Book reviews
Book notes: Fortune Tellers: The Story of America’s First Economic Forecasters, by Walter Friedman
A fascinating book that crosses the traditional boundaries between the history of economic thought and cultural history
Book notes: GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History, by Diane Coyle
A whistle-stop tour of the development of GDP, a workhorse of economic modelling and analysis
Book notes: Alexandre Lamfalussy, by Christophe Lamfalussy, Ivo Maes and Sabine Peters
This is a fascinating account of the life and career of a great European
Book notes: The Dollar Trap, by Eswar S Prasad
A lively and compelling analysis on currency wars in the wake of the financial crisis – and the likely persistence of the US dollar as the world’s pre-eminent currency
Book notes: Deliberating American Monetary Policy, by Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey
Using recordings of meetings of not only the FOMC but also of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, the book tries to understand how monetary policy is decided
Book notes: Mass flourishing, by Edmund Phelps
This is a recommended read, not only because it was written by Edmund Phelps, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in economics, but for encouraging reflection on fundamental issues related to modern life
Book notes: The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature and the Future of Forecasting
The Map and the Territory is an enigmatic title for a book written by a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan.
Book notes: Reflections on Global Finance: Selected Essays from SSgA’s Official Institutions Group 2002–2013
Articles and essays addressed to official sector clients of State Street Global Advisors’ official institutions group (SSgA OIG).
Book notes: Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit
Markets for goods and labour depend vitally on the institutions that underpin them, say Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber
Book notes: Saving the City: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914
A fascinating, brilliant and superbly researched analysis of these events and the lessons they have for us.
Book notes: The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White and the Making of a New World Order
A fscinating account of the Bretton Woods conference from the point of view of its two main players: John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White
Book notes: Bank of Finland 200 Years: Parliament’s Bank part II
An account of the central bank's dramatic history from December 1939 to the present day
Booknotes: After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
According to Alan Blinder's publisher, he has taken the time 'to think his way through to a truly comprehensive narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened'
Booknotes: The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis
This volume is based on the transcripts of four lectures from a series delivered by the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board at George Washington University in the spring of 2012