The most readable Guidebooks to Economics

I have, I readily admit, a certain fixation about the style of social science books – particularly economic ones. I have at least 5 reasons for deep concern –

- the lack of taste shown by publishers - who insist on imposing narrow and badly-written texts on us

- the way continuing academic compartmentalisation into tinier and tinier sub-fields makes it more and more difficult for those who work across disciplinary fields to get a serious hearing

- the obfuscating nature of the prose - which results as they disappear up one another’s arses;

- the dominance and unjustifiable arrogance of the economists; and

- the managerialist grab of the past few decades

I try, occasionally, to explore why specialists write such inferior books compared to those who have resisted groupthink and who approach an issue more creatively…..from a multidisciplinary point of view. I find myself using the metaphor of a bridge, border or network.

But perhaps “outsider” is a better term since it better conveys the sense of not belonging to the group – of being on the periphery…..Indeed the word “periphery” also gives a useful sense of the importance of messages and pressures from diverse sources in helping avoid the dreaded disease of “groupthink”…  “Think “peripheral vision” and “tunnel vision”, focus – which is why my blog currently bears the title it does….

Like the good social scientist I am, I already have a hypothesis – namely that the feeling of being an outsider is a catalyst to identify and challenge “groupthink” and that writing is an effective way of exploring the multiple perspectives which subsequently open up…..

Clearly one can be a great writer without being (or feeling) an outsider - although I suspect that people who lack empathy won’t be great writers. But the weak point in my argument is the connection between creativity and writing. There’s no obvious reason why those with creative insights should be able to express them clearly in writing,,,,……Or is there?    

But I have probably been insufficiently sensitive to the system in which social scientists are trapped…

Academics are now under pressure to publish - with their Departments rewarded financially for those who have high ratings from what’s called “peer-reviews”. Those who accept the “conventional wisdom” in their fields and write in jargon will generally score well in these ratings.

But go off piste and/or write in plain language the (wo)man in the street can understand and you’re in trouble.

One of the concluding chapters of The Econocracy – the perils of leaving economics to the experts by Earle, Moran and Ward-Perkins (2017) explains this very well. And argues, correctly in my view, that the way we allow economists to continue to bamboozle us into believing that the subject is a difficult one is nothing short of criminal!

It was early 2018 when I did the first list for my readers of clearly-written explanatory economics books which I could recommend….   So it’s about time it was updated

All the books until the list reaches 2017 are downloadable in full 

Table 1; Best written books about Economics for the general reader (chronological order)

