Recommendations from our site
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism is the magnum opus of Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times. In the preface, he explains why he wrote the book: “In the middle of the eighth decade of my life, I see a long historical circle—a circle that includes not just my life but also those of my parents.” He goes on to tell the story of how his parents (one from Poland, one from the Netherlands) fled for their lives as the Nazis were taking over Europe. “The 20th was a century of monstrous dictators,” he writes. Unfortunately, “The dictators have returned.” He lays the blame for that firmly on economic problems, for while “economics is not everything…it is the foundation of almost everything.” The book covers Wolf’s assessment on most issues relating to politics and economics: voting systems, GDP, avoiding war with China, Univeral Basic Income, market concentration. As well as analysis he suggests solutions, advocating a Karl Popper approach of “piecemeal social engineering.”
Our most recommended books
-
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
by Michael Lewis -
A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960
by Anna Schwartz & Milton Friedman -
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
by David S Landes -
This Time Is Different
by Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff -
The Worldly Philosophers
by Robert L Heilbroner -
The Passions and the Interests
by Albert Hirschman
The book, according to the author