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    The Economists' Hour: The Rise of a Discipline, the Failures of Globalization, and the Road to Nationalism by Binyamin Appelbaum Summary

    The Economists' Hour: The Rise of a Discipline, the Failures of Globalization, and the Road to Nationalism
    Binyamin Appelbaum
    4.09 (1696 Reviews)
    EconomicsPoliticsHistory
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    Overview of The Economists' Hour: The Rise of a Discipline, the Failures of Globalization, and the Road to Nationalism

    How economists hijacked American policy for 40 years, promising prosperity but delivering inequality. Appelbaum's New York Times acclaimed expose reveals how free-market theories fractured society globally, from Wall Street to Chile. The book that made policymakers question: did we give economists too much power?

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    Best quote from The Economists' Hour: The Rise of a Discipline, the Failures of Globalization, and the Road to Nationalism

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    increased taxes generate far more public discussion than increased draft calls,

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    Key Takeaways

    1

    The Basement Revolution That Changed Everything

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    Picture a six-foot-seven economist standing before Congress in 1979, stone-faced and unapologetic, about to trigger the worst recession since the Great Depression-on purpose. Paul Volcker wasn't there to comfort anyone. He was there to break inflation, no matter how many jobs it cost. This moment crystallized a seismic shift that had been building for decades: economists had moved from basement offices to the commanding heights of power, reshaping every corner of American life. From the prices you pay to the job you hold, from the airlines you fly to the value placed on your very life, market-oriented economists rewrote the rules. Between 1969 and 2008, their ideas didn't just influence policy-they became policy. In the early 1950s, economists were barely tolerated in government. FDR dismissed Keynes as an impractical mathematician. Eisenhower warned against technocratic control. Young Paul Volcker worked as a human calculator in the Federal Reserve's basement with little hope for advancement. But everything was about to change. A small man with large glasses and boyish enthusiasm-Milton Friedman-would lead an intellectual revolution arguing that open markets represented the best system of human governance, far superior to government intervention. His ideas would move from academic fringe to mainstream dogma with stunning speed, fundamentally altering how Americans work, consume, and live. This was the Economists' Hour, and we're still living in the world it created.

    2

    Markets Replace Civic Duty

    3

    The Rise and Fall of Keynesian Confidence

    4

    Volcker's Dragon Slaying and Supply-Side Dreams

    5

    When Giants Walk Among Us

    6

    The Great Unshackling

    7

    Reckoning With What We've Built