Title, author and date	Comment
Almost Everyone’s Guide to Economics; JK Galbraith and N Salinger (1978)	One of the world’s best non-fiction writers and economists is quizzed by a Frenchwoman. Superb
Short Circuit – strengthening local economies in an unstable world” - Ronald Douthwaite (1996)	Very practical insight into local economic development by an Irishman – but also inspirational….24 years on, it hasn’t really been bettered.
Debunking Economics – the naked emperor dethroned; Steve Keen (2001 and 2011)	Written before the crash, it might be called the first alternative textbook (except it’s much greater fun to read!). By an Australian
Economics for Everyone  – a short guide to the economics of capitalism”; Jim Stanford (2008)	a very user-friendly book commissioned by Canadian trade unions with excellent graphics and “further reading” list ….for full version see table 2 …..
Zombie Economics - how dead ideas still walk among us; by John Quiggin (2010)	is a great read – with a self-explanatory title. He is also an Australian
23 Things they didn’t tell you about capitalism; Ha Joon-Chang (2010)	superbly-written demolition job on the myths perpetrated on us by economists. By a Cambridge economist educated in South Korea
"The End of Progress - how modern economics has failed us"; Graham Maxton (2011)	a highly readable book by an ex-Director-General of the Club of Rome
Austerity – the history of a dangerous ides; Mark Blyth (2013)	written by a Scottish political scientist/political economist (now working at Brown Uni in US) , it shows how old theories still affect the contemporary world profoundly
Economics of the 1% - how mainstream economics serves the rich, obscures reality and distorts policy; John F Weeks (2014	One of the best introductions to the subject - which can't be faulted for being over-diplomatic!  By a US economist who worked in London from the 2000s
Credo – economic beliefs in a world of crisis; Brian Davey (2015)	An alternative approach to economics which situates it in its cultural and historical context. It may be long (at 500 pages) but is definitely worth persevering with....
Economics Rules – the rights and wrongs of the dismal science; Dani Rodrik (2016)	Rodrik is from Turkey and is one of the few economists prepared to challenge the mainstream. This is a balanced rather than critical analysis
The Econocracy – the perils of leaving economics to the experts; Earle, Moran and Ward-Perkins (2017)	This is a highly readable little book from those who took part in the protests about the irrelevance of economic teaching and set out the deficiencies they experienced. This is one of the few which is not freely downloadable
Vampire Capitalism – fractured societies and alternative futures; Paul Kennedy (2017)	A sociologist’s treatment which earns high points by stating in the very first sentence that it has “stood on the shoulders of so many giants that he is dizzy” and then proves the point by having an extensive bibliography with lots of hyperlinks…
Doughnut economics – 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist; Kate Raworth (2017).	This Oxford economist’s book is advertised as a new perspective on the subject. One of the few not downloadable
Economics for the common good; Jean Tirole (2017) A French Nobel-prize winning economist	A useful review here
Economics in Two Lessons; John Quiggin (2019) Google excerpts only	Quiggin wrote this book on his website, seeking feedback as he went . You may therefore be able to see a fair amount of the content here
“What’s wrong with economics – a primer for the perplexed”; Robert Skidelsky (2020)	Skidelsky is a stylish writer – historian and biographer of Keynes – I’ve long admired. I’ve not had a chance to read the book yet – although Diana Coyle’s not impressed

Further reading

The Delusions of Economics - the Misguided Certainties of a Hazardous Science Gilbert Rist (2010)

429,500 academics are employed in British universities

What are Universities for? Useful briefing paper from 2008

Links I liked

It’s been more than 2 months since the last weekly “Links I liked” round-up of interesting hyperlinks – for which my apologies. There’s no excuse – they’re easy to do and I suspect the short notes are a welcome relief for many of you from the usual long post on a post of a recondite theme……

I had been saving The Post-Pandemic Mind for a special Covid roundup but got distracted. The article makes the point that the debate already underway about the long-term effects of the health-and-economic crisis -

can be grouped as right-leaning, anywhere-leaning, and left-leaning. To wit:

- a conservative and nationalist interpretation - which challenges globalisation and reinserts state sovereign rights

- an industrial interpretation, relating to the way digital culture has boomed during the pandemic

- and a social-democratic interpretation which could give the state and/or mutuality a more significant role

In the early days of the pandemic, certainly, it seemed that most so-called forecasts of the lasting impact were little more than wishful thinking sustaining the prevailing world-view of the commentators. We need a rather more hard-headed approach  

Michael Roberts is my favourite economic blogger. Not only are his expositions so clear verbally but his visuals are a real object lesson. And the speed with which he can put material together is quite frightening – the Japanese PM had no sooner indicated that illness was forcing him to resign than this post about Abenomics appeared in my mail.  

Visual Capitalist had a useful visual on the 700 year decline of interest rates

Bill Nighy and Annette Bening are two of my favourite actors whom I had never dared hope to see together and I am therefore very much looking forward to viewing the Hope Gap film in which they star.

Martin Hagglund seems to be an up-and-coming philosopher by origin Swedish whose This Life – why mortality makes us free (2019) seems to be making waves. The extensive google excerpt certainly indicates it’s elegantly written - although it seems so far to be making the fairly obvious point that our limited time on earth should make us value more our projects and relationships – compared with the eternal boredom that awaits the believer……I’m not a fan of the Dawkins/Hitchens anti-God screeds – although 3 new Chris Hitchens books await me (on Orwell; Letters to a Contrarian Friend; and "And Yet", his final volume of collected essays )

Having vicerated a Quillette article recently, I’m hoping that Post post-modernism on the left will be less offensive

The increasingly impressive Boston Review reviews a clutch of books on White Liberalism – which reminds me that I need to get back into Eric Kaufman’s “Whiteshift – populism, immigration and the future of white majorities”. Also an excerpt from one of the chapters

Finally, I liked this story of an American teenager who has been revealed as the author of more than half of the Wikipedia entries on the Scots language.

