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People, Power, and Profits
People, Power, and Profits
Nov 21, 2024 7:33 AM

Author:Joseph Stiglitz

People, Power, and Profits

From Nobel Prize-winning economist and bestselling author Joseph Stiglitz, this account of the dangers of free market fundamentalism reveals what has gone so wrong, but also shows us a way out.

We all have the sense that our economy tilts toward big business, but as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains in People, Power and Profits, a few corporations have come to dominate entire sectors, contributing to skyrocketing inequality and slow growth. This is how the financial industry has managed to write its own regulations, tech companies have accumulated reams of personal data with little oversight, and government has negotiated trade deals that fail to represent the best interests of workers. Too many have made their wealth through exploitation of others rather than through wealth creation. If something isn't done, new technologies may make matters worse, increasing inequality and unemployment.

Stiglitz identifies the true sources of wealth and increases in standards of living, based on learning, advances in science and technology, and the rule of law. He shows that the assault on the judiciary, universities, and the media undermines the very institutions that have long been the foundation of economic prosperity and democracy.

Helpless though we may feel today, we are far from powerless. In fact, the economic solutions are often quite clear. We need to exploit the benefits of markets while taming their excesses, making sure that markets work for people and not the other way around. If enough rally behind this agenda for change, we can create a progressive capitalism that will recreate a shared prosperity. Stiglitz shows how a decent middle-class life can once again be attainable by all.

Reviews

This eminent economist provides an authoritative defence of government intervention using mainstream economics and a justification for how to build a fairer society without sacrificing growth

—— Gavin Jacobson , Financial Times

His conclusions are bleak, his prescriptions radical

—— Gerard Baker , The Times

People, Power, and Profits builds on Stiglitz's earlier work and adds some pretty big ambitions

—— Daniel W. Drezner , The New York Times

Urgent ... Unless rising inequality caused by mismanaged globalization, financial liberalization, and destabilizing technological change is addressed, Stiglitz argues, nostrum-peddling demagoguery will find a receptive audience

—— New Yorker

'Any good biography of a mountebank depicts not only its subject but also the ambivalent society that accommodated the monster. John Preston's Fall does this with deft understatement ... Preston's A Very English Scandal used an almost novelistic eye to revive a well-worn scandal. Fall is equally satisfying'

—— Quentin Letts , The Times

'An absorbing profile of the war hero turned rogue ... Preston comes to his subject with the advantage both of hindsight and his great skill at exposing hypocrisy and subterfuge ... he has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the revealing quote'

—— Observer, Book of the Week

'There have been many books written about Robert Maxwell, but surely none as pacy, entertaining and jaw-dropping as this one... yes, this is quite a book'

—— Daily Mail

'Preston has written a wonderfully ­entertaining book and interviewed almost everyone who crossed ­Maxwell's path in his heyday. He has an eye for comedy and drama and, where he explains his subject's shady and dauntingly complex business dealings, he does so clearly and succinctly'

—— New Statesman

'Irresistible page-turning pace ... what emerges from Fall is a vividly grotesque picture of the emperor showing off his nonexistent new clothes to an applauding crowd of courtiers - politicians, editors, bankers - who all too willingly suspended any disbelief they may have felt'

—— Francis Wheen , Spectator

'John Preston's book Fall, a recounting of the life of one of the most extraordinary figures in British corporate life, is timely ... almost 30 years since Maxwell died at sea in unexplained circumstances, it is possible to look back on his story and the fraud as a great, sweeping whole, a bridge from the second world war to the last years of the media barons before the internet began ... Preston tells the story well ... its strength is in telling the grand sweep of an extraordinary life'

—— Financial Times

'Vivid ... Preston (has a) gift for the kind of wry comedy that suits English decline'

—— Guardian, Book of the Day

'John Preston's research for this terrific biography is extensive; he interviewed three of Maxwell's children and his sister. But he also presents a large character at the heart of a gripping novel which happens to be true'

—— Evening Standard

'Thanks to Preston's fine writing, Fall fizzes along at pace and is engrossing as it charts Maxwell's astonishing life - and how he came to be so widely reviled'

—— i

'John Preston tells [the story of Maxwell] with great verve and the benefit of extensive interviews with, among others, Maxwell's one-time rival Rupert Murdoch... the portrait that emerges is more subtly drawn than previous ones'

—— Economist

'John Preston brings the old crook and liar magnificently to life in this sparkling biography... this beautifully written book provides many moments of high and low comedy... Preston's sharp eye for the ridiculous and the piquant conjures up a lost Fleet Street world'

—— Jewish Chronicle

'Preston is a natural storyteller'

—— The Times

Deeply researched, fluently written, and darkly comic, it reads like a thriller

—— Ben Macintyre on 'A Very English Scandal'

Brilliant, sad, startling

—— Jon Ronson on 'A Very English Scandal'

A terrific book and brilliantly researched

—— Claire Tomalin on 'A Very English Scandal'

Very funny and endlessly extraordinary

—— Guardian on 'A Very English Scandal'

Preston is a natural storyteller

—— The Times

A White House story with shades of Bridget Jones... Dorey-Stein is perceptive and has made an unusually interesting contribution to the groaning shelves of presidential history.

—— Evening Standard

For five years Beck Dorey-Stein was a stenographer in the White House, giving her a front-row seat as US political history was made.

—— Observer

[This] breezy page turner is essentially Bridget Jones goes to the White House.

