From the Economist, a review of Warsh’s book;
“A fascinating new book, “Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations” by David Warsh, tells the story of the rebel economics of increasing returns. A veteran observer of dismal scientists at work, first at the Boston Globe and now in an online column called Economic Principals, Mr Warsh has written the best book of its kind since Peter Bernstein's “Capital Ideas”.
Diminishing returns ensure that firms cannot grow too big, preserving competition between them. This, in turn, allows the invisible hand of the market to perform its magic. But, as Mr Warsh makes clear, the fealty economists show to this principle is as much mathematical as philosophical. The topology of diminishing returns is easy for economists to navigate: a landscape of declining gradients and single peaks, free of the treacherous craters and crevasses that might otherwise entrap them.”
Review of Easterly’s recent book by David Ignatius and Amartya Sen
The Rich and Everyone Else- a couple of books on inequality and class
The US in Peril? The test of an industrialized nation is whether it can maintain a balance between community and private interests. To what extent is America doomed to decline as a result of the policies imposed by the Bush administration and its allies that favor the rich and powerful? This is the unspoken issue that hovers over Phillips's book. For all its dramatic and useful emphasis on oil, evangelism, and debt, it remains too narrow in its approach to fully engage the large threats we face.
Recent reviews by Warsh; When Auction Theory Was Put to Work and Stuff, Fluff and Tristram Shandy
Multimedia
The Wal-Mart Effect; Author Charles Fishman calls the giant US retailer Wal-Mart the world's most powerful company. He argues that it has had a profound effect on America - it has transformed its economy, its working life and the way it sees the world
Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity
Hidden history of the Oxford English Dictionary
The Da Vinci Code Controversies; How did a pulp fiction bestseller become a headache for the Vatican and a fascinating alternative for a public that has little connection to the Church?
Who's Who in the Time of Jesus; Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? Why was James the Brother of Jesus airbrushed out of history? And was Honi, a healer-magician from Galilee, a model for Jesus? Geza Vermes, described by The Times as 'the greatest Jesus scholar of his generation', has compiled a handy guide for readers who want to fill in the historical picture of Jesus in his time