If you don’t know what that is – here’s a nice presentation of the Scots language

Some advice for social activists

Street protests have been taking place in Sofia for the past two months - directed  against the country's systemic corruption and, specifically, against Prime Minister Borisov (who used to be the bodyguard of first the ex-dictator Zhivkov and then PM King Simeon II) and the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev whose recent raid on the offices of popular President Radev has raised big questions. 
Unlike previous street protests in Sofia, this one has attracted wider support – and also unlike earlier protests, inspired by the apparent success of Romania’s Anti-Corruption Agency, this one is targeting the Chief Prosecutor.

I hope to be writing an article shortly about such protests in both Bulgaria and Romania and want therefore simply to update my thoughts on such street movements.

Both Extinction Rebellion and Covid 19 suggest that there can be no return to normality – and the Sofia protestors might be well advised to widen the scope of their agenda. After all, smaller countries generally seem better able to “do” change viz Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Singapore, Estomia, Slovenia – particularly when they  have women at their helm!

I have a theory of change which emphasises the individual, moral responsibility as well as the dynamic of the crowd

“Most of the time our systems seem impervious to change – but always (and suddenly) an opportunity arises. Those who care about the future of their society, prepare for these “windows of opportunity”.

And the preparation is about analysis, mobilisation and integrity.

·         It is about us caring enough about our organisation and society to speak out about the need for change.

·         It is about taking the trouble to think and read about ways to improve things – and

·         To help create and run networks of such change

·         which mobilise social forces

·         And it is about establishing a personal reputation for probity and good judgement 

·         that people will follow your lead when that window of opportunity arises”.

I appreciate that this may come across as rather elitist, if not patronising, but the process it describes comes from both experience and a careful review of the key books of the past 70 years…..

I am therefore taking this opportunity to update a previous list I did all of two years ago. The selection is a very personal one and ranges from the passionate to the technical – with a smattering of books that are more descriptive…..

Temperamentally I go (at least these days) for the more analytical (and generic) works and the development literature is therefore probably a bit overrepresented (and the feminist underrepresented).

Readers should also be aware that I was a strong community activist in my early days….

A lot of the titles can be read in full. Strange that none of the books is written by a political scientist (with the possible exception of Gene Sharp). Machiavelli would be turning in his grave

