I have recently finished reading the spirt level and written a review, despite the reveiw I have further comments to make on the book.
Changing Ecomonic/Government objectives
Chasing ecomonic growth has been the primary objective for nations for along time, however, the other macro economic objectives have changed prioty over time.
During the reign of Margret Thatcher the UK focused on Inflation
The trade ballance was once prioitised but is now less favourable (US and UK having massive defficites)
The PSNCR was not seen as a problem to the Labour Government as much as it was to the new Con-dem government, whose recent budget was focused on reducing debt
GDP has always been the priority, with real growth being the holy grail of economics, however, I feel the wind of change!
New measures have been appearing recently, the happiness index, the HDI and recently I worked on my own measure (as part of a school project in which we dealt with the ideas of 'is GDP best?'), these are questioning GDP as the diffinitive way of bettering society.
With global warming the push is now away from consuming more and giving out more fumes, this is hard to do while increasing GDP (although we are trying) so many researchers are suggesting we could move way from it. Books such as the Spirt Level and other research suggests after a point GDP stops bettering us.
The Spirit Level offers us a new target to chase, Equality! No more: as long as everyone is getting a bit richer. The new Conservitive buzz word: fair tries to strike the right cord with idealist of the book although their polices are debatable..
Removing assumptions
In psychology we are taught never to assume, the spirt level breaks many assumptions. Such as highlighting that infact given a choice most of use chose to be fair freely and will punish others at our own loss to restore some justice. It also agrues: not just mangers are stressed, obesity is not caused by stupidity, society is getting more depressed (particularly youth) and many more!
It really is an interesting read, even if you don't take it's ideas to heart or go into it thinking you never will
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Review: The Sprit Level
The spirit level is a book that has summoned up a storm around it, both Ed Milliband and David Cameron are supposed supporters of the book and as it says on the cover: ‘A big idea, big enough to change political thinking’ – Sunday times . The book puts pressure for new economic policy and publicises the rising area of economics that is standard of living and inequality.
The book gets straight to the point, it believes that inequality is the most important problem facing society. It is easy to read, informative and despite the heavy topic matter and criticism it has a positive feel to it, quite witty. For an economist it is a dream, there is a graph on nearly every other page! This displays the information in the book quickly and really helps break up the book. There are cartoon sketch inserted quick frequently which add to the humour while reinforcing the arguments in the book.
I can not stress how easy it is to read, easy to dip in and out off, few areas of long spiralling text and if you feel like skimming over a section it does no effect the read of the book.
However the first 150+ pages of the book start to become a bit receptive, it goes through every social problem systematically and proves each on is linked to inequality, while fascinating at first you start thinking: ‘ok.. I get the point’ However it does well at presenting the arguments without being forceful and I found myself taking on board many of the points raised by the book. If part 2 (page 49 to 176) becomes a bit repetitive it is more than made up for by part 3.
The final section of the book is fascinating, it incorporates lots of economics but also delves into psychology, sociology and politics. While part 1 and 2 criticises the present system and identifies problems, the book is well rounded part 3 offers solutions and deals with counter arguments!
The final section of the book is fascinating, it incorporates lots of economics but also delves into psychology, sociology and politics. While part 1 and 2 criticises the present system and identifies problems, the book is well rounded part 3 offers solutions and deals with counter arguments!
The arguments used to reinforce the book deal with society and many of them serve as useful trivia (such as making us think twice about the idea cave men were violent and strongest was king and how different ape relatives have very different societies).
Read this book
That is my recommendation, its intriguing and pleasant to read. I’d say it was open to anyone, GCSE to degree and economics or any subject.
That is my recommendation, its intriguing and pleasant to read. I’d say it was open to anyone, GCSE to degree and economics or any subject.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Review: New Ideas from Dead Economists
I would not say I regret reading New Ideas from Dead Economists but I'd certainly hesitate before recommending it. The book written by American Economist Todd G. Buchholz gives a brief history of Economics working through the major economic thinkers and movements from Adam Smith to today's.The concept of the book is fantastic but I was left with a feeling that it fails to for fill its promises.
