Good Economics for Hard Times

A timely survey of the global economic and political landscape by two of the three 2019 Nobel Prize economists.

Like their previous book, Poor Economics, they aim to present things beyond “ignorance, ideology, and intuition” (aka the way decisions are usually made, the way a lot of classical economic research was conducted) and instead take an open-minded, strictly empirical approach. Underpinning this is their preference for empirical evidence coming from randomized control trials, when available - a preference that their fans (such as me) would say, “NOBEL!” to, and their critics (like Lant Pritchett) would say is myopic. But, as Tony Soprano says of Columbus, in this house, Esther Duflo is a hero!!

So, with that out of the way, this book is like a great undergraduate course for anyone interested in how economics would interpret the current world. There are chapters on international trade, migration, climate change, universal basic income, and the robot revolution. They offer plenty of examples and insight on America, India, and France (the three places the authors are most tied to). They offer a take full of intellectual clarity, moral generosity, and - importantly - optimism. Which made this book very refreshing to read! They offered some catty remarks and snark about social media (UGH, THANK YOU), and discussed - at length - the difficulties of empirical macro. They called UBI the “midcentury modern of welfare”, which made me looool and lol.

This book made me want to read the Deaton and Case book. It made me happy and pleased and nostalgic about my own history of economics. It made me admire Esther Duflo even more! And it made me wish they would keep writing pop books like this...!