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Licence to be Bad: How Economics Corrupted Us

Jonathan Aldred

4.10 · Rating details · 147 ratings · 26 reviews

'It is going to change the way in which we understand many modern debates about economics, politics, and society' Ha Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Over the past fifty years, the way we value what is 'good' and 'right' has changed dramatically. Behaviour that to our grandparents' generation might have seemed stupid, harmful or simply wi

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Kindle Edition, 311 pages

Published June 6th 2019 by Penguin

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Jun 20, 2019 Marks54 rated it really liked it

Big time academic economics is a strange area at times and is certainly an acquired taste. Theory has been highly abstract and mathematical for quite a while and the empirical tribulations of trying to show evidence in the world for some theoretical claim are daunting. Readers of popular books and policy summaries may easily fail to notice that this is also an elaborate occupation here, with its own detailed rules and status orderings. Academic jobs that pay well are highly competitive and much Big time academic economics is a strange area at times and is certainly an acquired taste. Theory has been highly abstract and mathematical for quite a while and the empirical tribulations of trying to show evidence in the world for some theoretical claim are daunting. Readers of popular books and policy summaries may easily fail to notice that this is also an elaborate occupation here, with its own detailed rules and status orderings. Academic jobs that pay well are highly competitive and much of the work and pay may come from consulting, litigation support, or other advisory activities. ...and then there are the journal articles - dense, abstract, with lots of numbers and symbols - not very accessible to most readers. It sometimes seems as if one has stumbled on an alternate culture.

Jonathan Aldred’s new book provides an intelligent and probing look at some of the backstories and inside baseball of contemporary economics. The focal theme is that to build their area, economists have developed a detailed logic of “rational man” - homo economicus - and provided a simplified story of individual greed and autonomy as the basic story for how people do and should act in the brave new world of game theory, public choice economics, behavioral economics, strategic contracting, and the world of perfect competition, the cost disease, and the minimal state. This is a generally well done tour of some key topic areas and is well written and highly informative.

It is easy enough to dismiss some of the artificiality of these theories and models as the requirements of finding solutions to models or addressing statistical problems. The key to the book, however, is how these ideas, have come to be treated as mainstream and even commonplace in current politics, regulation, and corporate management. People in power have come to accept this stuff and economists have come to believe their own theoretical simplifications as being true. The trouble, of course, is that real people do not seem to behave this way (or did not, at least) and Alfred suggests that by embedding economic excesses in rules and regulations, they may come to be adopted by the people involved who will then start behaving according to the dictates of “rational man”.

The tone of the book is highly critical and in my opinion, Professor Aldred is both withering and effective in his critiques. Perhaps the brush is a bit too broad. In all fairness, however, I know many who understand the game and do not believe their own witticisms about selfish behavior. There are many critics both in and outside the field who have made similar criticisms as well.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and it struck numerous chords with me. It works as a distinct criticism. If it prompts people to read further, that is even better. ...more

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Jan 07, 2021 Bianca A. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, speed-read

Published in 2019 and written by a professor of economics and land economy at Cambridge. Licence to be Bad is Aldred's second book, the first one being published in 2009 (nearly a decade ago). Although the title is quite negative or pessimistic and the cover a bit dull, I found the book educative.
This book is a collection of discussions on contemporary economic challenges. I found it to be an interesting take on economics overall, but rather challenging to read. I don't recommend this book for n ...more

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Sep 15, 2020 Anagha M. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, non-fiction, politics

A more appropriate sub-heading would be "How Neoliberal Economics Corrupted Us". The choice made is understandable, given that broader titles attract more eyes, so not so much a criticism as an observation. And given that most of contemporary economics is held together by the principles of neoliberal ideas anyway, the 21st century reader won't be left wanting for much.

Aldred spends the vast majority exploring the source of such economics, by scrutinizing 20th century, Chicago School economics th ...more

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Mar 15, 2020 Simon Tidd rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book. The author takes a critical look at some of the major trends and schools of thought in contemporary economics.

