
To keep up the practice of reading and sharing some interesting books that are likely not to appear in the most prestigious Top Ten platforms, here comes a fall 2022 installment. Previous suggestions can be found here (summer 2022), here & here.
It is incredible how much of the economic history that we think we might know and understand is relevant today. In fact, hardly anything else matters as much as a critical analysis of the economic (i.e., social) past to our interpretation of contemporary economic developments, especially in an “small open economy” context. We discussed the difficult choices facing such economies earlier, e.g., here.
As usual, this selection of books avoids the obvious blockbuster issues, though some books are new and may be more popular than others. Motivated by exchanges with colleagues, students, and friends, this list subjectively, reflects what I’ve read (or aim to read) and find relevant in the confusing intellectual web of economic development and economic history.
- Chang, Ha-Joon. 2002. Kicking Away the Ladder. Anthem Press.
- Eichengreen, Barry. 2006. The European Economy Since 1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Glaeser, E. and D. Cutler. 2021. Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation. New York: Penguin Press.
- Herodotus. 2013. The Histories. New York: Penguin Press.
- Horak, Sven. 2022. Informal Networks in International Business. Emerald Publishing Limited.
- Iandolo, Alessandro. 2022. Arrested Development: The Soviet Union in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, 1955–1968. Cornell University Press.
- Mokyr, Joel. 2012. The Enlightened Economy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Perez Caldentey, Esteban and Matias Vernengo (eds.). 2017. Why Latin American Nations Fail: Development Strategies in the Twenty-First Century. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
- Schumpeter, Joseph A. (1942) 2008. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
- Taylor, Lance. 2011. Maynard’s Revenge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ah! And (yet, again, claiming that monopoly right) this summer Transition Economies was released in an audio format by Tantor Media (Yay!) and narrated by Peter Lerman (Yay, again!), and can be listened to here or on Amazon.