Currency, Credit and Crisis:
Central Banking in Ireland and Europe
Reviewer: William A Allen, NIESR
Drawing on his experiences as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and in research and policy work at the World Bank, Patrick Honohan offers a detailed analytical narrative of the origins of the crisis and of policy makers' conduct during its most fraught moments.
Are Chief Executives Overpaid?
Reviewer: Dame Kate Barker, Chairman, British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme
In this hard-hitting book, Deborah Hargreaves explains why pay for the top 0.1% has sky-rocketed in the past 20 years.
The Art of Statistics:
Learning from Data
Reviewer: Bridget Rosewell, Volterra Partners
In The Art of Statistics, David Spiegelhalter guides the reader through the essential principles we need in order to derive knowledge from data.
Uncertain Futures
Imaginaries, Narratives, and Calculation in the Economy
Reviewer: William A Allen, Visitor, National Institute of Economic & Social Research
Uncertain Futures considers how economic actors visualize the future and decide how to act in conditions of radical uncertainty. It starts from the premise that dynamic capitalist economies are characterized by relentless innovation and novelty and hence exhibit an indeterminacy that cannot be reduced to measurable risk. The organizing question then becomes how economic actors form expectations and make decisions despite the uncertainty they face.
The Power of Capitalism
A journey through recent history across five continents
Reviewer: Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser, CEBR
“The market has failed, we need more government intervention." That’s the mantra politicians, the media, and intellectuals have been reiterating ever since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis. By taking the reader on a journey across continents and through recent history, Rainer Zitelmann disproves this call for greater government intervention, and demonstrates that capitalism matters more than ever.
Prosperity and Justice
A plan for the new economy - The Final Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice
Reviewer: Dame Kate Barker, Chairman of Trustees, British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme
The Final Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice The UK economy is broken. It no longer provides rising living standards for the majority. Young people face an increasingly insecure future. The gap between rich and poor areas is widening. Meanwhile the rise of giant digital companies, the advance of automation, and catastrophic environmental degradation challenge the very foundations of our economic model. This important book analyses these profound challenges and sets out a bold vision for change.
Will China Save the Planet?
Reviewer: Bridget Rosewell
Now that Trump has turned the United States into a global climate outcast, will China take the lead in saving our planet from environmental catastrophe? Many signs point to yes. China, the world's largest carbon emitter, is leading a global clean energy revolution, phasing out coal consumption and leading the development of a global system of green finance. But as leading China environmental expert Barbara Finamore explains, it is anything but easy.
Money and Government
A Challenge to Mainstream Economics
Reviewer: Kevin Gardiner
The dominant view in economics is that money and government should play only a minor role in economic life. Money, it is claimed, is nothing more than a medium of exchange; and economic outcomes are best left to the 'invisible hand' of the market. The view taken in this important new book is that the omnipresence of uncertainty make money and government essential features of any market economy.
Unelected Power
The quest for legitimacy in central banking and the regulatory state
Reviewer: Ian Bright
Central bankers have emerged from the financial crisis as the third great pillar of unelected power alongside the judiciary and the military. They pull the regulatory and financial levers of our economic well-being, yet unlike democratically elected leaders, their power does not come directly from the people. Unelected Power lays out the principles needed to ensure that central bankers, technocrats, regulators, and other agents of the administrative state remain stewards of the common good and do not become overmighty citizens.
The Great Economists
How their ideas can help us today
Reviewer: Christine Shields
Since the days of Adam Smith, economists have grappled with a series of familiar problems - but often their ideas are hard to digest, before we even try to apply them to today's issues. Linda Yueh is renowned for her combination of erudition, as an accomplished economist herself, and accessibility, as a leading writer and broadcaster in this field; and in The Great Economists she explains the key thoughts of history's greatest economists, how their lives and times affected their ideas, how our lives have been influenced by their work, and how they could help with the policy challenges that we face today