For starters the book could easily loose two thirds of its pages! For each economist it has a short biography which is very useful knowledge, its good to their background and influences but sometimes this was too long winded. If the biographies were too long winded then the explanations of theories are something else, I found my self often begging it to get to the point. Perhaps one of the problems is Buchholz attempts to use analogies to 'simplify' key concepts, while being a good idea, Buchholzis not very good at it. For a young British citizen making sense of out dated US orientated analogies just leads to confusion. On a free period I kept thinking I was getting to a good analogy and would dictate it to my friend, by the time I'd finished neither me or him would know quite what the point was...
I could go as far as saying the only thing I got out of the book was: how linked philosophy and economics are, that most theories in economics have a key creator and economists like to ague. However by picking these up from the book at least means it has had some positive effects on me, I certainly think that any good economics student should understand were key areas of the syllabus come from but I might as well save you the trouble and list them bellow (Conveniently these are also pretty much the chapters of the book):
Adam Smith – Invisiblehand
Malthus – Population and dangers of growth
David Ricardo –Free trade!
John Steward Mill –Worked on taxation in re-guard to utilitarianism....
Karl Marx – Marxism (communism)
Alfred Marshal – Further supply and demand, marginal utility and cost of production
Keynes – Work on exchange rates and Fiscal Policy ( and more)
Monetarism (Milton Friedman) – Money supply
Public Choice theory – Governmentsonly act on self interest and are untrustworthy governors of the economy.
Rational Expectations - “states that agents'predictions ofthe future value of economically relevant variables,is not systematically wrong in that all errors are random.”
Note how the last discription comes from wikipedia, I could go as far as to say that you could get just as much if not more than in this book off wikipedia by typing in those headings but that would be unfair.
I have been too harsh on this book, of course there will be better and clearer information on the internet it is a culmination of many peoples work, this book is written by one man. I think this is were the problem lies, Buchholz has tried to cover the entire history of economics and he just can't do it. In areas the book is witty, easy to understand and exciting were as in others it is difficult and jumbled, I believe this is because Buchholz has had to pad out his knowledge and in areas that perhaps he is not specialist in and who can blame him for not being as good at explaining it. Also the book was written some time ago and has been repeatedly revised perhaps its lost its flare as a result.
Despite my perhaps damning review, this book is a bestseller and quite highly rated online. Some quick research shows that economists are more likely to be critical of the book than none-economists perhaps this is a factor in my judgment, its not written for economists.
I wouldn't advise you not to read this book but I would not put it near the top of your reading list.
I would however advise everyone to take some time to look at each of the economists listed above, these people shaped economics and think how good it would look to quote them in an essay.
For starters the book could easily loose two thirds of its pages! For each economist it has a short biography which is very useful knowledge, its good to their background and influences but sometimes this was too long winded. If the biographies were too long winded then the explanations of theories are something else, I found my self often begging it to get to the point. Perhaps one of the problems is Buchholz attempts to use analogies to 'simplify' key concepts, while being a good idea, Buchholzis not very good at it. For a young British citizen making sense of out dated US orientated analogies just leads to confusion. On a free period I kept thinking I was getting to a good analogy and would dictate it to my friend, by the time I'd finished neither me or him would know quite what the point was...
I could go as far as saying the only thing I got out of the book was: how linked philosophy and economics are, that most theories in economics have a key creator and economists like to ague. However by picking these up from the book at least means it has had some positive effects on me, I certainly think that any good economics student should understand were key areas of the syllabus come from but I might as well save you the trouble and list them bellow (Conveniently these are also pretty much the chapters of the book):
Adam Smith – Invisiblehand
Malthus – Population and dangers of growth
David Ricardo –Free trade!
John Steward Mill –Worked on taxation in re-guard to utilitarianism....
Karl Marx – Marxism (communism)
Alfred Marshal – Further supply and demand, marginal utility and cost of production
Keynes – Work on exchange rates and Fiscal Policy ( and more)
Monetarism (Milton Friedman) – Money supply
Public Choice theory – Governmentsonly act on self interest and are untrustworthy governors of the economy.
