Economics for the Curious: Inside the Minds of 12 Nobel Laureates

by Robert Solow (Editor)

Alfred Marshall, the founder of modern economics, once described economics as 'the study of mankind in the ordinary business of earning a living'. In Economics for the Curious, 12 Nobel Laureates show that 'the ordinary business of earning a living' covers a wide range of activities, as they take readers on an engaging tour of some of the everyday issues that can be explored using basic economic principles.

Written in the plainest possible language, Nobel Laureates including Paul Krugman, Eric Maskin, Finn E. Kydland and Vernon Smith confront some of the key issues challenging society today – challenges that claim attention in any phase of the business cycle. The range of topics includes how economic tools can be used to rebuild nations in the aftermath of a war; financing retirement as longevity increases; the sustainable use of natural resources and what governments should really be doing to boost the economy.

Economics for the Curious is an accessible but informative display of the kinds of questions economics can illuminate. It will appeal to anyone who has an interest in economics and the world around them, and we hope it will encourage further interest and study in the topic from readers everywhere.

Genres: Economics, Business, Nonfiction

204 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Robert Merton Solow was an American economist who received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for the development of a mathematical model for economic growth. He based his model on the earlier Harrod-Domar model but incorporated a significant difference in his own model. This difference lay in the fact that Solow assumed that full employment could be achieved by adjusting the wages given to the workforce. His theory totally contradicted the earlier theory that the economy was facing a great crisis. He soon followed with another theory that labor and capital were not the only two factors required for economic growth as was believed by economists till then. He suggested that a third factor has to be considered if the rate growth is to be calculated in real terms. This factor is called the ‘Solow residual’ which can be attributed to the technical changes that are required for healthy economic growth. He also developed a new model which made new capital more important than old capital which is based on the technology prevalent at the time. With new capital more changes could be brought about in the technological field. His articles on economic growth brought about a huge change in the perspectives that economist had till then about the realities of economic growth.

Reviews

[Laila]

The title of this book caught my attention and the content satisfied my curiosity about topics and theories in Economics, and the main contemporary thinkers in the fields. Well structured book and reading the book will help you to branch out to specific topics in Economics should you so incline. Surely you can't go wrong learning through reading from 12 Nobel Laureates?

[André]

A great book for those with little to no prior education in economics who wish to acquire a broad view spanning several important topics currently approached by economists.
Otherwise, the book will feel very superficial because the chapters are short and have no depth.

[Jenina Jill Sy]

I wish some of the chapters were longer & elaborated more. :)

[Bence]

9,33 / 10

Already when I was halfway through the book, I realised that I find Economics for the Curious to be a misleading title. Not because the chapters cannot satisfy curiosity, quite the contrary. The economic and political issues discussed are so relevant in our everyday lives, and the format of the chapters is so accessible that I believe Economics for the Curious (or a similar book inspired by this edition) should be made a compulsory read to basically everyone who participates in a modern society, regardless of their initial curiosity in the subject.

As the material was put together in the years following the Great Recession of 2008, roughly half of the chapters are dedicated to discussing the issues of financial crises from various viewpoints (e.g. fiscal and monetary policy, unemployment and labour markets, trends in globalisation). Of course, there are several equally important economic issues that could have been discussed instead of some of these chapters. However, given the past decades of completely misguided (macro)economic policy all over the world, I understand that economists want to stress the importance of policy improvements; especially because many of the core ideas have already been researched and published by the mid/late 20th century.

In a globalised world it is inevitable for people to learn more about economics to be able to make strategic decisions, otherwise they will find themselves at the end of society's food chain very quickly. Economics for the Curious provides an excellent starting point, where some of the most important ideas of today's global economy are explained in very simple terms (maybe except for the chapter of John F. Nash) by some of the smartest economists ever. For readers who already possess more advanced knowledge in the field, I would still recommend it as an example of how to communicate complex ideas to a broad audience.

[Adrian Saville]

Although this is 10 years after GFC, there is some excellent content written at the time of GFC that is prescient today (2020). A fantastic compilation, especially Paul Krugman's chapter, the contribution by Michael Spence and Robert Solow. Of course, it's all "shoulders of giants."

[tfrombalkan]

I thoroughly enjoyed the dr. Krugman's and dr. Maskin's chapters.

[Mills College Library]

330 E1977 2014