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The Economists' Hour
False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society
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Narrated by:
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Dan Bittner
About this listen
In this fascinating character-driven history, a New York Times editorial writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist spotlights the American economists who championed the rise of markets and fundamentally reshaped the modern world.
Before the 1960s, American politicians had never paid much attention to economists. But as the post-World War II boom began to sputter, economists gained influence and power - first in the United States and then around the world as their ideas inspired nations to curb government, unleash corporations, and hasten globalization.
Milton Friedman's libertarian ideals, Arthur Laffer's supply-side economics and Paul Volcker's austere campaign against inflation all left a profound mark on American life. So did lesser-known figures like Walter Oi, a blind economist whose calculations influenced President Nixon's decision to end military conscription; Alfred Kahn, who deregulated air travel; and Thomas Schelling, who put a dollar value on human life.
The economists promised steady growth and broadly-shared prosperity, but they failed to deliver. Instead, the single-minded embrace of markets has come at the expense of soaring economic inequality, the faltering health of liberal democracy, and the prospects of future generations.
Timely, engaging, and expertly researched, The Economists' Hour is a "powerful must-read" (Mohamed A. El-Erian, New York Times best-selling author) about the rise and fall of a revolution - and a compelling call for people to retake control of markets.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Binyamin Appelbaum (P)2019 Hachette AudioCritic reviews
"I very much enjoyed reading The Economists' Hour, an entertaining and well-written look at how market-oriented ideas rose from the academy and transformed nations. I do not agree with each and every perspective, but found this a valuable and highly recommendable book, which I devoured in a single sitting." (Tyler Cowen, author of The Great Stagnation)
"Binyamin Appelbaum has written a powerful must-read for all those interested in reinvigorating the credibility of economics, especially in policymaking circles. Through an engaging discussion of how economists' influence grew and spread, he shows how free-market economics evolved into an over-promising 'affirming religion', only to disappoint too many of its followers and lead others astray. His insightful analysis also helps us identify what's needed to ensure that the market economy remains 'one of humankinds most awesome inventions.'" (Mohamed A. El-Erian, author of New York Times best sellers When Markets Collide and The Only Game in Town)
"Writing in accessible language of thorny fiscal matters, the author ventures into oddly fascinating corners of recent economic history...Anyone who wonders why government officials still take the Laffer curve seriously need go no further than this lucid book." (Kirkus)
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Mostly how we "remember", not how we "learn"
- By NH Mama on 05-05-16
By: Benedict Carey
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Life Is Hard
- How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
- By: Kieran Setiya
- Narrated by: Kieran Setiya
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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There is no cure for the human condition: life is hard. But Kieran Setiya believes philosophy can help. He offers us a map for navigating rough terrain, from personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world.
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Solid
- By Jason Blum on 10-24-22
By: Kieran Setiya
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The Price of Inequality
- How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future
- By: Joseph E. Stiglitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of the nation's wealth. And, as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains, while those at the top enjoy the best health care, education, and benefits of wealth, they fail to realize that "their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live." Stiglitz draws on his deep understanding of economics to show that growing inequality is not inevitable. He examines our current state, then teases out its implications for democracy, for monetary and budgetary policy, and for globalization. He closes with a plan for a more just and prosperous future.
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One side is never enough....
- By Michael on 08-08-12
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Born to Shine
- Do Good, Find Your Joy, and Build a Life You Love
- By: Kendra Scott
- Narrated by: Kendra Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Perfection isn’t just a lie, it’s exhausting, and Kendra is tired of it. In this vulnerable, wise, and laugh-out-loud book, Kendra takes us on a journey of personal stories and hard-earned life lessons, from her humble beginnings as an awkward, bullied young girl in small-town Wisconsin to launching a business in her spare bedroom with $500. With every pitfall, misstep, and failure, Kendra builds a life—and a career—rooted in joy, purpose, and doing good, a life she wants for every listener.
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I wanted to like this so much
- By BKP House on 10-05-22
By: Kendra Scott
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Two Can Keep a Secret
- By: Karen M. McManus
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age 17. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now, Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone has declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.
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Couldn’t stop listening
- By James ODonnell on 01-09-19
By: Karen M. McManus
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Money
- The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
- By: Jacob Goldstein
- Narrated by: Jacob Goldstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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The cohost of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched, entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs.
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well researched and written but,
- By C&S on 09-29-20
By: Jacob Goldstein
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What's Next?
