American economist and Tolani Senior Professor of International Trade Policy at Cornell University, Eswar Prasad, in The Doom Loop, brings into sharp and introspective focus the upheaval of the global order through the tectonic shifts reshaping central banking, democratic institutions, and political discourse. The ongoing crisis in West Asia, coupled with President Donald Trump’s penchant for imposing seemingly arbitrary and inexplicably erratic tariffs and even renaming geographical features associated with Canada, lends Prasad’s analysis an almost uncanny prescience. Prasad devotes considerable space to a discerning dissection of the nebulous China-United States relationship. Driven by an ascendant hyper-nationalism and an abiding faith in the insular tenets of protectionism, the world’s two largest economies are drifting apart rather than converging on issues of existential importance, from climate change to public health. Drawing on his extensive experience as the former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China team, Prasad offers incisive insights into the distinctive features of China’s economic model and its likely future trajectory. China, he suggests, has single-handedly rebuffed the popular consensus that free markets constitute the singular remedy for economic malaise.
Economics
The Common Good Economy: A New Compass – Mariana Mazzucato
Prominent economist Mariana Mazzucato, in her latest book, proposes a set of five principles – terming them taken together as a ‘compass’ – which, according to her should characterise an economy. These principles are purpose and directionality, co-creation by citizens, collective learning, reward sharing, and accountability. Subsequent to the identification of the principles, the book dissects the merits and worth of each principle. The book begins with a historical journey tracing the philosophical origins of the common good. The works of Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Thomas Hobbes etc. are alluded to before providing alternative challenges in the form of the communitarian visions of philosophers such as Micheal Sandel.