Comments for The Enlightened Economist

Comment on Desert Island economics books by Sig

Sig — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:00:18 +0000

Against the Gods is an excellent history of risk. Love it!

Comment on High speed history by Diane Coyle

Diane Coyle — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:52:03 +0000

Indeed, good point. The question is, where are the ample returns justifying the investment coming from? (The answer is taxpayers and pensioners.)

Comment on High speed history by Dave Birch

Dave Birch — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:45:07 +0000

P.S. There was an extra from Lanchester’s Capital in the Telegraph this weekend and I did actually read it all the way through, so the writing was good, but it all felt a derivative because, I suppose, “Bonfire of the Vanities” was so good (the excellent book, I mean, not the rubbish film with Tom Hanks).

Comment on High speed history by Dave Birch

Dave Birch — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:43:41 +0000

A similar cable was installed at a cost of $300m between New York and Chicago and I remember reading at the time, I can’t remember where, that it said something about modern society when there was no chance of getting any more for a better train service between New York and Chicago but there was no problem raising capital for the optical fibre link.

Comment on Urban ethos and economic success by The Spirit of Cities, abroad | The Enlightened Economist

The Spirit of Cities, abroad | The Enlightened Economist — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:19:17 +0000

[...] Monday 20th February and Tuesday 21st in London and on the Tuesday evening in Bristol. It’s a lovely book and I’m sure it will be worth getting to one of the talks if you can. I can’t but had [...]

Comment on Desert Island economics books by Paolo

Paolo — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:24:51 +0000

Manias Panic and Crashes by Charles Kindleberger and, strage enough ! , Tomorrow’s Gold by Marc Faber. If you consider that Faber wrote this book in 2001 ….. He is not an economist but was really a visionary on Gold, Credit and more…….

Comment on Desert Island economics books by Making markets | The Enlightened Economist

Making markets | The Enlightened Economist — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:33:17 +0000

[...] Post navigation ← Previous [...]

Comment on Debt and power by Diane Coyle

Diane Coyle — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:04:46 +0000

In the old days, lenders applied this kind of reasoning themselves – when I was young it was hard to borrow money for consumer goods and home buying, you had to save for ages. But this caution became labelled ‘credit rationing’ and it was even seen as socially beneficial to lend much higher income multiples to people on low incomes so they could become property owners…. Presumably the right balance is somewhere between the 1960s and the 2000s. The book is more about social relations and politics, though.

Comment on Desert Island economics books by Diane Coyle

Diane Coyle — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:01:01 +0000

All great choices – you have two more slots left. I would need more variety among my titles, and you also have to bear in mind that you might be reading them for a long time…. The Taleb books reminds me about Peter Bernstein’s Against the Gods, which is a real contender.

Comment on Desert Island economics books by Paolo

Paolo — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:49:27 +0000

- Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller
- Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed
- Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Fooled by randomness by Nassim Taleb
- justice by Michael Sandel