China, fascism and the financial crisis are some of the themes addressed by the economics books of the year, according to the chief commentator of the British newspaper Financial Times, Martin Wolf.
See below the suggested works, followed by the columnist’s comments.
The Cashless Revolution: China’s Reinvention of Money and the End of America’s Domination of Finance and Technology
[A revolução sem caixa: A reinvenção do dinheiro pela China e o fim do domínio financeiro e tecnológico dos EUA]
by Martin Chorzempa, PublicAffairs, 320 pages, R$127.99 and R$52.14 (ebook)
Martin Chorzempa describes in some detail how China jumped in less than a decade from a primitive cash-based system to one of direct digital payments. The actors were a limited number of innovative companies. The result was a fintech revolution. As a result, “people’s financial lives in China no longer revolve around governments and banks, but around technology ecosystems.” This revolution has already transformed China and, one way or another, it looks like it will transform the world as well.
Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century
[Arrastando-se para a utopia: Uma história econômica do século 20]
by J. Bradford DeLong, ed. Basic Books (624 pages), BRL 131.37 and BRL 74.14 (ebook)
“In 1870 a great change took place for mankind. With the rise of the industrial research laboratory, the modern corporation, and truly inexpensive sea and land transport and communications, we moved from a world in which economic patterns formed a semi-stable backdrop from mass poverty to a world in which the economy was constantly revolutionizing.” J. Bradford DeLong, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, tells this remarkable story with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, in his opinion, now she too is over.
Principles for the Changing World Order: Why Nations Prosper and Fail
by Ray Dalio, Intrínseca, BRL 110.49 (physical book) or BRL 87.21 (ebook)
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater, has become a fascinating writer on how he sees the future. But the most interesting thing is that he analyzes the future based on the lessons of the past, over many centuries. This book draws many of those lessons from detailed historical experience that have relevance to where we are today. One such lesson is that there is likely to be a decline in the value of money in response to excess debt.
The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism
[A ordem capital: Como os economistas inventaram a austeridade e abriram caminho para o fascismo]
by Clara E. Mattei, The University of Chicago Press, (460 pages.), BRL 102.09 (ebook)
Those who believe in the marriage of the market economy and democracy need to read powerful critics. In this thought-provoking book, Clara E. Mattei of The New School for Social Research traces the origins of “austerity” to the attempt to restore capitalist order after World War I. More broadly, she argues that supposedly technocratic economic policy is fundamentally political: it is an expression of power, with distributive consequences. Economics is politics. But, writing in the Marxist tradition, she also seems to believe in the now implausible proposition that there is an obviously superior alternative to democratic capitalism. If the means of production are indeed collectively owned and managed, politics is doomed to be a dictatorship and the economy, at best, to stagnate.
The Illusion of Control: Why Financial Crises Happen, and What We Can (and Can’t) Do About It
[A ilusão do controle: Por que as crises financeiras acontecem e o que podemos (e não podemos) fazer a respeito]
by Jón Daníelsson, Yale University Press (288 pages), R$316 and R$161.96 (ebook)
How regulators and practitioners should think about – and manage – finance risks. In this thought-provoking book, Jón Daníelsson, professor of finance at the London School of Economics, offers five recommendations. First, “the real danger is endogenous risk”, that is, the risks that the system itself creates. Second, risk models always miss the bottom line. Third, remember the objectives of regulation. Fourth, think globally, not locally. Finally, encourage a diversified financial system, not a monoculture.
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
[A ascensão e queda da ordem neoliberal: A América e o mundo na era do livre mercado]
by Gary Gerstle, Oxford University Press, (432 pages)
This is a fascinating account of the rise and fall of what has come to be called “neoliberalism”. Gary Gerstle, professor of American history at Cambridge, tells the story of a political order that was born with Ronald Reagan and died with Donald Trump. As is often the case, its focus is very narrow on how the United States interacts with itself and the world. But the US has been the single most important player. This is an important perspective on how the world has changed and then changed again.
Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise
[Mao e mercados: As raízes comunistas do empreendedorismo chinês]
by Christopher Marquis and Kunyuan Qiao, Yale University Press, (534 pages), R$320.65 and R$154.35 (ebook)
Many Western observers believed that China was moving towards free market capitalism and hoped that it would become more democratic as a result. The elevation of Xi Jinping to a position previously enjoyed only by Mao Tse-Tung destroyed belief and hope. This important book shows that such beliefs and hopes were always naive. Maoist ideas lived on not only in the Communist Party and the state, but also in the successful businesses created during the “reform and opening” era.
Megathreats: Ten Dangerous Trends that Imperil our Future, and How to Survive Them
[Mega-ameaças: Dez tendências perigosas que ameaçam nosso futuro e como sobreviver a elas]
by Nouriel Roubini, John Murray/Little, Brown, R$ 53.02
How bad can the future be? Nouriel Roubini can be trusted to give the most plausible answer to this question. If so, he surpasses his own high standards of apocalypse. It manages to bring together “economic, financial, political, geopolitical, technological, health and environmental mega-threats that are closing in on us. Sound policies may partially or completely prevent one or more of them, but collectively calamity seems almost certain”. People who like horror movies will love this book.
Accidental Conflict: America, China and the Clash of False Narratives
[Conflito acidental: América, China e o choque de falsas narrativas]
by Stephen Roach, Yale University Press, (589 pages), R$176.02 and R$167.22 (ebook)
Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and now a senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, believes that China and the United States should and can have a viable cooperative relationship. But they fell prey to mutually reinforcing false narratives about each other. Roach insists that there is a path of trust and interdependence. Conceptually, he’s right. Indeed, conflict would harm everyone, possibly catastrophically. But can it still be avoided?
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