Publisher's Synopsis
"This is without doubt the best book I′ve read this year, andprobably one of the most important books I′ve ever read This ought to be a real game changer of a book. Read it."
Brain Clegg , author of
Before the Big Bang: ThePrehistory of Our Universe , writing at popularscience.co.uk
From the failure of wealth to make us happier, to the world′scatastrophic blindness in the lead–up to the credit crunch, Economyths reveals ten ways in which economics has failed usall.
Forecasters predicted a prosperous year in 2008 for financialmarkets in one influential survey the average prediction wasfor an eleven percent gain. But by the end of the year majoreconomies were plunging into the worst recession since the GreatDepression. In 2010, they still haven t fully recovered.
An even bigger casualty was the credibility of economics, whichfor decades has claimed that the economy is a rational, stable,efficient machine, governed by well–understood laws. If all thiswere true, how could the world′s most brilliant and talentedfinancial prognosticators get it so wrong? Why couldn t ourelaborate economic theories predict or prevent this enormousfinancial crisis from happening?
Mathematician David Orrell explores these provocative questionsand more. Tracing the history of economics from its roots inancient Greece to the financial centres of London and New York, hereveals ten distinct ways in which it is mistaken andproposes intriguing, and sometimes controversial, newalternatives.
An unapologetic critic of economic theory, Orrell explains howthe economy is the result of complex ad unpredictable processes;how risk models go astray; why the economy is not rational or fair;why until very recently no woman had ever won the Nobel Prize foreconomics; why financial crashes are less Black Swans than part ofthe landscape; and finally, how new ideas in mathematics,psychology, and environmentalism are helping to reinventeconomics.
Orrell deftly translates the arcane language of economic theoryinto a relevant, contrarian, and compelling exploration of theemotional subject of money. Economyths is a fascinating andelegantly written inquiry into the flaws in our conventionaleconomic models, how they got us into so much trouble, andalternatives that could revolutionize the way we think about theeconomy.
