'In his admirable book The Economists' Hour, [Binyamin Appelbaum shows how] economists were treated as little more than backroom statisticians until the late 1960s [and] argues that their heyday ended on October 13, 2008, when the chief executives of America's largest banks were marched into the US Treasury for a crisis meeting. He is surely correct.' Edward Luce, Financial Times
'Fascinating . . . totally, totally fascinating.' Kai Ryssdal, 'Marketplace', US National Public Radio
'A kind of ur-text, revealing the destructive role of centering economists in shaping public policy. It's not that we don't need economists and economic theory, but The Economists' Hour patiently reveals the many times and multiple ways they've had an outsized influence at key times and have steered us wrong. It's a fascinating analysis.' Chicago Tribune
'The Economists' Hour is a work of journalism rather than polemic . . . a well-reported and researched history of the ways in which plucky economists helped rewrite policy in America and Europe and across emerging markets' The Economist
'Lively and entertaining . . . The Economists' Hour is a reminder of the power of ideas to shape the course of history' Liaquat Ahamed, New Yorker
'A marvel of popular historical writing, propelled by anecdotes and just the right amount of explanation but also impressively well grounded in the latest academic research by historians, sociologists and others' New York Times
Binyamin Appelbaum writes about economics and business for the editorial page of the New York Times. From 2010 to 2019, he was a Washington correspondent for the Times, covering economic policy in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. He previously worked for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Charlotte Observer, where his reporting on subprime lending won a George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives with his wife and children in Washington, DC.
Show more
'In his admirable book The Economists' Hour, [Binyamin Appelbaum shows how] economists were treated as little more than backroom statisticians until the late 1960s [and] argues that their heyday ended on October 13, 2008, when the chief executives of America's largest banks were marched into the US Treasury for a crisis meeting. He is surely correct.' Edward Luce, Financial Times
'Fascinating . . . totally, totally fascinating.' Kai Ryssdal, 'Marketplace', US National Public Radio
'A kind of ur-text, revealing the destructive role of centering economists in shaping public policy. It's not that we don't need economists and economic theory, but The Economists' Hour patiently reveals the many times and multiple ways they've had an outsized influence at key times and have steered us wrong. It's a fascinating analysis.' Chicago Tribune
'The Economists' Hour is a work of journalism rather than polemic . . . a well-reported and researched history of the ways in which plucky economists helped rewrite policy in America and Europe and across emerging markets' The Economist
'Lively and entertaining . . . The Economists' Hour is a reminder of the power of ideas to shape the course of history' Liaquat Ahamed, New Yorker
'A marvel of popular historical writing, propelled by anecdotes and just the right amount of explanation but also impressively well grounded in the latest academic research by historians, sociologists and others' New York Times
Binyamin Appelbaum writes about economics and business for the editorial page of the New York Times. From 2010 to 2019, he was a Washington correspondent for the Times, covering economic policy in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. He previously worked for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Charlotte Observer, where his reporting on subprime lending won a George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives with his wife and children in Washington, DC.
Show moreAfter decades of pervasive influence over government policy, economists have done much to create the world in which we live. And yet, how well do they actually understand human behaviour? As the Western world turns against 'experts', has their time come to an end?
Binyamin Appelbaum is a Washington correspondent for the New York Times, where he covers the Federal Reserve and other aspects of economic policy. Before joining the Times in 2010, he was a reporter at the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Charlotte Observer, where he was part of a team of reporters nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the subprime-mortgage crisis.
Lively and entertaining . . . The Economists' Hour is a reminder of
the power of ideas to shape the course of history.
*New Yorker*
The New York Times financial writer maps the advance of
economists-from the Kennedy administration onward-out of the
academy and into government, elevating free markets in the
sausage-making of public policy and sparking the inequity that
plagues us today.
*O Magazine*
An entertaining and well-written look at how market-oriented ideas
rose from the academy and transformed nations.
*Tyler Cowen*
Writing in accessible language of thorny fiscal matters, the author
ventures into oddly fascinating corners of recent economic history
. . . Anyone who wonders why government officials still take the
Laffer curve seriously need go no further than this lucid book.
*Kirkus*
Binyamin Appelbaum has written a powerful must-read for all those
interested in reinvigorating the credibility of economics,
especially in policymaking circles.
*Mohamed A. El-Erian*
The wider story of the market-centric worldview provides the meat
of Appelbaum’s narrative . . . The fact that such sophisticated
people presided over a dangerous build-up in financial risk
suggests that something larger was at work than a naive faith in
markets. Appelbaum’s strength is that he generally acknowledges
these complexities.
*Atlantic*
This thoroughly researched, comprehensive, and critical account of
the economic philosophies that have reigned for the past half
century powerfully indicts them.
*Publisher Weekly (starred)*
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