Reviewer: Ian Bright

In explaining how economic thinking is indispensable to tackling these huge problems, this book is a sure-footed guide, spanning Aristotle's ideas about restraining consumption, Adam Smith's thinking about the importance of moral character for sustained economic development, and Esther Duflo's ongoing work to help the world's poorest communities lift themselves out of poverty.

Industrial Policy for the United States

Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High‑Value Industries

Reviewer: Kate Barker, Universities Superannuation Scheme

Orthodox economics notwithstanding, free trade is bad for America, some industries are better than others and government plays an indispensable role in commercialising and developing new technologies

Inside Thatcher's Monetarism Experiment

The Promise, the failure, the legacy

Reviewer: Ian Harwood

Offering fascination insights into one of the most unsuccessful episodes of British economic history, he also examines the legacy of monetarism for the economy today.

Goodbye Globalisation

The Return of a Divided World

Reviewer: Vicky Pryce

In this groundbreaking account, Elisabeth Braw explores the collapse of globalisation and the profound challenges it will bring to the West.

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Articles reflect the authors’ views which are not necessarily shared by the Society or the Editor. The Editor welcomes comments, ideas and articles on a wide range of applied economics topics and related issues of more general interest.

For Books and Reviews contact:
Ian Harwood
Book Reviews Editor, The Society of Professional Economists
harwoodfive@btinternet.com

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