Sylvia Nasar

From the author of A Beautiful Mind, a sweeping history of the invention of modern economics that takes you from Dickens’ London to modern Calcutta.

The Story of Economic Genius

Grand Pursuit

Celine

In the popular imagination, science was increasingly being seen as a way to get rich and, at the same time, a vehicle 10 solving the myriad social ills of poverty, disease, and ignorance. 

The trouble, he thought, was that political economists had theories and activists had anecdotes, but neither could supply an unbiased or complete description of the problem.  

As with so much else in Victorian high society, this frenetic and seemingly frivolous pursuit of pleasure was serious business: during the season, which began when Parliament resumed its session, London became the epicenter of the global marriage market. Wealthy parents thought of giving a daughter two or three London seasons in the same way as sending a son to Oxford or Cambridge. The expense and effort of participating in this extraordinarily intricate mating dance were certainly comparable.

Scott Wilson

An excellent and compelling economic history of the major minds influencing economics from around the mid-1800's to just after the second World War. I was slightly disappointed their wasn't a bit more coverage around the earliest economic minds (eg. Smith) and some more recent economic events (eg. the oil crisis, the recession in the early 1980s, the late 1980s boom, 2008 crash etc.)

This should be a book that makes economics more accessible to the everyday person, and was particularly interesting in the coverage of the people involved in influencing the policy makers in making their decisions.

I would highly recommend this book.

Grand Pursuit The Story of Economic Genius

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