-“House of Debt,” by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, which I bought through Amazon following the
recommendation by Nacho González. The book argues that the global economic and
financial crisis has been caused by excess debt, and that this dangerously reduces
consumption and aggregate demand. The solution is a financial system that is
less dependent on debt and more on equity-like instruments that share risk,
along the lines of the recommendations of Robert Shiller.
-“Funding the Nation,” by Irish historian Michael Keyes, which I bought in Dublin last
week. This is a book about how successful political movements, such as Irish
nationalism in the XIX and XX centuries, need financial resources, and how
these, in the case of Ireland, were found in Catholic parishes and among Irish-American
exiles. It is the story of how financing was key, and how funds were obtained
and sometimes misappropriated.
And
two books that I bought yesterday in the book-shop of Barcelona’s science museum
(“Cosmocaixa”), and that are representative of new frontiers of research –I will
probably treat my students experimentally with them this year:
-“Networks. A Very Short Introduction,” by Guido Caldarelli and Michele Catanzaro. This
belongs to the “very short introduction” collection, which has short guides on
pretty much everything by prestigious scientists and experts, with good
bibliographies and references. The analysis of social dynamics in networks has
important applications in economics, finance and politics.
-“Neuro. The New Brain Sciences and the Management of the Mind,” by Nikolas Rose and
Joelle M. Abi-Rached. They survey the burgeoning research on neuro-sciences,
critically discuss their social implications, and present their applications in
social and other sciences.
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