Key Books for “social change” activists

Title	Focus – and readership	Comment
"HYPERLINK "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europes-Burden-Promoting-Governance-Borders/dp/1108459668/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=good+governance,+alina-mungiu-pippidi&qid=1597848018&s=books&sr=1-2"EuropeHYPERLINK "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europes-Burden-Promoting-Governance-Borders/dp/1108459668/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=good+governance,+alina-mungiu-pippidi&qid=1597848018&s=books&sr=1-2"'HYPERLINK "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europes-Burden-Promoting-Governance-Borders/dp/1108459668/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=good+governance,+alina-mungiu-pippidi&qid=1597848018&s=books&sr=1-2"s Burden - promoting good governance across. bordersHYPERLINK "https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europes-Burden-Promoting-Governance-Borders/dp/1108459668/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=good+governance,+alina-mungiu-pippidi&qid=1597848018&s=books&sr=1-2"" Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (2019)	Academic, change agents	Looks to be a very thoughtful analysis of the lessons to be drawn from 2 decades of anti-corruption efforts in Europe
How to Resist; turn protest into power; Matt Bolton (2017)	Trade unionists, activists	An overdue update, for British market, of Saul Alinsky’s “Reveille for Radicals” (see last entry)
Can we know better? Reflections for Development; Robert Chambers (2017)	Experienced development activists	A rare book of wisdom from the 88-year-old guru of development studies
How Change Happens Duncan Green (2016)	Community groups and officials	Great overview – if from only a development experience perspective
A Guide to Change and Change Management for Rule of Law Practitioners (2015)	For change agents in “Transition countries”	Very rare attempt to bring the insights of change management to those trying to build “rule of law” in transition and developing countries
The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement; David Graeber (2014)	Activists, historians	One of the founders of Occupy Wall St who happens to be an anarchist and anthropologist recounts the fascinating story of the movement
Occupy Theory; Michael Albert (2012)	Activists	the first volume of a 3 vol series written to mark the Occupy movement, the others being Occupy Vision and Occupy Strategy
People, Politics and Change - building communications strategy for governance reform (World Bank 2011)	Change agents in government	One of the best – straddling the various worlds of action, academia and officialdom – with the focus on fashioning an appropriate message and constituency for change
Finding Frames – new ways to engage the UK public in global poverty (2011)	Charities	A great example of frame analysis – showing the importance of trying to identify the link between social values and politics
Indignez-vous; Stephane Hessel (2010)	Social justice campaigners	Inspiring pamphlet from the Frenchman whose whole life has been an inspiration to us all
Common Case – the case for working with our cultural values (2010)	Activists for global concerns	One of the most important 100 pages any social activist could read….it’s simply tragic that 8 years later, it would now be seen as revolutionary
Governance Reform under Real-World Conditions – citizens, stakeholders and Voice (World Bank 2008)	Change agents in government	A decade on, it’s still offers one of the clearest frameworks for making government systems work for people
Wicked Problems and clumsy solutions – the role of leadership; Keith Grint (2008)	Leaders	A must-read analysis which introduced many people to frame analysis - helps us adopt a more holistic approach
Live Working, Die Fighting – how the working class went global; Paul Mason (2007)	trade unionists	A story that needed telling in a media and political world which is now so hostile to working people organising to improve their lot
Blessed Unrest – how the largest movement in the world came into being and why no one saw it coming; Paul Hawken (2007)	Extinction activists	reviewed here.   This is the field which has probably seen the most action – but the least results!
Challenging Authority – how ordinary people change America; Frances Piven (2006)	Academic	Click the title and you get the full book
Change the World; Robert Quinn (2000)	Eclectic	A tragically neglected book
From Dictatorship to Democracy – a conceptual framework for liberation; Gene Sharp (1993)	Regime change	The handbook for a lot of soi-disant revolutionaries….its provenance is a bit suspect….
Putting the Last First; Robert Chambers (1983)	Donors	A morally powerful book which challenged (to little avail) the “imperialist” assumptions of most technical assistance programmes
Rules for Radicals; Saul Alinsky (1971)	Community activists	THE handbook for generations of activists… the follow-up apparently to Reveille for Radicals which he published in 1946!

A website simply called Corporations did give a useful post on How to Overthrow Corporate Rule – in 5 Steps which reminded me of a very useful four pages of tactical advice given in a 1990s book on the New Zealand experience with neo-liberal programmes 

For more individual efforts we have the inspiring example of 93 year-old Stephane Hessel who gave us Indignez-Vous and died (in 2013) still articulating his vision of a better world. Or the Dutch activist Joost van Steenis. Both give clear analysis and clarion calls (I particularly liked van Steenis' 21 statements) – but are light on bookish references or recognition of other relevant movements.

But I hadn’t heard of Grace Lee Boggs who died while still campaigning in America just 3 months short of her 100th birthday. A journal devoted to art and politics called Guernica has a fascinating interview with this Chinese-American philosopher who refused to stand still for nearly a century, mobilizing alongside various freedom struggles from civil rights to climate change campaigns. The opening chapter of her book – The next American Revolution; sustainable activism for the 21st Century (2011) - has echoes, for me, of Robert Quinn’s hugely underrated Change the World

Most of us operate with an “instrumental” or “agency” view of social change. We assume that “a” causes “z” and that socio-economic ills can therefore be dealt with by specific measures. But a couple of decades ago, an approach – variously called “chaos” or “complexity” theory – started to undermine such assumptions. Writers such as Margaret Wheatley and Quinn have shown the implications for management practice - but few activists seem to have understood the implications.

