Virtual Competition
The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm‑Driven Economy
Reviewer: Leath Al Obaidi
Shoppers with Internet access and a bargain-hunting impulse can find a universe of products at their fingertips. In this thought-provoking expose, Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke invite us to take a harder look at today's app-assisted paradise of digital shopping.
British imperialism and the making of colonial currency systems
Reviewer: William A Allen, NIESR
Covering the colonial Empire (including West Indies, India, Singapore, West Africa and East Africa), this book is a detailed revisionist history of the British imperial manipulations of colonial currency systems to facilitate the rise of sterling to world supremacy via the gold standard, and to slow its eventual decline after World War I. This book provides a new perspective on theories of imperialism, colonial money and colonial underdevelopment, with possible geostrategic historical lessons for the US dollar and emerging global currencies such as Chinese renminbi and the Euro.
The Money Formula
Dodgy Finance, Pseudo Science, and How Mathematicians Took Over the Markets
Reviewer: Bridget Rosewell, Volterra Partners
Basic Income
And how we can make it happen
Reviewer: Simon Briscoe
Basic Income
A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy
Reviewer: Simon Briscoe
Adaptive Markets
Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought
Reviewer: Bridge Rosewell, Volterra Partners Ltd
The Financial Diaries
How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty
Reviewer: Sunil Krishnan, Santander Asset Management
Happiness For All?
Unequal Hopes and Lives In Pursuit of the American Dream
Reviewer: Sunil Krishnan, Santander Asset Management
Stuff and money in the time of the French Revolution
Reviewer: William A Allen
Rebecca L Spang, who revolutionized our understanding of the restaurant, has written a new history of money. It is also a new history of the French Revolution, with economics at its heart. In her telling, radicalization was driven by an ever-widening gap between political ideals—including “freedom of money”—and the harsh realities of daily life.
Grave New World
The End of Globalization, the Return of History
Reviewer: Andrew Sentance, Senior Economic Adviser, PwC
Globalization, long considered the best route to economic prosperity, is not inevitable. An approach built on the principles of free trade and, since the 1980s, open capital markets, is beginning to fracture. With disappointing growth rates across the Western world, nations are no longer willing to sacrifice national interests for global growth; nor are their leaders able—or willing—to sell the idea of pursuing a global agenda of prosperity to their citizens. Combining historical analysis with current affairs, economist Stephen D. King provides a provocative and engaging account of why globalization is being rejected, what a world ruled by rival states with conflicting aims might look like, and how the pursuit of nationalist agendas could result in a race to the bottom. King argues that a rejection of globalization and a return to “autarky” will risk economic and political conflict, and he uses lessons from history to gauge how best to avoid the worst possible outcomes.