He first provides an overview of the significant figures involved in each, be they Nobel prize winners, authors etc. Then he discusses the thinking, it's interpretation, and its effect on modern economics and society.

Often, the interpretation is not as originally intended by the major proponents of the initial research. His conclusion and general thread is tha ...more

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Jan 07, 2021 Mugdho rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Excellent Read for having more clarity about contemporary economics and its flawed implications. This book will allow readers to understand the pitfall of modern ecoonmics in discourse and everyday life when we are blinded by shortsighted perspectives. We often fail to reckon the limitation of economic theories; and even make bad deicison by being too reliant on faulty economic premises. I think this book has provided a very strong criticism of neoliberal ideas.

Really loved how different cogniti ...more

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Jan 21, 2021 Javier rated it really liked it · review of another edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrxy9... ...more

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Jan 16, 2021 Ngoc rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

v enjoyable read that gives good insights on what and how to re-evaluate many flawed assumptions of human behaviors rooted in neoliberalism

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Apr 13, 2020 Mikaela rated it it was ok · review of another edition

If you read Swedish I have written a longer review in Smedjan which will be published shortly. In summary, Aldred basically makes the same old tired criticisms against "neoliberalism" and disguises it as criticism of economics. I had many an angry rant while reading it and I was not very impressed by his critique. ...more

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Jun 29, 2020 Daneel Lynn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

作者簡單介紹知名經濟學的幾家門派學說，然後羅列這些經濟理論無法完整適用與人類社會，所以反而造成危害。

乍看之下有點道理，但稍微想想：本來就沒啥學說模型可以一體適用不出問題，都必須隨時修正改進。而經濟理論也不太可能直接套用為政策，中間是否被魔改還是調控得要追溯智庫與政客，直接找理論麻煩也太超過。而且為了加強經濟之惡的描繪，某些例證恐怕也有刻意簡化扭曲之嫌。

到結論作者乾脆不演了，直接嗆明經濟學家從養成開始就該多關注社會議題，少玩數學跟跑模型。除了大港你贏，不曉得該有什麼感想。

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Nov 29, 2020 Tom rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A good summary of how economic ideas since the post-war consensus have changed our moral intuitions in ways that we might not have wanted or anticipated.

I had the following thoughts (though coming from someone whose profession uses economic ideas in a context where the author might argue they don't belong..)
Good points:
- Excellent introduction to some of the key players in economics and where these ideas have originated, including their original motivations and the motivations of those who took A good summary of how economic ideas since the post-war consensus have changed our moral intuitions in ways that we might not have wanted or anticipated.

I had the following thoughts (though coming from someone whose profession uses economic ideas in a context where the author might argue they don't belong..)
Good points:
- Excellent introduction to some of the key players in economics and where these ideas have originated, including their original motivations and the motivations of those who took their ideas and ran with them to fulfil their own goals. I hadn't known so much of the life of e.g. Arrow or Ramsey, though I had come across their names attached to theorems or theories.
- I think this is a helpful corrective against economic thinking spilling over into other areas of life, and the need for economists to be humble comes through strongly. I think this will help me to weigh up different arguments about how people will behave with certain incentives put in place in a more balanced way, making sure that the theory does in fact match the reality, and greater consideration of the moral backing behind whether use of these incentives is justified.
- It's helpful to have it clearly spelt out that the changes around inequality and the shape of the economy over the last 30 years are not an inevitable consequence of the pursuit of economic growth, but deliberate choices by policy makers and thought leaders.

