The Only Game in Town

Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse

By: Mohamed A. El-Erian

Narrated by: Dan Woren

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A roadmap to what lies ahead and the decisions we must make now to stave off the next global economic and financial crisis, from one of the world’s most influential economic thinkers and the author of When Markets Collide

“The one economic book you must read now . . . If you want to understand [our] bifurcated world and where it’s headed, there is no better interpreter than Mohamed El-Erian.”—Time

Our current economic path is coming to an end. The signposts are all around us: sluggish growth, rising inequality, stubbornly high pockets of unemployment, and jittery financial markets, to name a few. Soon we will reach a fork in the road: One path leads to renewed growth, prosperity, and financial stability, the other to recession and market disorder.

In The Only Game in Town, El-Erian casts his gaze toward the future of the global economy and markets, outlining the choices we face both individually and collectively in an era of economic uncertainty and financial insecurity. Beginning with their response to the 2008 global crisis, El-Erian explains how and why our central banks became the critical policy actors—and, most important, why they cannot continue is this role alone. They saved the financial system from collapse in 2008 and a multiyear economic depression, but lack the tools to enable a return to high inclusive growth and durable financial stability. The time has come for a policy handoff, from a prolonged period of monetary policy experimentation to a strategy that better targets what ails economies and distorts the financial sector—before we stumble into another crisis.

The future, critically, is not predestined. It is up to us to decide where we will go from here as households, investors, companies, and governments. Using a mix of insights from economics, finance, and behavioral science, this book gives us the tools we need to properly understand this turning point, prepare for it, and come out of it stronger. A comprehensive, controversial look at the realities of our global economy and markets, The Only Game in Town is required reading for investors, policymakers, and anyone interested in the future.

©2016 Mohamed A. El-Erian (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“How come the global economy is now run largely by unelected central banks? In this highly intelligent analysis, the author, a respected investor and CEO, explains how elected governments are failing in their basic job to take care of the economy and why this might lead to a massive unmanageable crisis.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN (book of the week)

“El-Erian expertly offers a balanced view, commending the central banks for their necessarily aggressive policy views while noting, for example, the failure of the Fed to recognize the pre-crisis housing bubble. But title aside, this is hardly just a book about central banks. Instead, El-Erian offers a grand tour of the challenges we face, along with ideal solutions and more likely outcomes. . . . We desperately need a system in which the central banks are no longer the only game in town.”—Steven Rattner, The New York Times Book Review

“What better moment could there be for a book subtitled ‘Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse’? And who better to write it than Mohamed El-Erian—the man who captured the essence of the present era of low growth, low inflation and low investment returns better than anyone else with his memorable concept of the ‘new normal’? . . . It is refreshing to read a policy book with the confidence to say that it is pointless to dispense elevator-pitch solutions to epochal economic challenges. . . . [A] sobering book.”—Financial Times

Solid Framework

Provides solid framework for thinking about today's issues and organizing how they should be thought about. May be too simplistic for the very advanced econ reader. Thought provoking overall.

excellent analysis of the impact of central banks

This was a very thought provoking analysis of modern centrak bank policues with suggestions for future action

Very Cerebral

Very long but informative. Good analogies. A b c d e f g h i

Awesome!

Really great summary of what's going on in the world. Very easy to follow! Highly recommended

Unhappily not much new or insightful

Perhaps because it is dated, there was nothing insightful or new in the narrative. Would not recommend.

Zzzzz

If you pay attention to what's going on, there is nothing new being said here. The content is repetitive and the narrator is dreadfully mono tone.

Disappointed

I'm more informed than your average person about this topic, yet I found myself often bored by long, tedious dialogue that sometimes strayed from the subject of Central Banks and sounded more like a book on corporate management techniques (I.e. "convergent diversity "). I disagree with the author's premise that these Central Banks saved us from the 2008 financial disaster without the author also considering that they helped cause that disaster via the very same policies that they have again repeated -- mainly starving average people of interest on their savings and re-inflating bubbles in asset prices -- thus exacerbating the income inequality the author is now discussing, and contributing to the rise of outsider political candidates. It is absurd to praise these institutions -- as the author does -- for allowing politicians "the time to get their act together " when common sense dictates that printing money (QE) allowed politicians to completely avoid making the tough, structural reforms that are needed. Why would they when their only focus is getting elected? The author didn't consider the possibility that the "political dysfunction" he mentions was enabled by Central Bank policies. Central Banks through all this interference in the free markets have done a great disservice, and the results are showing up at the voting booths worldwide!

Like a textbook

It reads like a textbook without useful information. Sounds like a politician wrote a “required reading” in high school.

Nothing new

A bit disappointed
Nothing really new and most of the ideas can be found from reading newspaper and other publication

Superficial, platitudes, and useless analogies

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A well written incisive book

Has The Only Game in Town turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Which character – as performed by Dan Woren – was your favorite?

n/a

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

Important topic the public should become aware of however, I this book is not recommended. It has chalk full of platitudes and useless analogies. There is not much substance here - look elsewhere and you'll save yourself 9 hours. The narration is perfectly fine.