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The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008
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The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Paul Krugman
W.W. Norton, 2008
First Edition: 2008
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Editorial Rating

10

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Recommendation

Nobel Laureate and economic scholar Paul Krugman investigates the forces that drive economic growth and recession. His ability to maintain the essence of a topic while simplifying complex economics with examples and analogies is a hallmark of his work. Despite its gloomy title, this book is not depressing, because Krugman concludes that another Great Depression is not looming. Capitalism has, overall, provided the foundation for prosperity in advanced and developing economies alike. Indeed, the information age has introduced entrepreneurs who have generated wealth while becoming romantic heroes for succeeding in spite of – or without the help of – giant corporations. However, Krugman stays alert for dark forces, warning against panic in the international financial markets, where multiplying negative feedback can overwhelm the effects of monetary policy. getAbstract recommends Krugman’s in-depth analysis to anyone with an interest in world economics and financial markets.

Summary

The Need to Want More

The global economy will not enter a depression reminiscent of the 1930s. However, a large part of the world must become sensitive to the forces of “depression economics,” the types of fiscal problems not witnessed since the Great Depression. In fact, for the first time since World War II, low levels of economic demand, including insufficient private spending, have become the greatest hazard to prosperity for many economies.

The Success and Romance of Capitalism

The return of depression economics does not signal the failure of capitalism. In fact, depression economics has returned in the midst of the triumph of capitalism. The former Soviet Union – once the financier of worldwide socialist movements – has lost its ability to support other nations. Russia’s economy is in a miserable state. In addition, Hong Kong’s capitalist system, virtually untouched despite the island’s return to China in 1997, shows the world that the free market is too valuable to destroy, even in the eyes of the People’s Republic.

Not only has capitalism brought economic success and prosperity to many nations, it has developed a new kind of romantic hero. After...

About the Author

Paul Krugman received the Nobel Prize in economics in 2008. He is a prolific scholar, and teaches economics and international affairs at Princeton University. Fortune magazine claims that he “writes better than any economist since John Maynard Keynes,” and the The Economist describes him as “probably the most creative economist of his generation.”

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