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Book Reviews of The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science

The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science
The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science
Author: Paul Krugman
ISBN-13: 9780393318876
ISBN-10: 0393318877
Publication Date: 4/1/1999
Pages: 204
Rating:
  • Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
 4

2.8 stars, based on 4 ratings
Publisher: W. W. Norton Company
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

2 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

CocoCee avatar reviewed The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science on + 404 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Not for the conservative at heart. Liberal slant.
reviewed The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science on + 1775 more book reviews
I got the book for the shelf at the old soldiers' home but I don't think anyone read it. Pulling it after eight weeks to take to the VA Hospital lobby (many readers), I enjoyed reading most of it before dropping it off.
These are articles for a popular readership and often are still of interest. Many are suitable for collateral reading in a US History or Economics class.
Some highlights:
Dr. Krugman criticizes Robert Reich ('Downsizing, Downsizing' pp. 24-27). "Like much of what Reich says, tis story was clear, compelling, brilliantly packaged, and mostly wrong." "...wrong about this and most other things...." "Reich's style of economics relies on anecdotes rather than statistics, slogans rather than serious analysis...."
'In Praise of Cheap Labor,' (pp. 80-86). Addressing the low paying manufacturing jobs in Third World countries, the economist argues that these jobs are better than what they had.
During the Clinton Administration a $50 billion loan was arranged for Mexico after investors lost confidence, thus staving off disaster. (pp. 142-145).
'Cornering the market,' an economic term, is demonstrated with copper in the 1990s (pp. 34-41).
A couple of essays deal with currency and crisis: George Soros working over sterling was an anamoly; it is rare for a "sinister financial mastermind" to cause a devaluation on his own. Mr. Soros certainly remains unloved by some governments and a whipping boy.
The other article is about the Asian financial crisis that devastated that part of the world. See Making the World Safe for George Soros plus Bahtulism: Who Poisoned Asia's Currency Markets? (146-161).
Standards (Rates) of living are compared, 1950 and 2000 in The CPI and the Rat Race (pp. 191-195).
A political science essay from an economist was published in 1997 in which Krugman considers the pluses and minuses of democratic elections (pp. 179-183).
No index.