Balaji Srinivasan – The Network state
Some fair nuggets of socio-economical diagnosis mixed with personal pet-peeves and drained in a techno-utopian rant.
Structural shifts in energy production and usage (especially shale oil and EVs) have fundamentally affected the global power balance
The ‘it is all about oil’ narrative of international politics over the last 20 years made explicit is a comprehensive yet digestible form.
The lack quality control on generic drugs opened the door to fraud and deceit, endangering health and lives of the world’s poor
Katherine Eban – Bottle of lies
Impressive and concerning whistleblower story illustrating the subtleties in developing and producing effective generic drugs.
Since the invention of the micro processor, chip production has become of imminent strategic importance for both the USA and other geopolitical power blocks
Nice historical overview, very topical in an era where technology significantly affects the Ukraine war and the power play between the USA and China around Taiwan.
Aging populations and the breakdown of global trade make that very bad things are going to happen all over the world, but less so in the USA
Peter Zeihan – The end of the world is just the beginning
Highly entertaining read with a lot of black humor, but incomplete in its analysis (e.g. of risk of internal conflicts in the USA and likelihood of collaboration between states in Europe).
To learn how to make an open source software project a commercial success, study business models in the media industry
Nadia Eghbal – Working in Public
From an economical perspective, open source software is no different from other content that is published online.
Governments of developing countries should: 1. stimulate household farming 2. push through land reform, and 3. protect their budding manufacturing industry – in that order
Interesting historical perspective on economic development with renewed relevance in a post free-trade world.
The US postal service is a success story of the benefits of public funding
Winifred Gallagher – How the post office created America
In theory a fascinating topic, but in practice a boring read; as I should have expected because the Post leveraged rather than drove innovation.
Traders trying to make a killing in an ever more sophisticated market economy are driven to ever smarter deals and lower moral standards
Javier Blas and Jack Farchy – The world for sale
Well documented account of how instrumental commodity markets have been in global politics.
Today’s dominant ideology is the acceptance of ‘how the world really is’ and that any attempt to change that will lead to ruin
Slavoj Zizek – Like a thief in broad daylight
Mix of interesting Marxist perspectives on contemporary politics and confusing rants about old movies.
To make the fashion industry sustainable (from both environmental and social perspective) consumers need to care and get engaged
Maxine Bedat does for fashion what the Michael Pollen did for food, but with a much more solid program behind it.
China’s debt-fueled economic growth cannot continue in the same way
Dinny McMahon – China’s great wall of debt
October 2021: Apparently, the financial troubles of Evergrande are the first cracks in the wall.
July 2019: Interesting perspective on China’s impressive rise over the past years, providing more context to the recent trade war with the US and contrasting the view of Kai-Fu Lee.
Apparently, the success factors that made Jack Ma are his command of the English language, his showmanship
After a reasonably insightful chapter describing Alibaba’s strategy, the book slides into an enumeration of facts that illustrate the way in which China’s government steers private enterprise.
A bunch of anarchists and misfits was able to defy the most powerful nations of the world for a surprisingly long time
Colin Woodart – The republic of pirates
Captivating narrative which juicy details on naval warfare practices and life on board.
Poverty is not just characterized by lack of money, but also by unpredictability of cash flow and risk exposure
Daryl Collins – Portfolios of the poor
Thorough application of small data that provides valuable insight in how people live on less than 2$ a day – and what that implies for microfinance.
Over the past decades, most economists have been forced to flex their opinion on the efficient market hypothesis
Justin Fox – The myth of the rational market
The book resists the temptation to get lost in juicy stories, but focuses on the evolution of ideas.
Don’t estimate probabilities, but ask: ‘What is really going on here?’
John Kay and Mervin King – Radical Uncertainty
Economists should stay away from pseudo-philosophical assertions, in particular when these hinge on misinterpretation of Bayesian methods, use flawed logic, and do not lead to realistic recommendations.
Because we fundamentally believe resources can and will be redistributed, we will fall into the trap of always trying to make the overall pie as big as possible
Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo – Good economics for hard times
Smart agent-based modelling perspective on global challenges around poverty and sustainability.
Without massive and violent disruption of the established order, there will be no meaningful redistribution of wealth
The great leveler – Walter Scheidel
Next to revolution (in the spirit of Marx), the book claims there are just three other forces strong enough to achieve leveling: mass warfare, epidemics, and system collapse (the last of which is arguably overlaps with the others).
Increasing inequality and lack of immigration are the two big crises facing the US
the set-up in which interesting historical facts serve to make a political argument makes the author prone to the narrative fallacy.