Lee Boggs puts it as follows

I think it’s really important that we get rid of the idea that protest will create change. The idea of protest organizing, as summarized by [community organizer] Saul Alinsky, is that if we put enough pressure on the government, it will do things to help people. We don’t realize that that kind of organizing worked only when the government was very strong, when the West ruled the world, relatively speaking.

But with globalization and the weakening of the nation-state, that kind of organizing doesn’t work. We need to do what I call visionary organizing. Recognize that in every crisis, people do not respond like a school of fish. Some people become immobilized. Some people become very angry, some commit suicide, and other people begin to find solutions. And visionary organizers look at those people, recognize them and encourage them, and they become leaders of the future.

Taking no prisoners - what passes for American discourse

We are indeed a pathetic species - congregating apparently in "bubbles" and "echo chambers" of like-minded groups. I have a "bolshie" side to me - expressed in rather juvenile gestures like refusing in the 1950s to stand for the national anthem played then in cinemas (!) - or to wear what became in the late 80s the obligatory poppy around the Armistice celebrations....
My contrarian gesture these days is to expose myself to a few journals which express a very different world-view from that of my normal reading. I realise that my recent list of preferred journals runs the risk of my being "pigeon-holed" - although I would readily agree with any accusations of being "humanist" or "sceptical". Such epithets, hopefully, indicate an openness of mind - a willingness to take seriously an alternative view
The careful reader will notice a few surprises amongst the typical favourites of a Guardian reader viz "Spiked", "The Critic" and "Quillette" - the first and last being libertarian and the middle a new journal which expresses a certain spirit of old-fashioned English nationalism.......I read these to test my own views - not for nothing do I like the phrase mugwump

And it was while reading the latest version of Quillette that I encountered "The Challenge of Marxism" which I want to explore as an example of the "take no prisoners" style which seems to have become modern American discourse

A mere 30 years later, Marxism is back, and making an astonishingly successful bid to seize control of the most important American media companies, universities and schools, major corporations and philanthropic organizations, and even the courts, the government bureaucracy, and some churches.

As American cities succumb to rioting, arson, and looting, it appears as though the liberal custodians of many of these institutions—from the New York Times to Princeton University—have despaired of regaining control of them, and are instead adopting a policy of accommodation. That is, they are attempting to appease their Marxist employees by giving in to some of their demands in the hope of not being swept away entirely.
Meanwhile, others will continue to work in the mainstream media, universities, tech companies, philanthropies, and government bureaucracy, learning to keep their liberalism to themselves and to let their colleagues believe that they too are Marxists—just as many conservatives learned long ago how to keep their conservatism to themselves and let their colleagues believe they are liberals. This is the new reality that is emerging.

There is blood in the water and the new Marxists will not rest content with their recent victories. In America, they will press their advantage and try to seize the Democratic Party. They will seek to reduce the Republican Party to a weak imitation of their own new ideology, or to ban it outright as a racist organization. And in other democratic countries, they will attempt to imitate their successes in America. No free nation will be spared this trial. So let us not avert our eyes and tell ourselves that this curse isn’t coming for us. Because it is coming for us.

The article is written by one Yoram Hazony who is apparently Director of the Herzl Institute of Jerusalem - and goes on to make the point that Marx's basic insight was the recognition that the world was divided between those with wealth and power and those without; and that there would be conflict between the two.
He then, astonishingly, concedes that Marx was correct in this insight - as well as in his further argument that liberalism is a rationalisation of the privileged life led by the upper class.....
But the article insists relentlessly on lumping under the label of "Marxists" all who object to the damage done to public life by the worship of greed - and who refuse to accept that the market can do no wrong.

