The Progress Illusion Audiobook By Jon D. Erickson cover art

The Progress Illusion

Reclaiming Our Future from the Fairytale of Economics

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The Progress Illusion

By: Jon D. Erickson
Narrated by: David Colacci
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About this listen

In The Progress Illusion, Jon D. Erickson charts the rise of the economic worldview and its infiltration into our daily lives as a theory of everything. Drawing on his own experience as a young economist inoculated in the 1980s era of "greed is good," Erickson shows how pseudoscience came to dominate economic thought. He pokes holes in the conventional wisdom of neo-classical economics, illustrating how flawed theories about financial decision-making and maximizing efficiency ignore human psychology and morality. Most importantly, he demonstrates how that thinking shaped our politics and determined the course of American public policy. The result has been a system that perpetually concentrates wealth in the hands of a few, while depleting the natural resources on which economies are based.

While the history of economics is dismal indeed, Erickson is part of a vigorous reform effort grounded in the realities of life on a finite planet. This new brand of economics is both gaining steam in academia and supporting social activism. The goal is people over profit, community over consumption, and resilience over recklessness. Erickson shows crafting a new economic story is the first step toward turning away from endless growth and towards enduring prosperity.

©2022 Jon D. Erickson (P)2023 Tantor
Economics Environmental Environmental Economics Politics & Government Public Policy Theory Economic disparity Economic inequality

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historical overview & future direction

the book is fairly dense with a historical overview of economics. it makes a lot of points regarding the various era's of economic control and touches on how they came to be and discrediting the field appropriately. it end with some suggestions for students of economics, political philosophy and the social sciences to follow. let's hope they do.

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Required Listening

Every student of Economics should be made to listen to this book on repeat until all the fallacies of the orthodox field are erased from their memories. The rest of us should listen attentively at least a few times.

My only complaint is that the narrator doesn’t quite convey the vibrancy of Erickson’s ideas. Nevertheless we might revel in the wise tone of his delivery.

Our culture needs this book, and more like it, if we hope to survive the 21st century.

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