Scan barcode
A review by rossbm
Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems by Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo
4.0
(read as ebook)
What's it about?
It's a popular economics book written by two economists who research poverty. It focuses on picking apart assumptions behind economic orthodoxies. Each chapter is dedicated to a different subject. For example, there's a chapter on migration and a chapter on trade.
What did I think?
I really liked it, especially the first chapter on migration. The book makes the good point that people don't move around nearly as much as simple models or people might assume. People don't just automatically move to wherever they can earn the highest wage, even if it is within the same country so there are relatively few barriers. A lot of things prompt people to stay in place even they can earn a higher wage elsewhere. An important reason is uncertainty/risk aversion.
This labour "stickiness" means that standard models of trade don't fully reflect what actually happens, since adjustments don't occur at anywhere near the scale or speed that is assumed. This idea that adjustments don't occur as easily as models assumes pops up in other places in the book.
My critique is that the book is light on policy suggestions. I thought that there would be more of that, although it does address Universal Basic Income, and why it might not be panacea (people want to work).
What's it about?
It's a popular economics book written by two economists who research poverty. It focuses on picking apart assumptions behind economic orthodoxies. Each chapter is dedicated to a different subject. For example, there's a chapter on migration and a chapter on trade.
What did I think?
I really liked it, especially the first chapter on migration. The book makes the good point that people don't move around nearly as much as simple models or people might assume. People don't just automatically move to wherever they can earn the highest wage, even if it is within the same country so there are relatively few barriers. A lot of things prompt people to stay in place even they can earn a higher wage elsewhere. An important reason is uncertainty/risk aversion.
This labour "stickiness" means that standard models of trade don't fully reflect what actually happens, since adjustments don't occur at anywhere near the scale or speed that is assumed. This idea that adjustments don't occur as easily as models assumes pops up in other places in the book.
My critique is that the book is light on policy suggestions. I thought that there would be more of that, although it does address Universal Basic Income, and why it might not be panacea (people want to work).