Favorite Books of 2019: Kgosis and Botswana

I am generally fascinated by institutional structure, economically and politically (the name of this site as a whole is a reference to the late Douglass North). So I've often been captured by political scientists and economists who write heavily in the field. In graduate school, I read a work by James Robinson, Daron Acemoglu, and … Continue reading Favorite Books of 2019: Kgosis and Botswana

Favorite Books of 2019 – Theology, Economics, and Order

The next two books on my "Favorites of 2019" cover economics in different ways. The first uses theology to critique and inform the rational choice model, and the second builds on the New Institutional School of Economics to describe social orders. Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy - Mary Hirschfeld Those even slightly … Continue reading Favorite Books of 2019 – Theology, Economics, and Order

Favorite Books of 2019: The First two

It's not December yet, but I don't think it's too early to start making end-of-year lists. Since I'd like to write little blurbs about each, I figured I'd describe two books at a time through the end of the year. While I don't agree with every book that will appear in these posts, I found each one challenging or educational in some way. These are in no particular order. 

Progressive Free Trade?

While numerous books extol the merits of free trade, not as many make the argument from a progressive perspective. Kimberly Clausing does just that in, Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital. She proposes a broad economic vision to tackle the challenges of economic inequality - the “dominant economic problem of our time” - and hones in on middle-class wage stagnation...