Books by Karl Polanyi
“Polanyi writes this book in 1944, just as it seems the Allies are about to win the war. He’s not too happy. He’s glad that communism is checked and fascism is dead, but there is a wistfulness in him. He’s not a modern social democrat. If he could go back to a state of nature, a pre-industrial society, he probably would, and you have to read him with that in mind. But what he tells us is that this brave new world of the 1940s – the Beveridge report and the foundation of the welfare state in Britain etc – rests upon these paradoxes whereby you have to intervene to keep the machine stable, but the more you intervene, the more unstable you make it.” Read more...
The best books on How the World’s Political Economy Works
Mark Blyth, Political Scientist
Interviews where books by Karl Polanyi were recommended
The best books on How the World’s Political Economy Works, recommended by Mark Blyth
If you were the last person alive and had to leave a testament to how our world worked, which five books would you choose? Political economist Mark Blyth makes his ‘desert island’ choices.
The best books on Globalisation, recommended by Dani Rodrik
What is going on with the world these days? In this interview tracing the past and present of globalisation, political economist Dani Rodrik gave us some ideas about the underlying issues. He picks the best books on globalisation.
