Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems

(Paperback)

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The Nobel Prize-winning economists show how, when done right, economics can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our 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. They cover the most essential issues, including why migration doesn't follow the law of supply and demand, why trade liberalization can drive unemployment up and wages down and why nobody can really explain why and when growth happens. They seek to reclaim this essential terrain, and offer readers an economist's view of the most pressing political issues, one that is candid about the obstacles we face but optimistic that we can find better ways to overcome them.

Reviews

Excellent, important, disarmingly down to earth . . . they seek to shed much-needed light upon the distortions that bad economics bring to public debates while methodically deconstructing their false assumptions. * Observer *
Not all economists wear ties and think like bankers. In their wonderfully refreshing book, Banerjee and Duflo delve into impressive areas of new research questioning conventional views about issues ranging from trade to top income taxation and mobility, and offer their own powerful vision of how we can grapple with them. A must-read. -- Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Compelling, useful, relevant ... Banerjee and Duflo use extensive data to zoom out and show us a wider view of these human dynamics -- Bill Gates
Excellent ... Few have grappled as energetically with the complexity of real life as Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, or got their boots as dirty in the process ... Readers will be captivated * The Economist *
A canard-slaying, unconventional take on economics ... invigorating ... a treasure trove of facts and findings about the biggest economic issues of the day * The Times *
A magnificent achievement, and the perfect book for our time. Banerjee and Duflo brilliantly illuminate the largest issues of the day, including immigration, trade, climate change, and inequality. -- Cass R. Sunstein, author of How Change Happens
Banerjee and Duflo are masters of this terrain . . . Their book is as stimulating as it gets

Author Bio

Abhijit V. Banerjee (Author) Abhijit Banerjee is the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT and the author of Poor Economics. He has been named as one of Foreign Policy magazine's top 100 global thinkers and has served on the U.N. Secretary-General's panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Esther Duflo (Author) Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT and the author of Poor Economics. Duflo is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and has received numerous academic honors and prizes including the Infosys Prize, the Dan David Prize, a John Bates Clark Medal, and a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship.