End This Depression Now!
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780393088779 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 04/30/2012 |
| Pages: | 272 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.10(d) |
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End This Depression Now!
4.2 out of 5
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0 ratings.
53 reviews.
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Throughout his career, Krugman has been a very good economic historian, diagnostician and prognosticator. He has an excellent command of the facts and is right far more often than middle ground economists who seek who have moved towards the disproven (by their results) "middle ground" economic policies of austerity and away from the proven principles of stimulus which I guess you could call Neo Keynsian Revivalism.
If you love the economics of the GOP, you'll hate this book. If you love the economics espoused by the leaders of the current Democratic party, you won't be much happier. Tough.
Highly recommended.
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Why does the Nook version cost more than $3 more than the Kindle edition?
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Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman clearly explains why normal economic policies do not work in a depression/recession and why government fiscal stimulus is required to get the economy moving again. He challenges the economists who have been wrong every step of the way for the past 30 years and suggests we instead return to the policies that worked so well from the 1930s to the 1970s.
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This book is a political hot button issue, so I will try to leave politics out of the review. The book is well written, so even someone with little understanding of economics should understand Dr. Krugman's position. The author is a liberal (I am not). Since I went into reading this book with the assumption that government spending should increase during a depression, I did not find his position built on Keynesian economics all that controversial. I tend to prefer nonfiction authors to be a bit detached from their subject, so my only criticism is that Dr. Krugman can get a bit whiney and unkind to his critics.
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End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman Nobel Laureate in Economics
Paul Krugman presents evidence that to end this fiscal recession--which he calls depression because of lack of jobs and that is going on on four years and an increase in income inequality--we need new fiscal policies. A fiscal stimulus that helps the economy to add jobs--contrary to what some people will say, the first stimulus did not work because it was not strong enough--and that to reduce the deficit lowers growth, especially in the near term.
The Book specifically discusses two different and opposing points of view: the first, preached by John Maynard Keynes’ 1936 work, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
“The outstanding faults of economic society in which we live are its failure to provide for full employment and its arbitrary an inequitable distribution of wealth and incomes.” John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
Although income inequality is hard to solve, unemployment is not. Krugman cites the example of the US entry into WWII where a burst of federal spending cause a 7% rise in the total number of jobs in America. The equivalent of adding more than 10 million jobs today. Krugman supports his beliefs in this policy by the Paul Samuelson textbook, Economics first published in 1948 which brought Keynesian economics to American colleges.
The second opposing theory is championed by Milton Friedman. Friedman's challenges to what he later called "naive Keynesian" (as opposed to New Keynesian) theory began with his 1950s reinterpretation of the consumption function, and he became the main advocate opposing activist Keynesian government policies. In the late 1960s he described his own approach (along with all of mainstream economics) as using "Keynesian language and apparatus" yet rejecting its "initial" conclusions. During the 1960s he promoted an alternative macroeconomic policy known as "monetarism". He theorized there existed a “natural” rate of unemployment, and argued that governments could increase employment above this rate (e.g., by increasing aggregate demand) only at the risk of causing inflation to accelerate. He argued that the Phillips curve was not stable and predicted what would come to be known as stagflation (high unemployment with high inflation). Friedman argued that, given the existence of the Federal Reserve, a constant small expansion of the money supply was the only wise policy. This obviously was proven wrong at The Clinton Administration.
The mess we’re in now--his great depression--was caused by several acts of Congress. Carter aided to the problem in 1980 when he passed the Monetary Control Act, which ended regulations that prevented banks on many kinds of deposits. Reagan gave the another blow with the Garn-St. Germain Act of 1982, which relaxed restrictions on the kinds of loans banks could make. And finally, the dissolution of the Glass-Seagal Act of 1933 which was overturned by Congress in 1999 under President Clinton so that Citibank and Travelers could merge--which was illegal until then, because banks could not use depositors money to invest in the market.
The result was an increasingly unregulated system in which banks were free to give in fully to the overconfidence that the quiet period had created. Debt soared, risks multiplied, and then, the housing bubble burst and brought the system down.
Mr Krugman then walks us, in plain and easy language, to the way forward. “Our priority must be to get ourselves back on the path to growth; every day that we lag behind normal production levels only adds to the astronomical economic loss of this depression.” What we need for rapid, powerful recovery is precisely what got us out of The Great Depression--a burst of government spending to jump-start the economy. “...your spending is my income.”
