Economic History

Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist....

The true, behind-the-scenes history of the people who built Silicon Valley and shaped Big Tech in America....

Michael Lewis intelligently - and humorously - explains the current economic crisis in The Big Short....

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries.....

Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. The pessimists insist that we will reach a turning point and things will get worse. But they have been saying this for 200 years....

The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters....

Big tech has replaced capitalism's twin pillars—markets and profit—with its platforms and rents. With every click and scroll, we labor like serfs to increase its power....

Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society....

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. They're wrong....

Richard Cockett gives us the entirety of an extraordinary story of how one city made the modern world—and how we all remain inescapably Viennese....

A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America's financial history by an acclaimed New York Times reporter....

If you asked most people what forces led to today’s unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, no one would say the Federal Reserve. For most of its history, the Fed has enjoyed the fawning adoration of the press....

Richard H. Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans - predictable, error-prone individuals....

Palo Alto’s weather is temperate, its people are educated and enterprising, its corporations are spiritually and materially ambitious and demonstrably world-changing....

In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from 20 countries, ranging as far back as the 18th century, to uncover key economic and social patterns....

When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nations currency depreciates beyond recovery....

The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq....

An explosive, deeply reported exposé of McKinsey & Company, the international consulting firm that advises corporations and governments, that highlights the often drastic impact of its work on employees and citizens around the world....

When did America give up on fairness? The author of Fantasyland tells the epic history of how America decided that big business gets whatever it wants, only the rich get richer, and nothing should ever change - and charts a way back to the future....

Called by H.L. Mencken, "one of the few economists in history who could really write," Henry Hazlitt achieved lasting fame for this brilliant but concise work....

Acclaimed economist and BBC broadcaster Linda Yueh profiles the great economic minds who focused on the big questions: growth, innovation, and the nature of markets....

More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals....

These Are the Plunderers traces the thirty-year history of corporate takeovers in America and private equity’s increasing dominance....

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity....

Through the last 150 years of American history, Ijeoma Oluo exposes the devastating consequences of white male supremacy on women, people of color, and white men themselves....

Yet prosperity has come at a price: environmental destruction, desolation of local cultures, the rise of vast inequalities, and destabilizing technologies. Faced with such damage, many now claim that the only way forward is through "degrowth," deliberately shrinking our economic footprint. Instead, Daniel Susskind argues, we must keep growth but redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value.

Default is the riveting story of Argentina's sovereign debt drama, which reveals the obscure inner workings of sovereign debt restructuring. This detailed case study describes the intense fight over the role of the IMF in Argentina's 2005 debt restructuring and the ensuing bitter decade of litigation with holdout creditors, demonstrating that outcomes for sovereign debt are determined by a complex interplay between financial markets, governments, the IMF, the press, and the courts.

The whole world has a stake in India’s future, and that future hinges on whether India can develop its economy and deliver for its population—now the world’s largest—while staying democratic.

In explaining how economic thinking is indispensable to tackling these huge problems, this book is a sure-footed guide, spanning Aristotle’s ideas about restraining consumption, Adam Smith’s thinking about the importance of moral character for sustained economic development, and Esther Duflo’s ongoing work to help the world’s poorest communities lift themselves out of poverty.

With unparalleled access, and having interviewed hundreds of people – from Amazon executives to competitors to small businesses who rely on its marketplace to survive – Dana Mattioli exposes how Amazon was driven by a competitive edge to dominate every industry it entered, bulldozed all who stood in its way, reshaped the retail landscape, transformed how Wall Street evaluates companies, and altered the very nature of the global economy.

Prepare to delve into the dynamic universe of economics as you've never seen it before. "China's Economic Ascendance" presents an enthralling and comprehensive in-depth examination of China's extraordinary economic journey. This is no mere textbook but a vibrant and exciting exploration that will captivate anyone with an interest in China, economics, or the intriguing interplay between them. In this detailed tome, you'll traverse the terrain from the foundations of Mao's era to the present day, covering a broad spectrum of topics from China's integration into the global economy, the entry ...

