bwaber reviewed Straight talk on trade by Dani Rodrik
An Informed But Mostly Opinion-Laden Tour through the Political Economy of Modern Economic Policy
3 stars
This book provides a thorough rebuke of the neoliberal economic consensus that drove global economic policy from 1980 to around 2016, although much more on ideological grounds alone rather than grounded in much data or rigorous analysis. That's not to say the conclusions are wrong - far from it. Most are almost certainly correct, although with the exception of an excellent chapter on moving the field of economics to a focus on identifying the correct models for the correct economic problem much of the rest of the book is left for the reader to fill in the blanks.
As a consequence, if you're unfamiliar with the last ~8 years of cutting-edge economic research, you may wonder which of the suppositions Rodrik expounds on are justified and to what degree they explain many of the local and global economic disparities that are observed today. If you want that kind of analysis, …
This book provides a thorough rebuke of the neoliberal economic consensus that drove global economic policy from 1980 to around 2016, although much more on ideological grounds alone rather than grounded in much data or rigorous analysis. That's not to say the conclusions are wrong - far from it. Most are almost certainly correct, although with the exception of an excellent chapter on moving the field of economics to a focus on identifying the correct models for the correct economic problem much of the rest of the book is left for the reader to fill in the blanks.
As a consequence, if you're unfamiliar with the last ~8 years of cutting-edge economic research, you may wonder which of the suppositions Rodrik expounds on are justified and to what degree they explain many of the local and global economic disparities that are observed today. If you want that kind of analysis, you're probably better off with one of Piketty's books. If, however, you're more interested in knowing effective talking points and the natural conclusion of books like Piketty's, this book is more succinct and engaging.