Book reviews
Book notes: The measure of progress: counting what really matters, by Diane Coyle
The book offers important insights into national income data compilation that are frequently ignored by economists, says Geoffrey Wood
Book notes: The political economy of central banking, by Alessandro Roselli
Book notes: Smart money: how digital currencies will win the new Cold War, by Brunello Rosa with Casey Larsen
Book notes: Unexpected revolutionaries: how central banks made and unmade economic orthodoxy, by Manuela Moschella
Book notes: Central bank capitalism: monetary policy in times of crisis, by Joscha Wullweber
This book asks if independent monetary policy is feasible at a time when central banks prop up the poorly regulated shadow banking sector
Book notes: Default: the landmark court battle over Argentina’s $100 billion debt restructuring, by Gregory Makoff
Required reading amid current high sovereign debt, global tensions and the urgent need for climate finance
Book notes: A fly on the RBI wall: an insider’s view of the central bank, by Alpana Killawala
This book offers insights into the inner workings of the growing Indian economy and pro tips on communication
Book notes: The bankers’ new clothes, second edition, by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig
A disjointed book where ‘I told you so’ new chapters add little to the excellent original analysis
Book notes: The road to freedom: economics and the good society, Joseph E Stiglitz
A stimulating amalgamation of previous ideas presenting the kind of economic system most conducive to decent society
Book notes: Carbon colonialism: how rich countries export climate breakdown, by Laurie Parsons
Compulsory reading to gain insights into many climate issues that receive insufficient ‘airtime’
Book notes: Money in the 21st century: cheap, mobile, and digital, by Richard Holden
Author’s call for compulsory end of cash and transition to CBDC seems like ‘overkill’
Book notes: The monetarists: the making of the Chicago monetary tradition, 1927-1960, by George S Tavlas
A fascinating, scholarly and sympathetic account of the Chicago monetary tradition
Book notes: Easy money, cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and the golden age of fraud, Ben McKenzie with Jacob Silverman
Casts light on how shady crypto characters defraud consumers but does little to identify and control such fraudsters while protecting the public
Book notes: How a ledger became a central bank: a monetary history of the Bank of Amsterdam, by Stephen Quinn and William Roberds
A masterful piece of monetary history that is relevant to modern-day central bankers
Book notes: Bucking the buck: US financial sanctions and the international backlash against the dollar, by Daniel McDowell
A timely and well-documented book about the weaponisation of the US dollar
Book notes: The wealth of a nation, by Geoffrey Hodgson
This book provides a deep dive into the economic and institutional transformations that supported the rise of English capitalism
Book notes: Balance of power: central banks and the fate of democracies, by Éric Monnet and translated by Steven Rendall
This short book offers partial insights, but ultimately underwhelms
Book notes: Fintech: finance, technology and regulation, by Ross Buckley, Douglas Arner and Dirk Zetzsche
An excellent overview of fintech 3.0 and 4.0 that also includes suggestions for smart regulation
Book notes: Going infinite: the rise and fall of a new tycoon, by Michael Lewis
Nothing in the book left this reader thinking anything positive at all about Bankman-Fried
Book notes: Virtuous bankers: a day in the life of the 18th-century Bank of England, by Anne L Murphy
A bottom-up account of how clerks managed operations and enhanced the BoE’s reputation
Book notes: Number go up: inside crypto’s wild rise and staggering fall, by Zeke Faux
The book would be a great, comic obituary of crypto, if only crypto were dead
Book notes: The ruble: a political history, by Ekaterina Pravilova
Indispensable reading for anyone interested in Russia and comparative, long-term historical accounts of monetary ideologies and practice
Book notes: Easy money, by Dror Goldberg
Interesting interpretations but hard to view 1690s Massachusetts paper as the invention of modern currency
Book notes: We need to talk about inflation, by Stephen King
A short, sensible book that highlights key issues – and might make a good, belated Christmas gift!