- The Journey to Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, and Make a Difference
- By: Chris Hodges
- Narrated by: Mark Smeby
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The journey toward deeper faith and spiritual maturity is a lifelong pursuit, with plenty of stops and bumps along the way. Inevitably, there comes a point when Christians - new believers and veterans in the faith alike - find themselves asking, "What do I do next? How do I stay motivated to grow deeper in my relationship with God when I feel complacent, intimidated, or confused?" In Now What?, Chris Hodges reveals the four steps to spiritual maturity: knowing God, finding freedom, discovering purpose, and making a difference.
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Outstanding message that is truly life changing!
- By Blake A. Davenport on 07-27-24
By: Chris Hodges
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Seeing What Others Don't
- The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
- By: Gary Klein
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Insights—like Darwin's understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick's breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA-can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed—or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don't, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery.
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Not enough actionable ideas
- By Blair on 02-24-15
By: Gary Klein
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The Science of Stuck
- Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward
- By: Britt Frank LSCSW
- Narrated by: Sasha Heinz, Britt Frank LSCSW
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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We all experience stuckness in our lives. We feel stuck in our relationships, career paths, body struggles, addiction issues, and more. Many of us know what we need to do to move forward—but find ourselves unable to take the leap to make it happen. And then we blame and shame ourselves, and stay in a loop of self-doubt that goes nowhere. The good news is you’re not lazy, crazy, or unmotivated. In this empowering and action-oriented guide, you’ll discover why we can’t think our way forward—and how to break through what’s holding us back.
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Mental health is a physical process
- By Meagen G. on 04-18-22
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Twelve and a Half
- Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success
- By: Gary Vaynerchuk
- Narrated by: Gary Vaynerchuk
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In his sixth business book, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and investor Gary Vaynerchuk explores the 12 essential emotional skills that are integral to his life - and business - success and provides today’s (and tomorrow’s) leaders with critical tools to acquire and develop these traits.
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Cult Leader Gary Vee Peddles Conjecture Porn
- By David J Hovsepian on 04-11-22
By: Gary Vaynerchuk
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All It Takes Is a Goal
- The 3-Step Plan to Ditch Regret and Tap into Your Massive Potential
- By: Jon Acuff
- Narrated by: Jon Acuff
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff got curious about tapping into his full potential, he launched a research study with Dr. Mike Peasley. They asked more than three thousand people if they felt they were living up to their full potential. Fifty percent of people reported that 50 percent of their full potential is untapped. That means half of us are walking around with half-lives. No wonder Twitter is so grumpy.
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Author narration is perfect for this book
- By lyle29 on 03-08-24
By: Jon Acuff
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Deep Utopia
- Life and Meaning in a Solved World
- By: Nick Bostrom
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Bostrom’s previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (OUP, 2014) sparked a global conversation on AI that continues to this day. That book, which became a surprise New York Times bestseller, focused on what might happen if AI development goes wrong. But what if things go right? Suppose we develop superintelligence safely and ethically, and that we make good use of the almost magical powers this technology would unlock.
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Too much, too soon?
- By Steve Sullivan on 11-26-24
By: Nick Bostrom
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Badass Affirmations
- The Wit and Wisdom of Wild Women
- By: Becca Anderson
- Narrated by: Gina Marie Davies
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover strong women quotes and encouraging self-affirmations. In Badass Affirmations, positive living and affirmation queen Becca Anderson reminds you that you are pretty darn great. Inside this motivational quotes and affirmations book, you'll be fired up by inspirational quotes for women, by women. Alongside these women empowerment quotes, you'll gain new knowledge of the badass ladies who have left their mark on the world with a mix of short bios and longer profiles.
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It’s okay not what I expected
- By Freestyle on 12-10-24
By: Becca Anderson
What listeners say about The Economists' Hour
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-05-23
Pretty good
This is a great book, but the conclusion sucks though. Otherwise it’s a very worthwhile listen and very informative
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- Owen Davis
- 10-24-19
Good book, lacking performance
The book is a good popular history of the rightward turn in 20th century politics and the role libertarian and neoclassical economists played in that shift. Avoids some deeper questions over the nature of economics as a discipline and the role of institutions in shaping ideology. But it's a well written and engaging history.