Are you ready for a journey back in time to the thrilling era of the Gold Rush? Get ready to step into the shoes of gold miners who risked it all to strike it rich. Life in the Gold Rush is an insightful and captivating eBook that delves into the realities of life as a gold miner. With 20 diverse and fascinating chapters, this eBook offers an in-depth look at the lure of gold, the daily routine of a gold miner, and the tools of the trade. We explore how technology has transformed modern mining and the economic impact of gold mining. But this eBook is not just a lesson in history: we also ...

Dive into the fascinating realm of "Economic Curiosities," a riveting eBook that offers an extraordinary tour of the economic world, unveiling the unseen forces that shape our financial landscape. Discover an enthralling tapestry of topics, where each chapter turns the page on conventional wisdom to illuminate the hidden dimensions and intriguing intersections of modern economics. Embark on a journey through the nuanced layers of Behavioral Economics, gaining insight into how cognitive biases and emotions sway financial decisions and markets. Uncover the complexities of high-tech economies ...

Discover the fascinating world of commercial trucking in this comprehensive guide that delves into the rich history, current challenges, and future trends of one of the most vital industries in the global economy. From the early days of horse-drawn wagons to the cutting-edge technologies of autonomous vehicles, "The Road Ahead" provides a captivating journey through the evolution of commercial trucking. Explore the pioneering spirit of truck drivers, the growth of interstate highways, and the impact of deregulation on industry dynamics.

Over the past two centuries, economic growth has freed billions from poverty and made our lives far healthier and longer. As a result, the unfettered pursuit of growth defines economic life around the world. Yet this prosperity has come at an enormous price. At this time of uncertainty about growth and its value, award-winning economist Daniel Susskind provides an essential reckoning. In a sweeping analysis full of historical insight, he argues that we cannot abandon growth but shows instead how we must redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value.

This book explores what we can learn from the global history of financial bubbles and their booms and busts. Warren Buffett once said, "The first rule of an investment is don't lose money. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are." The tales of overreaching hubris and greed that follow in this book remind us not to get carried away and risk investment losses that are hard to recover from. Bulls and Bears make money, but Hogs get slaughtered. Navigating the financial markets' twists and turns can often feel like deciphering a ...

In 1995, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin re-defined the next thirty years of currency policy that ushered in exceptional prosperity and cheap foreign goods, but the strong dollar policy also played a role in the devastating hollowing out of America’s manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, abroad, the United States increasingly turned to the dollar as a weapon of war. In Paper Soldiers, Saleha Mohsin reveals how the Treasury Department has shaped U.S. policy at home and overseas by wielding the American dollar as a weapon—and what that means in a new age of crisis.

In Vulture Capitalism, acclaimed journalist Grace Blakeley takes on the world’s most powerful corporations by showing how the causes of our modern crisis are the intended result of our capitalist system. It’s not broken, it’s working exactly as planned. From JPMorgan to Boeing, Henry Ford to Richard Nixon, Blakeley shows us exactly where late-stage capitalism has gone wrong. Searing, explosive and timely, Vulture Capitalism is the book you need to understand what is happening in the world around you – and what you can do to change it.

In the twelfth-century, Pisa was a thriving metropolis, a powerhouse of global trade, and a city that stood at the centre of Mediaeval Europe. But Pisa had a problem. It was running out of coins. In the face of financial crisis, it was here that the foundations of modern banking were born. In Money and Promises, the distinguished financier, entrepreneur and historian Paolo Zannoni examines the fascinating, complex relationship between states and banks.

It’s easy to look at the state of the world around us and feel hopeless. We live in an era marked by war, climate crisis, political polarization, and acute inequality—and yet many of us feel powerless to do anything about these profound issues. We’ve been assured that unfettered capitalism is necessary to ensure our freedom and prosperity, even as we see its corrosive effects proliferating daily. Why, in our age of unchecked corporate power, are most of us living paycheck to paycheck?