Less good things:
- At points, the most colourful figures (such as founders) are used to represent a whole field. This can be an exaggeration -those who come up with these ideas are inevitably extreme thinkers - you have to be slightly outside of the norm to come up with something new. But the implementation of these ideas often takes out the more extreme stuff to focus on which ideas are helpful in real life, softening an approach by using it alongside other tools.
- I think sometimes the analysis goes too far and might throw the baby out with the bathwater. At times it feels like even seeking an empirical approach to economics is wrong - but this ignores the advances that have been made from taking such an approach (accepting that in other circumstances bad actors have used this inappropriately).
- And sometimes it can feel like there's a dislike of science in general as a method to look at human behaviour or social scientific fields. I've got doubts about the influence and motivation of scientists myself, but using the scientific method in these areas has created knowledge in different areas. The more mathsy stuff in the book is also less focused and critical than the other sections. ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Tĩnh Hàn rated it really liked it

Đây là một quyển sách mình thấy được gợi ý bởi chị Jenny Tue Anh Nguyen – một người phụ nữ vô cùng giỏi đang làm việc tại Oxford. Với lại nó cũng được review bởi idol Ha-Joong Chang, tác giả quyển Economics thần thánh. Do đó, trong một lần tình cờ mình thấy nó ở một nhà sách ở Ý (đương nhiên là bằng tiếng Ý), mình đã đứng đọc nó suốt 2 tiếng. Tuy nhiên thì do vốn tiếng Ý ngâu si của mình nên phải cực kì chân thành cảm ơn sự cao thượng của bạn *Minh Nguyen* vì đã tài trợ mình ebook tiếng Anh cho Đây là một quyển sách mình thấy được gợi ý bởi chị Jenny Tue Anh Nguyen – một người phụ nữ vô cùng giỏi đang làm việc tại Oxford. Với lại nó cũng được review bởi idol Ha-Joong Chang, tác giả quyển Economics thần thánh. Do đó, trong một lần tình cờ mình thấy nó ở một nhà sách ở Ý (đương nhiên là bằng tiếng Ý), mình đã đứng đọc nó suốt 2 tiếng. Tuy nhiên thì do vốn tiếng Ý ngâu si của mình nên phải cực kì chân thành cảm ơn sự cao thượng của bạn *Minh Nguyen* vì đã tài trợ mình ebook tiếng Anh cho quyển này, bạn dễ thương thì hôm nào cho mình ngó ké kho sách bạn với nhé, ahihi.
Vào vấn đề chính để review loại hàng khó nhai này cho mọi người. Về cơ bản thì quyển này khá khó chịu với những bạn không có các kiến thức cơ bản về kinh tế học nhưng mà nó sẽ kiểu siêu hay với những bạn nào đã có hơi hơi hiểu. Tác giả quyển này thì không cần bàn cãi, giám đốc nghiên cứu khoa Kinh tế, Emmanuel College Cambridge.
J. Aldred trong quyển này chủ yếu tập trung vào mô tả sự thay đổi của kinh tế học. Về cơ bản, nó chỉ ra rằng các quan điểm được coi là sai trái ở thời cụ kị của chúng ta thì hiện giờ nó lại là sự thật hiển nhiên. Không phải các cụ sai mà là thời đại thay đổi thôi. Kinh tế học cũng vậy. Trước đây, các nhà kinh tế học luôn cho rằng do bản chất tham lam của con người, nên kinh tế học hoàn toàn có thể giải thích các hành vi của họ. Tuy nhiên, Aldred chỉ ra các sự kiện lớn mà kiểu “má ơi sao có thể??!!!” như cuộc khủng hoảng tài chính 2008, hay cuộc trưng cầu dân ý về Brexit và cuộc bầu cử Donald Trump năm 2016. Nó cho thấy rằng, không không không, kinh tế học sắp tàn rồi, vì con người làm gì hoạt động theo mấy cái lý thuyết cổ điển mà chúng ta cứ nhai đi nhai lại còn hơn bò nhai cỏ. Do đó, Aldred nhắc tới các vấn đề khác có thể chi phối hành vi của con người, ví dụ như các vấn đề về đạo đức (mình cũng chả chắc là vụ Brexit là đạo đức hay là vì Anh Quốc chủ quan, thôi thì cứ nhìn nó là đạo đức đi).
Nói chung là quyển này chủ yếu phân tích các thay đổi của thời đại mới và các triết lý kinh tế mới. Người đọc quyển này chắc cũng cần có các kiến thức kinh tế học ở mức khá khá, không thì đọc xong có khi ngu cả người. Sách đề cập nhiều đến những lý thuyết như classical theories của Adam Smith, capitalism, neoliberalism, v.v
...more

