New Books in Economics

Michael Albertus, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and author of several influential books, discusses the profound impact of land ownership on societal structures. He illustrates how historical land reallocations have shaped inequality, oppression, and even environmental crises. Albertus highlights colonial histories, the dynamics of land power in different cultures, and how contemporary issues, like climate change, demand urgent reforms in land rights. Understanding these factors could redefine societal futures.

Yuca Meubrink, a researcher at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy, dives into the controversial 'poor doors' phenomenon in luxury housing. He critiques inclusionary housing policies, revealing how they often sustain urban inequality and gentrification. The discussion highlights the complexities of affordable housing initiatives in London and New York and their limited effectiveness. Meubrink also shares insights on research methods, exploring how everyday practices shape urban development, urging a deeper understanding of the nexus between housing affordability and architectural design.

In this insightful discussion, Dr. Arvid J. Lukauskas, a faculty member at Columbia University, and co-author of "Misery Beneath the Miracle in East Asia," unearth critical social issues underlying East Asia's economic success. They discuss the alarming rates of elderly poverty, systemic challenges for low-wage workers, and the stark realities of child welfare and housing crises in the region. The authors argue for a holistic approach to economic growth that prioritizes social welfare, shedding light on the hidden 'misery' in a seemingly prosperous landscape.

As Wall Street swooned and boomed through the last decade, our livelihoods have—now more than ever—come to rely upon the good sense and risk appetites of a few standout investors. And amidst the BlackRocks, Vanguards, and Berkshire Hathaways stands arguably the most iconoclastic of them all: SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.In Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son (Atria, 2024), the first Western biography of Son, the self-professed unicorn hunter, we go behind the scenes of the world’s most monied halls of power in New York, Tokyo, Silicon Valley, Saudi Arabia, and beyond to see how Son’s firm SoftBank has defied conventional wisdom and imposing odds to push global tech and commerce into the future.From the dizzying highs of Uber, DoorDash, and Slack to the epic lows of WeWork and tech-infused dogwalking app Wag Son and SoftBank have been at the center of cutting-edge capitalism’s absolute peaks and valleys. In the process, Son, son of a pachinko kingpin who grew up in a slum in Japan, has been a hero, a villain, and even a meme-ified hero to the internet tech- and finance-bro set all at once.Based on in-depth research and eye-opening interviews, Gambling Man is an unforgettable character study and alarming true story of twenty-first-century commerce that will stick with you long after you turn the final page.Lionel Barber is the former editor of the Financial Times. As editor, he interviewed many of the world’s leaders in business and politics, including US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Barber has co-written several books and has lectured widely on foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and economics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

In this engaging interview, young scholar Dr, Joel Z. Garrod explains his book's main argument, with a personal touch. In Royal Histories: The Transformation of the Royal Bank of Canada, 1864-2022 (U Toronto Press, 2025), Garrod presents a historical analysis of the Royal Bank of Canada, illustrating how Canadian capitalism and the Canadian banking industry have transformed as they have consolidated nationally and expanded abroad. Emphasizing how national institutions and rules are increasingly becoming capabilities for transnational forms of capital accumulation, the book draws on extensive primary and secondary sources to document the transformation of the assemblage of territory, authority, and rights that have supported the bank’s activities over time. Linking the bank’s history to the policy regimes of the welfare state and neoliberalism, Garrod contends that our present period of globalization severely limits the extent to which nation-states can absorb capitalist crises or be a site of successful social reform. Connecting the Canadian experience to the wider transformation of global capitalism, Royal Histories illuminates the effects of globalization and the changing landscape of banking and finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s was marked by the failure of regulators to rein in risk-taking by banks. And yet regulatory issues varied from country to country, with some national financial regulatory systems proving more effective than others. In Visions of Financial Order: National Institutions and the Development of Banking Regulation (Princeton University Press, 2024), Dr. Kim Pernell traces the emergence of important national differences in financial regulation in the decades leading up to the crisis. To do so, she examines the cases of the United States, Canada, and Spain—three countries that subscribed to the same transnational regulatory framework (the Basel Capital Accord) but developed different regulatory policies in areas that would directly affect bank performance during the financial crisis.In a broad historical analysis that extends from the rise of the first modern chartered banks in the 1780s through the major financial crises of the twentieth century and the Basel Capital Accord of 1988, Dr. Pernell shows how the different (and sometimes competing) principles of order embedded in each country’s regulatory and political institutions gave rise to distinctive visions of order and prosperity, which shaped subsequent financial regulatory design. Dr. Pernell argues that the different worldviews of national banking regulators reflected cultural beliefs about the ideal way to organize economic life to promote order, stability, and prosperity. Visions of Financial Order offers an innovative perspective on the persistent differences between regulatory institutions and the ways they shaped the unfolding of the 2008 global financial crisis.This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

Richard Vague, a financial expert and former Secretary of Banking and Securities for Pennsylvania, dives into the complexities of debt in his latest work. He highlights the paradox where private debt drives economic growth yet contributes to crises. Vague compares U.S. and Chinese debt management strategies, discusses the impact of aging populations, and proposes innovative solutions like debt jubilees. He also emphasizes the historical role of tariffs in supporting American manufacturing and explores new policies for revitalizing the economy.

For generations most of the canonical works that detail the lives of poor people have been created by rich or middle-class writers like Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, or James Agee. This has resulted in overwhelming depictions of poor people as living abject, violent lives in filthy and degrading conditions. In Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those Without It (Duke UP, 2024), Lennard J. Davis labels this genre ‘poornography”: distorted narratives of poverty written by and for the middle and upper classes. Davis shows how poornography creates harmful and dangerous stereotypes that build barriers to social justice and change. To remedy this, Davis argues, poor people should write realistic depictions of themselves, but because of representational inequality they cannot. Given the obstacles to the poor accessing the means of publication, Davis suggests that the work should, at least for now, be done by “transclass” writers who were once poor and who can accurately represent poverty without relying on stereotypes and clichés. Only then can the lived experience of poverty be more fully realized.The Endo/Exo Writers Project.Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale Universitynathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

Philip Rathgeb, an Associate Professor in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, delves into the radical right's influence on capitalism and welfare systems. He explains how these parties, now central to political discourse, utilize nativism and authoritarianism to reshape socio-economic policies. Rathgeb highlights the rise of economic nationalism and the adverse effects of selective status protection on marginalized groups. He also discusses the complex interplay between labor dynamics and gender disparities under radical right agendas across Europe and the USA.

Rumu Sarkar, an adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University, delves into international development law with a focus on global poverty. She discusses the vital interplay between rule of law, human rights, and global finance, bringing to light the challenges nations face in attracting investments. Sarkar also examines the complex dynamics of multinational corporations and societal roles in development, and critiques the 'right to development'—highlighting its complications in international lending and debt crises, particularly in Africa.