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Nobel Prize

Five Books has interviewed three Nobel economics laureates – Robert Shiller, Eric Maskin and Paul Krugman – and Muhammad Yunus who (although also an economist, among other things) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Beyond that many of our interviews recommend the work of laureates or discuss their significance. In literature the works of Bob Dylan (2016), Mario Vargas Llosa (2010), Gabriel Garcia Marques (1982), J M Coetzee (2003), V S Naipaul (2001), Seamus Heaney (1995), Saul Bellow (1976), T S Eliot (1948), Ernest Hemingway (1954) and Winston Churchill (1953) to name a small handful are all recommended or discussed.

As well as our interview with Muhammad Yunus, we have book recommendations that assess the contribution of other Nobel Peace Prize laureates, such as Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Nelson Mandela (1993).

In her interview on Chemistry books Michelle Francl discusses the contribution of George Smith, Greg Winter and Frances Arnold (Chemistry 2018) and Donna Strickland (Physics 2018).

    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature, recommended by Robert J Shiller

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

    1

    The Theory of Moral Sentiments
    by Adam Smith

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - The Passions and the Interests by Albert Hirschman

    2

    The Passions and the Interests
    by Albert Hirschman

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    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Nudge by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

    3

    Nudge
    by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten The World Economy by Raghuram G Rajan

    4

    Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten The World Economy
    by Raghuram G Rajan

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson

    5

    Winner-Take-All Politics
    by Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson

The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature, recommended by Robert J Shiller

“You have to understand people first before you can understand how to devise an economic system for them” argues Robert J Shiller, the Yale economics professor and Nobel laureate. He chooses five books that explore who we fundamentally are, as human beings, and how that will determine the shape of a successful capitalism.

    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List, recommended by Eric Maskin

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    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List - Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance and Liquidity (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 91, No. 3, June 1983) by Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig

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    Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance and Liquidity (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 91, No. 3, June 1983)
    by Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig

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    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List - Private and Public Supply of Liquidity (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 106, No. 1, February 1998) by Bengt Holmstrom and Jean Tirole

    2

    Private and Public Supply of Liquidity (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 106, No. 1, February 1998)
    by Bengt Holmstrom and Jean Tirole

  • Read
    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List - The Prudential Regulation of Banks by Mathias Dewatripont and Jean Tirole

    3

    The Prudential Regulation of Banks
    by Mathias Dewatripont and Jean Tirole

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    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List - Credit Cycles (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 105, No. 2, April 1997) by Nobuhiro Kiyotaki and John Moore

    4

    Credit Cycles (Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 105, No. 2, April 1997)
    by Nobuhiro Kiyotaki and John Moore

  • Read
    Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List - Leverage Cycles and the Anxious Economy (American Economic Review, Vol. 98, No. 4, September 2008) by Ana Fostel and John Geanakoplos

    5

    Leverage Cycles and the Anxious Economy (American Economic Review, Vol. 98, No. 4, September 2008)
    by Ana Fostel and John Geanakoplos

Economic Theory and the Financial Crisis: A Reading List, recommended by Eric Maskin

The 2007 Nobel Economics Prize winner says that, contrary to popular perception, economic theory did a good job of predicting the financial crisis, it’s just that no one was paying any attention. Eric Maskin talks us through four journal articles and one book on ‘economic theory and the financial crisis.’

    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist, recommended by Paul Krugman

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    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist - Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

    1

    Foundation Trilogy
    by Isaac Asimov

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    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume

    2

    An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
    by David Hume

  • Read
    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist - The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes

    3

    The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
    by John Maynard Keynes

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    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist - Essays in Persuasion by John Maynard Keynes

    4

    Essays in Persuasion
    by John Maynard Keynes

  • Read
    Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist - Essays in Economics by James Tobin

    5

    Essays in Economics
    by James Tobin

Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist, recommended by Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman, Nobel prize-winning economist, Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, and Emeritus Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton, discusses the books that most influenced his formation as a liberal economist.

    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin

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    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa - The Washing of the Spears by Donald R Morris

    1

    The Washing of the Spears
    by Donald R Morris

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    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa - Move Your Shadow by Joseph Lelyveld

    2

    Move Your Shadow
    by Joseph Lelyveld

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    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa - Age of Iron by JM Coetzee

    3

    Age of Iron
    by JM Coetzee

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    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa - Mandela by Anthony Sampson

    4

    Mandela
    by Anthony Sampson

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    The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa - After Mandela by Alec Russell

    5

    After Mandela
    by Alec Russell

The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin

Nelson Mandela was a most unusual and unusually astute leader, says journalist and author of Playing the Enemy, John Carlin. He chooses the best books to understand Nelson Mandela, who used forgiveness as a political tool, and South Africa, the country he brought peacefully out of apartheid.

    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, recommended by Michael Nicholson

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    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Solzhenitsyn by Michael Scammell

    1

    Solzhenitsyn
    by Michael Scammell

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    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by L.Saraskina

    2

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
    by L.Saraskina

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    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Solzhenitsyn Files by Michael Scammell (Ed), Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

    3

    The Solzhenitsyn Files
    by Michael Scammell (Ed), Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

  • Read
    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Operation Prophet by Robert B Asprey

    4

    Operation Prophet
    by Robert B Asprey

  • Read
    The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Solzhenitsyn by Francis Barker

    5

    Solzhenitsyn
    by Francis Barker

The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, recommended by Michael Nicholson

Russian literature specialist Michael Nicholson, Emeritus Fellow at University College, Oxford, talks us through the best books to learn more about the great Soviet dissident and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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