Rational Expectations - “states that agents'predictions ofthe future value of economically relevant variables,is not systematically wrong in that all errors are random.”
Note how the last discription comes from wikipedia, I could go as far as to say that you could get just as much if not more than in this book off wikipedia by typing in those headings but that would be unfair.
I have been too harsh on this book, of course there will be better and clearer information on the internet it is a culmination of many peoples work, this book is written by one man. I think this is were the problem lies, Buchholz has tried to cover the entire history of economics and he just can't do it. In areas the book is witty, easy to understand and exciting were as in others it is difficult and jumbled, I believe this is because Buchholz has had to pad out his knowledge and in areas that perhaps he is not specialist in and who can blame him for not being as good at explaining it. Also the book was written some time ago and has been repeatedly revised perhaps its lost its flare as a result.
Despite my perhaps damning review, this book is a bestseller and quite highly rated online. Some quick research shows that economists are more likely to be critical of the book than none-economists perhaps this is a factor in my judgment, its not written for economists.
I wouldn't advise you not to read this book but I would not put it near the top of your reading list.
I would however advise everyone to take some time to look at each of the economists listed above, these people shaped economics and think how good it would look to quote them in an essay.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Review of Panic! 'by' Michael Lewis
Panic! (The History of Modern Financial Insanity) is like no book I have read. This is not surprising considering it is written by ex-bond sales man Michael Lewis, a man who used to work for Saloman brothers playing the market for millions until he quit to expose the insanity of the system. That is what this book is all about.
While Lewis has written many books before such as liar's poker (that i am yet to read) this book is a general overview of the history of financial market: "the story of modern financial insanity". How ever the book is not actually 'written' by Lewis, he chooses to tell the story through many peoples perspective. The book is simply a book of articles masterfully arranged with Lewis being the narrator. One article would tell of how everything is up, the next a prediction of down fall, the next a story of what the government is doing the next a renegade traders account.
The book is split into 4 parts.
Part 1: A brand new kind of crash - the market crash of 1987
Part 2: foreigners gone wild - the asian crisis and subsequent recessions.
Part 3: The New New Panic - the internet bubble
Part 4: the peoples panic - the resent US subprime collapse
At the start of the book at Part 1 the book may seem of little economic relevance but stick with it, the information gathered on the markets and how they work is very useful to know and it gets more directly economical later when the markets start to affect the economy as a whole.
Part 2 is my favourite part, detailing the rise and fall of the asian markets, and how when they were thrown into recession it rippled across the world. There is a fantastic article by Paul Krugman from Fortune magazine, september 7, 1998 called Saving Asia that goes in-depth into different macro economic policies.
Throughout the book it tells of how again and again people make the same mistakes and how the history of markets have shaped the economic world.
“In Octorber 1987, the markets took power from people who traded with their intuition and bestowed it upon the people who traded with their forumlas. In Austust 1998, the markets took power away from the people with forumlas who hoped to remain detached from the market place and bestowed it upon the large wall street firms that oversee the market place.” –How the Eggheads cracked, Michael Lewis, the new york times, 1999. (and we know now that in 2008 it took power away from the big firms with the fall of Lehman brothers)
In summary this is a fantastic book if you want to be filled in on resent economic and market history and equally useful if you want to understand markets. How ever due to the nature of the book some parts are very difficult to read, some of articles assume knowledge of the reader. Overall if you are the persistence to get through difficult articles, this book is well worth the read.
Advanced so A level although could be useful for business students as well as economics
While Lewis has written many books before such as liar's poker (that i am yet to read) this book is a general overview of the history of financial market: "the story of modern financial insanity". How ever the book is not actually 'written' by Lewis, he chooses to tell the story through many peoples perspective. The book is simply a book of articles masterfully arranged with Lewis being the narrator. One article would tell of how everything is up, the next a prediction of down fall, the next a story of what the government is doing the next a renegade traders account.
The book is split into 4 parts.
Part 1: A brand new kind of crash - the market crash of 1987
Part 2: foreigners gone wild - the asian crisis and subsequent recessions.