I, for example, have never called myself a Marxist - although I certainly recognise (as do all serious  social scientists) that he was one of the 19th century's greatest thinkers. I have seen myself variously as a Social Democrat or, occasionally, as an ecologist

If these is any sense to this article, it seems to be a manichean call to arms to all those who consider themselves privileged - for them to understand that any thought of coalition with other forces is nothing short of treachery.

A paean of praise (almost 2000 comments - mostly positive) has greeted the article in the week since it's publication) I thought it needed at least one note of dissent and made the following comment .

I am staggered that Quillette considers such a Manichean view of the world is worthy of inclusion in the journal. It is also “all over the place” starting with a purported summary of 2 arguments of the German gentleman which are then quickly conceded - followed by a further concession that liberals have never dealt satisfactorily with the argument that liberalism is a rationalisation of privilege

I am a British social democrat who has never called myself a Marxist - but this author dares to call me - and the millions of others who take issue with the greed ideology - a Marxist.This tactic is one of the most divisive I have come across.- with the bottom line that you are either for privilege or against us. No coalitions or prisoners!!

What a dreadful creed!

Fiddling while Rome is Burning

Bear with me while I try to get to the heart of my unease with the quality of the non-fiction writing with which we are flooded every day - week in and week out.
I've previously suggested that a common fault of the books which should be helping us understand the nature of the problems which confront us - be it globalisation, corruption, unemployment, migration, populism or identity - is partiality, bad-writing or over-specialisation.

The discipline of Economics has rightly taken a drubbing since 2008 - with the world waking up at last to the inanity of the assumptions it brings to to the task of anticipating future events.
But, despite this, economists remain, after epidimiologists, the first "go-to experts" for the media.  So their poisonous message continues to seep into our minds

We expect political scientists, by virtue simply of the first word in their title, to be different. But they have, in the past half-century, allowed the second word to dominate their thinking. They have "penis-envy"; and have tended as a result to produce boring quantitative stuff - with a few honourable exceptions noted below

Intellectuals of the mid-century - such as JK Galbraith, Raymond Aron and Tony Crosland - could communicate about Big Issues. Three features in particular stood out in their writing -
- They had read widely - not just in the narrow sub-disciplines of today's academia;
- had broad experience of life - beyond the ivory tower
- they were not afraid to demonstrate their moral principles

We are, these days in desperate need of their ilk. I'm hard pressed to find books which contain these qualities. Too many EITHER set up simplified goodies and baddies OR confuse us with the over-complexity of their analyses
Two authors who have the necessary breadth are Romania's Alina Mungiu-Pippidi who, since 2007, has been Professor of Democratic Studies at the prestigious Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and an activist in her home country....Graduating originally in medicine, she has a doctorate in social psychology and has even written plays. Not surprisingly corruption has been a central focus of her work;  and her latest book is a great read - Europe's Burden - promoting good governance across borders (2020) which I hope to be studying next week....The excerpts which Amazon offers demonstrate a strong sense of country histories which are generally missing in most technocratic works.

Graham P Maxton was, until 2018, Secretary of The Club of Rome and I came across his superbly-written little book Change - why we need a radical turnaround (2018) earlier in the year. This is one of the best statements I know of about global warming and why we need urgent change
In 2011 he produced the equally readable "The End of Progress - how modern economics has failed us" . There is an interview here; and a presentation here

Some Critiques of social and political science relevance
- Bent Flyvbjerg’s Making Social Science Matter (2001),
- Stephen Toulmin’s Return to Reason (2003),
- Sanford Schram and Brian Caterino’s Making Political Science Matter (2006) and
- Gerry Stoker and B, Guy Peters The Relevance of Political Science (2013)  

Expectations

Expectations are at the root of unhappiness
Zen Buddhists have it right
My mother's commonplace book of sayings
contained a prayer
attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr

"God grant me

the strength to change 

what needs to be changed

the serenity to accept 

what cannot be changed and

the wisdom to know the difference" 

even the economists understand.
with their demand and supply curves,
that it's better to reduce demand!
For Keynes, expectations were...
too "exuberant"