The performance would have been fine if not for some inexcusable mispronunciations, the most glaring of which is Keynes, which the reader pronounces as if it rhymes with "teens." For an economist of Keynes' towering importance -- and whose name comes up scores of times -- this is inexcusable. For those unfamiliar, imagine a reading of a book on classical philosophy which pronounces Socrates as the English words "sew" and "crates." It's that bad. Almost made me turn it off. How did no one catch this?
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1 person found this helpful
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- JudyKay Lindholm
- 08-24-20
Well researched & written
If you’ve ever wondered why we are where we are, or why we did what we did, or why things happened a certain way, this book sheds light on several historical events all of which were driven by and can be traced to an economics.
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- Jylene Livengood
- 06-30-22
useful and interesting
this is a gifted, skilled economist showing he is also a skilled storyteller. That's a crucial skill since stories are how humans understand our world. Applebaum is giving us insight into a critical area of study which, over the last century, has had increasing impact on the day to day experience of our lives.
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- PKD of NY
- 03-14-20
Great historical perspective
The book explains the economical shifts in philosophy and policy that have occurred over the past century, that have created the present day economy. I found it very informative and helpful in understanding the conditions and policies that have created our current global economy.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Heather Phillips
- 11-01-19
excellent narrative explanation
I really enjoyed listening to this. The book is filled with quotes that lend highly relevant perspective on how we got where we are today with regard to economics and economic thinking. Highly recommended!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mordy Hurwich-Kehat
- 02-17-20
It's the economy, stupid!
This is a very important and engaging story.
We're in a bad place. A rip of anger has been growing in the fabric of our society, and it's largely about the distribution of our nation's prosperity and opportunities, and the sense of fairness or lack thereof.
These have been largely the work of economists who, when their "hour" came, brought their monetary, fiscal, regulatory and free market theories out of the lecture halls and into the halls of power, out of academic journals and conferences, and into public policy and legislation.
Binyamin Appelbaum traces the arc of the economists' ascent, jousting and impact over the past seventy-five years, and the resultant rising, falling and diverging wealth of nations and individuals which have brought us to today's reckoning.
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- Andrew George
- 01-03-21
Sarcasm does not come through in print
Start with the final chapter to get the tone. It would have saved me challenges with the first few chapters.
It covers the Keynes v Milton in action rather than in publication. I like Milton's point on neighborhood effects and administration costs, but it seems like every political interaction he has is to push complete deregulation. I hate the tone and attempt of using algebra to legitimize non-cited assertions in theory of employment, but, while an ineffective communicator in print, it seems Keynes did cause less damage in the real world.
I would attribute the success and failure of economics to an absence of appropriate forum. Economics should be presented in a peer review format with debate and never taken from any individual. I guess that counts as a free market failure...
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- Fountain of Chris
- 09-06-19
One-sided ridicule of economists
This is not necessarily a criticism of the book, but it almost seems like this was written in 2009, stored on a hard drive for a decade, and then had a concluding chapter slapped on so it could be published in 2019. What I mean is that one should not go into this expecting a detailed breakdown of how what economists did from 1960-2010 got us to where we are today.
As one would expect from a lead writer on The New York Times' Editorial Board, the book is well-written and accessible. It is written for the layperson, but does have a rather obvious leftward bias. That doesn't make it right or wrong, but it is something to be aware of going in. Appelbaum chooses Milton Friedman as his principle antagonist, with a shift toward Greenspan in the book's final chapters.
You'll be left with a generally negative perception of economists, whether or not that was Appelbaum's intention - My guess is that it was. There is no mention of liberal economists like Paul Krugman or Robert Reich, passing reference to Joseph Stiglitz, and nothing said about Thomas Piketty's 600-page bestselling economics book, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century".
I thought "The Economist's Hour" as a concept had a lot of potential. There are a lot of growing pains associated with economics as it has come to prominence, but I think Appelbaum let his initial thesis be combined with confirmation bias as he made his case.
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49 people found this helpful
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- Giorgo Sertsios
- 02-13-20
Biased
The book was interesting. although I agree with many of its premises I disliked how the author cherry picked evidence and quotes, or how he jumped to conclusions using causal statements.
Why he omitted that inequality has declined sharply in Chile in the last 15 years? Why compare chilean gdp growth to Taiwan instead to countries in Latinamerica? My guess is that he wants to emphasize the flaws of the market (which are many), but he always belittled the benefits which are substantial. The biased views takes away credibility in the authors conclusions in my opinion....
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9 people found this helpful