Tesco
Cogs and Monsters
Book

Cogs and Monsters

What Economics Is, and What It Should Be

Diane Coyle
Princeton UP, 2021

Read or listen offline

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Eloquent
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

In a book brimming with insights and expertise, professor Diane Coyle offers a wide-ranging overview of the current state of economics, a field that has come under fierce fire in recent years. Coyle disputes many of the straw-man criticisms without being polemical, but she does call for a rethinking of some of the assumptions on which the science is based that have had adverse societal impacts. Her work on the digital economy, in particular, provides nuanced conclusions on how to measure, regulate and manage it. Analysts and executives will find this a valuable look at the modern economy.

Take-Aways

  • Economics has evolved – for the better – by incorporating psychology, technology and history.
  • Academic economics journals still favor a hard mathematical approach.
  • Calls to change how economics is taught are increasing.

About the Author

Diane Coyle is a professor of public policy at the University of Cambridge. Her previous books include Markets, States, and People; GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History; and The Economics of Enough.

Comment on this summary or Diskussion beginnen