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Jul 05, 2020 Donn Lee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I gave up on this book a couple of times. Shelved under DNF ("did not finish"). But my mind would keep going back to it, thinking about the things it brought up, and I couldn't help but want to read more. So I'd fish it back from my DNF bin and push on. I was rewarded with a better understanding of what the author was getting at, and a new way of looking at the world.

So, let me first talk a little about the reason why I thought this belonged to the DNF bin. I felt that the author wasn't particul I gave up on this book a couple of times. Shelved under DNF ("did not finish"). But my mind would keep going back to it, thinking about the things it brought up, and I couldn't help but want to read more. So I'd fish it back from my DNF bin and push on. I was rewarded with a better understanding of what the author was getting at, and a new way of looking at the world.

So, let me first talk a little about the reason why I thought this belonged to the DNF bin. I felt that the author wasn't particularly clear on what he was trying to get at. It felt like a general attack on loosely related ideas that he lumped together as "economic thought", from a hodgepodge of people whom I had not myself considered economists. It felt a little like the author assembled all these people and ideas to have an "antagonist" against which he could attack, and that he was hugely overstating the amount of influence any one of these individuals could have had. By the end of the book, I don't think he really changed my impression of the earlier chapters.

Still, it couldn't have been that terrible because I found myself constantly going back to the book and wondering what else he had to say. I found the later chapters really good, especially Chapter 7, which I highlighted like crazy. Here's a gem early in the chapter, when talking about how "economic thinking" has led to using pricing as policy:

Since I can be predictably manipulated by incentives, it cannot be said that my decisions depend only 'on myself, not on external factors'. Nor am I 'self-directed'. Incentive schemes, then, might work just as intended by their designers, with no crowding out -- but still be morally wrong because they conflict with our values of liberty and autonomy... When a judge is offered and accepts a financial incentive to let a guilty person go free, this is bribery, and is obviously harmful. That both the briber and the judge might be better off is irrelevant.

Overall, a poor book at the start but one that ends strongly, with plenty of mind-changing material. ...more

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Sep 13, 2019 Like_magic rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Book was just hard for me to follow. There was no roadmap to follow and it was not clear where the author was trying to take me nor what he was trying to convey. I may have been able to understand individual examples but I continually failed to place them into the larger context. In addition to that, there seems to be an overly large (in my opinion) emphasis on the role that individual economic theorists have played in the development of the economy as it stands today.

I was not able to understa ...more

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Nov 02, 2020 Russell Choy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book’s greatest strength is also it’s greatest weakness: the ability to tell stories. Sometimes the line between the argument and the story is quite blurred so I couldn’t really get the point behind some of them. Also, like a lot of economics works, this book could’ve benefitted from more definitions (especially because it seems like it’s targeted at non-economists) of the terms, e.g. crowding out. The most brilliant part of the book has got to be the second last chapter where he so brillia ...more

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Jul 31, 2020 Annette rated it liked it · review of another edition

Overly simplistic explanation of economic theories that assumes all economists are the same, despite the differences among economists that he himself outlines in the book. He sets up a straw man designed to be torn down. Economics is complex because it is about people and the tools of economics are designed to allow for scenario building and thinking through scenarios. Hence the joke that economists always say ‘on the one hand and on the other hand’.

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Jan 06, 2021 Jung added it · review of another edition

In recent decades, a whole set of economic ideas, often supporting the free market, have come to be hugely influential on how we make policies, and even on how we think. Ideas like game theory, public choice theory, and free-rider thinking have all combined to make a crudely selfish view of the world seem like the norm. It’s time we paid much less attention to those economists who try to dress their damaging opinions up as facts.