—— New York Times

Hilsum is a former colleague, well placed to chart her friend’s life, with an especially brilliant account of her final week, where Colvin’s exposure to peril again went beyond the call of duty

—— Strong Words

Superb and moving

—— Emma Lee-Potter , Independent, **Books of the Year**

[Hilsum’s] tone is admiring but never adulatory, and her book is richly informed by her close knowledge of the events described… [an] excellent book

—— Caroline Moorehead , Times Literary Supplement

Lindsey Hilsum… in this account… [shows] just how brim full of life and heart Colvin was: from the start to the finish of her brilliant career, and of her sassy, rambunctious life

—— Barney Bardsley , On: Yorkshire

[An] excellent biography… I found it inspirational

—— Ann Treneman , The Times

This is a remarkable book, deeply moving, disturbing in its sometime intensity… such is the power of Lindsey Hilsum’s book

—— Tony Jasper , Methodist Recorder

Colvin’s tumultuous life has inspired a number of recent accounts… it is Hilsum’s biography, written by a woman who both knew Colvin and had access to her unpublished reporting notes and private diaries, that seems to most closely capture her spirit.

—— The New Yorker

Hilsum writes with admiration and compassionate understanding of her colleague, and of their collegial friendship that gets close to what we can, without sentiment, call love.

—— The New York Review of Books

A refreshing take on the ecology of modern economics . . . This book serves as a fascinating reminder to business leaders and economists alike to stand back at a distance to examine our modern economics.

—— Best Business Books of 2017 , Forbes

I am loving Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics. It puts inequality in a far broader context, connecting a great many 21st century problems with a single vision. Every business leader and every policy maker should read it.

—— Tim O’Reilly

What if it were possible to live well without trashing the planet? Doughnut Economics succinctly captures this tantalising possibility and takes up its challenge. Brimming with creativity, Raworth reclaims economics from the dust of academia and puts it to the service of a better world.

—— Tim Jackson, author of PROSPERITY WITHOUT GROWTH

Kate Raworth makes a powerful argument to look beyond economic growth alone for a true measure of prosperity and progress . . . The doughnut offers a vision for an equitable and sustainable future.

—— Intelligent HQ

This book gave me faith that there is an alternative story to tell to the neoliberal narrative.

—— Marcus de Sautoy

Finding a healthy alternative to the prevailing growth model that has strained the planet to bursting is the holy grail of environmental economics. And it looks like maybe we’ve found it . . . It’s hard to understate how exciting this revelation is

—— Inhabitat

This is truly the book we've all been waiting for. Kate Raworth provides the antidote to neoliberal economics with her radical and ambitious vision of an economy in service to life. Given the current state of the world, we need Doughnut Economics now more than ever.

—— L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions

I read this book with the excitement that the people of his day must have read John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory. It is brilliant, thrilling and revolutionary. Drawing on a deep well of learning, wisdom and deep thinking, Kate Raworth has comprehensively reframed and redrawn economics. It is entirely accessible, even for people with no knowledge of the subject. I believe that Doughnut Economics will change the world.

—— George Monbiot, author and Guardian columnist

Raworth’s groundbreaking book hand-picks the best emergent ideas – ranging from ecological, behavioural and institutional economics to complexity thinking, and Earth-systems science – to reveal the insights of eclectic economic re-thinkers . . . Revolutionary.

—— Judges' Statement, The Transmission Prize 2018

In Doughnut Economics Raworth takes on the enormous task of sketching out a new approach to the economy in 290 pages . . . A dizzying whirl through the 300 years of economic theory, and challenges to their fundamental principles

—— City A.M.

One of last year's most important books on (fixing) economics

—— Best Books on Innovation , Nesta

A good starting point for a much needed debate about economic policy priorities.

—— Reuters BreakingViews

Highly informed and intelligent.

—— Socialist Review

[Raworth’s] business-friendly 2017 book Doughnut Economics advocated meeting the needs of all within the means of the planet.

—— 1000 Most Influential Londoners , Evening Standard

Powerful and radical

—— Building.co.uk

It's an absolute must-read about the circular economy and an economic model beyond capitalism.

—— Sam Galsworthy, co-founder of Sipsmith , The Grocer

Excellent

—— Ben Cooke , The Times

It’s the first book about the future economy that I can’t put down!

—— Frances Morris , ELLE Decoration

A fascinating look at future economic policy

—— U2’s The Edge , Daily Telegraph

Kate is not the first person to try to reconcile economic growth with our world's finite resources . . . but her book makes a complex thesis accessible.

—— George Alagiah , New Statesman

One of the best books I have read in the last year or two was Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, an economist. She puts economics into the framework of society and the environment, rather than at the top. I recommend it to all.

—— Lord Greaves

In Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth's economics serve life - not the endless growth of late capitalism. Compellingly, she invites us to see the economy as an organism rather than a mechanism. By referring to our knowledge of natural systems instead of the machine models of Newtonian mechanics, she offers us a way to reimagine money in order to regenerate rather than degenerate. In this wonderful, readable book, Raworth completely rewrites the textbooks of economic theory in language that is lucid and inspirational: a must read!

—— Antony Gormley , GQ

Raworth radically redraws the system, putting people's needs at its heart . . . with growth bound by an ecological ceiling, the outer edge of the circle, beyond which there is climate change, freshwater stress and biodiversity loss. The doughnut is the safe space where there can be sustainable development.

—— Conde Nast Traveller

An accessible, relatable account that relays academic thinking back to everyday lives and communities.

—— Best Books on Climate Change , Independent
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