Part 3: The New New Panic - the internet bubble
Part 4: the peoples panic - the resent US subprime collapse
At the start of the book at Part 1 the book may seem of little economic relevance but stick with it, the information gathered on the markets and how they work is very useful to know and it gets more directly economical later when the markets start to affect the economy as a whole.
Part 2 is my favourite part, detailing the rise and fall of the asian markets, and how when they were thrown into recession it rippled across the world. There is a fantastic article by Paul Krugman from Fortune magazine, september 7, 1998 called Saving Asia that goes in-depth into different macro economic policies.
Throughout the book it tells of how again and again people make the same mistakes and how the history of markets have shaped the economic world.
“In Octorber 1987, the markets took power from people who traded with their intuition and bestowed it upon the people who traded with their forumlas. In Austust 1998, the markets took power away from the people with forumlas who hoped to remain detached from the market place and bestowed it upon the large wall street firms that oversee the market place.” –How the Eggheads cracked, Michael Lewis, the new york times, 1999. (and we know now that in 2008 it took power away from the big firms with the fall of Lehman brothers)
In summary this is a fantastic book if you want to be filled in on resent economic and market history and equally useful if you want to understand markets. How ever due to the nature of the book some parts are very difficult to read, some of articles assume knowledge of the reader. Overall if you are the persistence to get through difficult articles, this book is well worth the read.
Advanced so A level although could be useful for business students as well as economics
Review of Tescopoly by Andrew Simms
At first look the book Tescopoly may seem like a book of slander against tesco but having read it, it is much more. The book details the rise of the supermarket industry in particular tesco but it goes further than that. It analyses how the rise in the supermarket industry and the retail giants has destroyed the local economies across the country, how they also are destroying society as a result.
Simms often refers to local economies as ecosystems, saying that when their are lots of small shops there is lots of diversity and thus ideas flourish. With many shops comes competition but also other advantages to the consumer such as human connection and "social glue". He states supermarkets as invasive that destroy the economy and wipe out the local diversity.
He details the anti-competivie practises of tesco and other supermarkets arguing that actually they use their monopoly status and 'tricks' to get to the top and ruin the consumer. Talking about how by 'freeing' the markets of restriction you actually destroy the 'free market'. While the book is persuasive and heavily rooted in Simms opinions, he uses a wide range of data and arguments to back up his points. Simms brings in quotes and theories from various economist, placing economists like Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith on his side. He uses lots of facts and data from various sources to prove his point, even when quoting politicians he ensures he quotes a Labour MP then next page a Conservative and before long a Lib Dem and so on.
By the end of the book i found my self totally won over by Simms, having a strange urge to run into Tesco shouting "what have you done to those farmers (african and british) and josephine the now ex shopkeeper!!!"
I certainly recommend this book, it is easy to read for economists and none economists, its interesting can be easily dipped in and out of but also ties together like a story. It contains lots of Macro Economics that will serve well in exams.
I'd say GCSE + A Level Friendly
Simms often refers to local economies as ecosystems, saying that when their are lots of small shops there is lots of diversity and thus ideas flourish. With many shops comes competition but also other advantages to the consumer such as human connection and "social glue". He states supermarkets as invasive that destroy the economy and wipe out the local diversity.
He details the anti-competivie practises of tesco and other supermarkets arguing that actually they use their monopoly status and 'tricks' to get to the top and ruin the consumer. Talking about how by 'freeing' the markets of restriction you actually destroy the 'free market'. While the book is persuasive and heavily rooted in Simms opinions, he uses a wide range of data and arguments to back up his points. Simms brings in quotes and theories from various economist, placing economists like Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith on his side. He uses lots of facts and data from various sources to prove his point, even when quoting politicians he ensures he quotes a Labour MP then next page a Conservative and before long a Lib Dem and so on.
By the end of the book i found my self totally won over by Simms, having a strange urge to run into Tesco shouting "what have you done to those farmers (african and british) and josephine the now ex shopkeeper!!!"
I certainly recommend this book, it is easy to read for economists and none economists, its interesting can be easily dipped in and out of but also ties together like a story. It contains lots of Macro Economics that will serve well in exams.
I'd say GCSE + A Level Friendly
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