Home |Register |Sign In Home Top Picks: All Books Economism Economism by James Kwak, Simon Johnson Price: $25.95 (Hardcover) MorePublished: January 10, 2017 Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast) From the Publisher: The coauthor of the best-selling 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown now gives us a bracing deconstruction of the framework for understanding the world thatis learned as gospel in Economics 101, regardless of its imaginaryassumptions and misleading half-truths. “Economism”: an ideology that distorts the valid principles and tools of Economics 101, propagated by self-styled experts, zealous lobbyists, clueless politicians, and ignorant pundits.</p><p> In order to illuminate the fallacies of economism, James Kwakfirst offers a primer on supply and demand, market equilibrium, and socialwelfare: the underpinnings of most popular economic arguments.</p><p> Then heprovides a historical account of how economism became a prevalent mode of thought in the United States—focusing on the people who packaged Econ 101 into sound… Rate This Book Add To Wishlist |Rate/Review Add To Bookshelf Get This Book Personalize / Add More ChoicesGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site where you can get this book.</p><p> What We Say Best-selling author James Kwak has one over-riding purpose in this easy to follow take-down of the political philosophy of what he calls "economism." Kwak wants you to recognize how often a winner-takes-all philosophy that is no more right orwrong than liberalism or libertarianism cloaks itself in the wardrobe of scientific fact.</p><p> He easily demonstrates how radio stars and TV talking heads and lazy politicians either knowingly or unwittingly denounce anyone who disagrees with their morality as failing to understand Economics 101 when in fact it is they that don't have an economics leg to stand on.</p><p> Hegives a quick primer on the basic ideas of economics and shows how applying them to the real world is never as simple as aShare This Book About The Author James Kwak, Simon Johnson MoreJAMES KWAK is a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and thecoauthor, with Simon Johnson, of 13 Bankersand White House Burning .</p><p> He has a Ph.D. in intellectual history from UC Berkeley and aJ.D. from the Yale Law School.</p><p> Before going to law school, he worked … Release Info List Price: $25.95 (Hardcover) Published: January 10, 2017 Publisher: Pantheon Pages: 256 ISBN 10: 1101871199 ISBN 13: 9781101871195basic graph chart demonstrating supply and demand.</p><p> Then Kwak applies this more nuanced view of how economics really works to major issues of the day like the minimum wage, health care and so on, revealing again and again how the simplistic mantra of "economism" fails utterly to understand how the real world and economic analysis works.</p><p> Though Kwak doesn't take sides in issues -- merely showing how varied and complex and irreducible to a graph sketched on a napkin theyare -- he invariably takes to task numerous conservative figures who have turned economism into a religion that cannot bequestioned.</p><p> Kwak ably illumines how those in power have always looked for a reason to defend massive and morallyquestionable inequality.</p><p> For most of history they employed the divine right of kings and God -- since God created the world with all its inequality, who are we to think we know better? When science overtook our view of the world, those in power turned to Darwinism, claiming ideas like survival of the fittest meant that there HAD to be inequality for society to functionand survive and flourish as it should. (Kwak has great fun quoting Candide's "this is the best of all possible worlds" again andagain.) Finally, when a Great Depression and WW II put the masses firmly in the driver's seat in the US with a social safetynet, high taxes, strong unions and a sense of shared sacrifice, Kwak delivers a thumbnail history of how the Haves fought back against the Have Nots with the religion of "economism." It's a satisfying explanation ready for a general audience that will probably be astonished when they realize how often the worldview of those in power extolling inequality as simply theway things MUST be is peddled not just on economic issues but throughout society.</p><p> Kwak calls it "the Swiss Army knife ofsocial and economic commentary." But this book arms others to fight back and as we know, the pen is mightier than the Swiss Army knife. -- Michael Giltz What You Say Filter by No Reviews Found ..... about us |faq|advertise |privacy policy |newsletter |contact us ©2018, BookBuddha LLc.</p><p> All Rights Reserved.