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Jan 07, 2021 Chintushig Tumenbayar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, books-in-eng, business-finance

Эдийн засаг нь өөрөө шижлэх ухаан биш болохыг эхнээсээ баталж эхлэх энэ номонд эдийн засгийн ойлголтууд хэрхэн өөрчлөгдөж, хувьсаж ирснийг харуулхын сацуу олон нийтийн нөлөөнд яаж автдаг, хэрхэн орвонгоороо эргэж болдогийг харуулсан нь зарим талаар хэт эдийн засгийн араас явж байгаа манайх шиг оронд хөгжлийг бас давхар өөр өнцгөөс нь хавсаргаж явах ёстойг сануулах шиг. Хувь хүний өнцгөөс ч гэсэн аливаа асуудлыг илүү олон талаас нь харах сэдэл өглөө.

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Oct 19, 2020 Tom Drissi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Hugely enjoyable and important book. As an Economist, it’s probably my favourite piece for much needed “self-reflection” by the profession. Would deem it recommended reading for every Economics graduate that is set to continue working in the field. Puts important empirical and (vitally) political context to what we are taught at university - and often taught as though some neutral science/as separate from politics and moral value judgements.

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Jan 07, 2021 Andy Ohm rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I’ve never read a book or even studied economics before yet I found this a fascinating read. A very scrutinising look at the history and modern style of economics. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Although I did not agree completely with all of the points expressed, very good points were given and it definitely made me think.

I would definitely suggest it. 4/5

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Dec 19, 2019 Katri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: economics

This is an interesting and educating read, but pretty hard to grasp if you are not already familiar with the mentioned theories. This book is so packed with information that it's hard to read at one go, so you will have to put this down and digest what you have read. The ending seems somewhat abrupt, and Aldred doesn't bring up any research to back up his claims so it falls a bit flat (especially after such a great beginning). ...more

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Jan 07, 2021 Zhivko Kabaivanov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Licence to be Bad (2019) explains how in the past 50 years a small handful of economists has drastically changed the way we think about the subject.

Ideas including game theory, public choice theory, and free-riding have worked their way into our minds and our discourse, apparently permitting us to behave badly.

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Dec 21, 2020 QUINNS rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A whole set of economics have come to influence the way we make policies, and even on how we think. Ideas like game theory, public choice theory, and free-rider thinking have all combined to create a crudely selfish view of the world seem like the norm. This book promotes that it is time we paid much less attention to those economists who try to dress their negative opinions up as facts.

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Jan 05, 2021 Bert Bertson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great book. Thoroughly roasts economics. It highlights the problems and history of a lot of the modern developments in modern orthodox economics while also offering solutions to said problems.
I really enjoyed this one.

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Jan 07, 2021 Ahmed rated it liked it · review of another edition

While the book has some good points , However I completely disagree with the view that free market economics leads to inequality, it is a invaluable arguments results illustrates that Free Economics does increase equality than inequality.

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Aug 19, 2020 Robin Hood rated it really liked it

Economics is the perfect case of obsession with quantification gone wrong. The effort to formalize the socio-economic complexity of world into physics like simple laws had led many a disciplines astray but more so with economics ( mainstream).

The most sinister aspect is the rationale the economists give when their ideas are challenged even though the snake oil they peddle has life and death consequences especially for people on the other side of the planet.

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Dec 01, 2019 Elizabelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: study, favorites

All economics, business and public policy students should read this. This book really challenged a lot of the ingrained classical economic theories/assumptions that I have been exposed to, and Jonathan Aldred does so by shedding light on their implications onto our realities by using real life events and making readers question these repercussions (e.g. game theories and its dangerous effects on military security/strategies, Coase theories and its impacts onto law-and-economics arguments, “wealt ...more

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