Arguing both sides of the economic policies: Keynes’ 1936 work, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and Milton Friedman’s ideas which are causing European economies to be austere and depressed growth (and we know how bad that is going), Friedman talks about inflation, the deficit, deregulation. Friedman addresses them head-on until he crushes his opponents and delivers the knockout blow.
I think this is a must read for everyone who wants to make a difference in the 2012 Presidential election.
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I find that Krugman has destroyed some of my false ideas of the current economy.
I wish I would have got the book in paper.
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Krugman present a clear explanation why the current financial crisis is a depression, not a typical business cycle recession and how monetary policy alone is insufficient to support a full economic recovery. His arguments including economic data, but aren't overly technically. Regular readers of Krugman's columns and/or blogs will be familar with the concepts and arguments presented (Zero-bounded interest rates, the confidence fairy, the myth of expansionive austerity). However, the book provides a cogent and ordered summary of how the US and European economies got into this depression, what it will take to revive our economy, and the high human and economic cost of continued inaction.
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The "throw more money" at it solution that Krugman supports has not been working and will not work.
Enough with the bailouts for billionaires and the wasting of our tax money on Solyndra and others.
Reduce the size and scope of government, and let the free market system work.
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Paul Krugman's book "End This Depression Now!" clearly explains the economic disparity the United States is currently undergoing and what how it has effected other countries in particular Europe.
He explains in a very simplified manner the functions of the federal reserve, and its significance, in helping to alleviate the situation along with what the federal government should do as well as what it should not have done.
I have taken away a small amount of economic terms that are defined throughout. This means, for other interested readers, that you do not have to have a background in economics to understand the reading. But for those that do have a background, you will be rewarded with a goldmine of information.
What I appreciate about the author is his ability to talk to the "99%" in layman's terms.
Paul Krugman is now one of my favorite book authors.
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This guy knows what he is writing about. I agree with him philosophically but learned so much more.
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This nobel prize winning economist provides an in-depth, but somewhat biased view of americas current economic and political situation; starting from housing bubbles in real estate and eventually to collapsing interest rates, shadow market politics, and the governments play in all this, all eloquently laid out in a riveting (yet somewhat technical) piece of literature. Overall this is a must read book for anyone who who wants to get informed on why the recession is still around and, if accepting to krugmans wisdom, learn about a possible solution.
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Krugman has made complex macroeconomic theory and policy easy to understand - even a member of Congress could understand these principles.
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Very well-written explanation of what brought on the financial crisis, why current policies are failing, and what we can do to fix the situation. READ THIS BOOK!! Understanding the information contained is essential to informed voting in the next election.
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I think Krugman does a pretty good job of explaining how more, not less, government spending can help us to repair the economy and get people to work. He also does an excellent job of showing why austerity is not only not beneficial to those reliant on the government for help but why it can also further weaken economies that are already in recession or depression The most relevant and obvious example that Krugman uses are the case studies of Greece, Spain and Ireland. They've instituted various austerity measures that have only help to worsen their bleak economies. Lastly, his whole book is a refutation of the idea that deficits are automatically bad for the government. We hear this so much in everyday political discourse and it's rarely challenged. I hope that this book will be read by numerous Americans, especially those who are on the fence about who to vote for in the upcoming elections.
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This is why I like Paul Krugman: his writing is easy to understand and he's usually right! Nobody seems to bother holding prognosticators accountable for their opinions. You see the same pundits, year in and year out, making predictions and it doesn't seem to harm their credibility if they are rarely correct. I gave up on the Wall Street Journal editorials, because they were NEVER right. The editors were confident that the Bush tax cuts would stimulate the economy and end the deficit. Have they ever apologized for being absolutely wrong? No. Krugman's ideas are actually rooted in historical precedent, not ideology. These days, however, facts don't seem to matter.
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While I'm more of a centrist and don't always agree with him on everything, he's the type of guy I love to read and follow.
I don't believe in surrounding myself with people who see life the same way, so I out sometimes different views aren't necessarily a bad thing. I've really enjoyed this book and appreciate his work in general.
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Since the financial crisis, misguided Western leaders have demanded crushing austerity measures that have unnecessarily deepened the slump. Across Europe, economic and social well being have plummeted. In the U.S., a resurgent right has obstructed needed Congressional action. Krugman is in the small but vocal group of political economy experts who challenge the failing policies of orthodoxy. With a firm grasp of Keynes, he uses logic and history as a guide on ending the crisis. The book is just as relevant following Brexit and the election of Trump. If we want to stop the advance of dangerous nationalism and counterproductive isolation, we must offer a realistic yet progressive policy agenda. Krugman does just that.
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