Monthly recommendation #3.
In 2011 a group of economics students at The University of Manchester started a revolt. They put forward the claim that the economics that they were being taught – the same economics that underpinned the global financial system before the 2010 crash, and continues to do so in Britain and the US – was, to use an academic term, a heap of fucking bullshit.
They set up the Post-Crash Economics Society. They were written about in the media. That said, the orthodox economists are still preaching the same old gospel.
One of the very few economics academics rebelling against the orthodoxy is Cambridge University professor Ha-Joon Chang.
And if you’ve ever listened blankly to the 100th explanation of how the 2010 crisis happened, and found your brain steaming up at yet another tour through Collateralised Debt Obligations, this book explains in plain language what economics is supposed to do, and gives 23 reasons why it currently isn’t doing it.
And if a whole book seems a bit much, at least have a look at this book review which summarises these 23 things.
Current favourite thing:
Thing #17: ‘More education in itself is not going to make a country richer.’
(I.e. Countries with more people going to university will not necessarily have stronger economies.)