Good Economics for Hard Times

There is an honesty to calling out complex issues that otherwise would be swept under the table with an economic nuance and an open mind by the authors that resonates with me and which I find authentic. In research, we call talk about an empirical review and I think the authors just about empirically reviewed events across the world in a whole book. It is a rather refreshing perspective of the most hard pressing socio-economic turned political issues society faces today. Rather than offering simplistic, one-size-fits-all solutions, they acknowledge the complexity of the problems and admit to the possibility that there are no silver bullets, yet offer a range of potential solutions. And these are honestly the issues we are facing today if we are keen to listen to and observe what is happening around us.

The fact is, inequalities are no longer the order of the day or BAU; we must address them. They are changing the landscape of our world in ways economists must be real to and grapple with using the very economic models that no one wants to hear of. In a way bring back glory to the profession of economics, a task that is obviously daunting.

My county Kenya has just come from a divisive election within the context of pervasive inequalities. This happening in a developing nation would interest one to note that we similarly have a few of the world’s wealthiest within us benefiting from the public sector. Reading through the book and it felt like I was in a rabbit hole. For us, these inequalities threaten our existence every day with a call for a more responsive government from the opposition through protests. In their very essence, the protests threaten our stability as opportunistic and incidental crime incidents creep up through them.