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Description
For nearly ten years, readers of the Sunday Boston Globe and newspapers around America have delighted in David Warsh's column, "Economic Principals." This collection shows why. Taken as a whole, Warsh's writings amount to a vast and colorful group portrait of the personalities who dominate modem economics -- from the luminaries to unknown soldiers to eccentrics who add sparkle to the tapestry.
Partly a history of controversies in economics, partly an essay on the evolution of the field, Economic Principals offers a glimpse of one of the most important stories of our time: the metamorphosis of a priestly class of moral philosophers into the mathematical mandarins of today, whose ideas are reshaping society even as they reveal its workings in ever more subtle detail.
Warsh first recounts the rise of the economic paradigm, deftly treating the rediscovery of Adam Smith and the centrality of markets. He then turns to the generation of economists for whom the Nobel Prize was created in 1969, the men who forged the modern field in a few years during and after World War II. Some, like Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman, are well known to the public; others, like Trygvie Haavelmo and George Dantzig, are less quickly recognized. But all have interesting stories which Warsh brings to light.
Tracing the high tech revolution to the current generation, he sketches younger scholars such as Jeffrey Sachs, Martin Feldstein, and others less popularly known, who rule the field today. Marking the most powerful applications of modern economics, Warsh explains how the ingenious "rocket scientists" of Wall Street are creating new markets and the business school wizards and leading corporate executives are reinventing the organization.
Finally, in exploring the implications of modern economics, Warsh introduces us to scholars operating on the boundaries of the field, from Jane Jacobs to Noam Chomsky, and to the critics, like Donald McCloskey and Robert Reich, who have brought a bit of moral philosophy back into the economist's brave new world.
At every step, Warsh maps the field with the journalist's eye for detail. Readers will see why he is considered one of the most consistently stimulating economic journalists in America today.
Partly a history of controversies in economics, partly an essay on the evolution of the field, Economic Principals offers a glimpse of one of the most important stories of our time: the metamorphosis of a priestly class of moral philosophers into the mathematical mandarins of today, whose ideas are reshaping society even as they reveal its workings in ever more subtle detail.
Warsh first recounts the rise of the economic paradigm, deftly treating the rediscovery of Adam Smith and the centrality of markets. He then turns to the generation of economists for whom the Nobel Prize was created in 1969, the men who forged the modern field in a few years during and after World War II. Some, like Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman, are well known to the public; others, like Trygvie Haavelmo and George Dantzig, are less quickly recognized. But all have interesting stories which Warsh brings to light.
Tracing the high tech revolution to the current generation, he sketches younger scholars such as Jeffrey Sachs, Martin Feldstein, and others less popularly known, who rule the field today. Marking the most powerful applications of modern economics, Warsh explains how the ingenious "rocket scientists" of Wall Street are creating new markets and the business school wizards and leading corporate executives are reinventing the organization.
Finally, in exploring the implications of modern economics, Warsh introduces us to scholars operating on the boundaries of the field, from Jane Jacobs to Noam Chomsky, and to the critics, like Donald McCloskey and Robert Reich, who have brought a bit of moral philosophy back into the economist's brave new world.
At every step, Warsh maps the field with the journalist's eye for detail. Readers will see why he is considered one of the most consistently stimulating economic journalists in America today.
Product Details
| Publisher | Free Press |
| Publish Date | June 15, 2010 |
| Pages | 525 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Digital (delivered electronically) |
| EAN/UPC | 9781451602562 |
About the Author
David Warsh covers economics for the Boston Globe.
Reviews
Robert E. Lucas, Jr. John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor University of Chicago David Warsh has two qualities rare in economic journalism: He actually likes economics, and he knows a great deal about it. The columns contained in Economic Principals are consistently well-informed, lively, and interesting. Together, they provide a marvelous introduction to the current scene in economic thinking.
Kenneth J. Arrow Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research Stanford University Over the years no journalist has kept up so well and so acutely with the development of economic thought as David Warsh. His precise and interesting sketches have stood the test of years very well indeed.
Martin Peretz The New Republic David Warsh writes lucidly and wittily about the most complicated matters in economics and in economic thought. With stunning scope and great depth he has written a book that is by itself a rewarding education. It could be the core curriculum for those who want to understand why we are in our present fix and how we might get out of it.
Carl Kaysen D.W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus MIT Is he intellectually stimulating? Decidedly. Is he coherent, clear, readable? Eminently. Does the public need the information he offers? Desperately. Does Warsh have a critical understanding of the complicated ideas he is simplifying? Very frequently. Do the professional economists accept his conclusions? There are always some who do and some who don't -- they treat him like one of themselves.
Dr. Albert Wojnilower First Boston Asset Management Spiced with wide-ranging references to the humanities as well as the physical and social sciences, Warsh's succinct summaries, warm praise, and gentle but unmistakable criticisms always go to the heart of the matter.
Jane Jacobs Author of Systems of Survival David Warsh is one of a kind as an economic journalist. His knowledge of what makes economists tick and his wide-ranging curiosity mean that these columns are as informative and timely as when they were first printed. Collected, they form a valuable and fascinating running account of an important decade's intellectual economic history.
Kenneth J. Arrow Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research Stanford University Over the years no journalist has kept up so well and so acutely with the development of economic thought as David Warsh. His precise and interesting sketches have stood the test of years very well indeed.
Martin Peretz The New Republic David Warsh writes lucidly and wittily about the most complicated matters in economics and in economic thought. With stunning scope and great depth he has written a book that is by itself a rewarding education. It could be the core curriculum for those who want to understand why we are in our present fix and how we might get out of it.
Carl Kaysen D.W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus MIT Is he intellectually stimulating? Decidedly. Is he coherent, clear, readable? Eminently. Does the public need the information he offers? Desperately. Does Warsh have a critical understanding of the complicated ideas he is simplifying? Very frequently. Do the professional economists accept his conclusions? There are always some who do and some who don't -- they treat him like one of themselves.
Dr. Albert Wojnilower First Boston Asset Management Spiced with wide-ranging references to the humanities as well as the physical and social sciences, Warsh's succinct summaries, warm praise, and gentle but unmistakable criticisms always go to the heart of the matter.
Jane Jacobs Author of Systems of Survival David Warsh is one of a kind as an economic journalist. His knowledge of what makes economists tick and his wide-ranging curiosity mean that these columns are as informative and timely as when they were first printed. Collected, they form a valuable and fascinating running account of an important decade's intellectual economic history.
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