House Economics

Real life stories about consumers who demand that companies make a diffence in the world with their products.

Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way, but all are touched by the "resource curse"—the power of oil to exacerbate existing problems and create new ones. In Crude World, Peter Maass presents a vivid portrait of the troubled world oil has created. He takes us to Saudi Arabia, where officials deflect inquiries about the amount of petroleum remaining in the country's largest reservoir; to Equatorial Guinea, where two tennis courts grace an oil-rich dictator's estate but bandages and aspirin are a hospital's only supplies.

Die schonungslose Bestandsaufnahme unserer Wirtschaft: Wir können alles - außer digital! Was kann Google, was Volkswagen und Bosch nicht können? Unsere Maschinenbauer, Autoindustrie, Energieversorger, unser Handel, unsere Banken und Dienstleister, aber auch unsere Politiker - Deutschland hat das 21. Jahrhundert mit einem Fehlstart begonnen. Werden wir digitale Provinz oder gelingt uns die Wende zum "Silicon Germany"?

Food snobbery is killing entrepreneurship and innovation, says economist, preeminent social commentator, and maverick dining guide blogger Tyler Cowen. Americans are becoming angry that our agricultural practices have led to global warming-but while food snobs are right that local food tastes better, they're wrong that it is better for the environment, and they are wrong that cheap food is bad food. The food world needs to know that you don't have to spend more to eat healthy, green, exciting meals. At last, some good news from an economist!

Discretion, secrecy, and subtle strategy were the weapons of choice at Wall Street investment bank Lazard Frères & Co. For more than a century, the mystique and reputation of the "Great Men" who worked there allowed the firm to garner unimaginable profits, social cachet, and outsized influence in the halls of power. But in the mid-1980s, their titanic egos started getting in the way, and the Great Men of Lazard jeopardized all they had built.

We all know the bad news. The heady promise of the Arab Spring has given way to repression, civil war, and an epic refugee crisis. Economic growth is sputtering. Income inequality is rising around the world. And the threat of ISIS and other extremist groups keeps spreading. We are living in an age of unprecedented, irreversible decline - or so we're constantly being told. Jonathan Tepperman's The Fix presents a very different picture.

He's one of America's most capable, canny, candid, and independent financial experts. Now David M. Walker sounds a call to action. Comeback America is a tough-minded, innovative, inspiring guide to help us avoid the approaching economic abyss and put the country back on track again.

Today's consumers can seem impossible to understand, and even harder to please. For instance, the average mall shopper will spend about $100, then leave when she hits that limit. She'll probably buy shoes rather than clothing, because she doesn't want to think about her dress size. And the store most likely to get her money isn't the one with the nicest display or the deepest discounts, it's the one closest to her parking spot.

In his 18 years as an opinion columnist for The New York Times, Herbert championed the working poor and the middle class. After filing his last column in 2011, he set off on a journey across the country to report on Americans who were being left behind in an economy that has never fully recovered from the Great Recession. The portraits of those he encountered fuel his new book, Losing Our Way.

In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathan Kozol returns to the scene of his prize-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood. For nearly 50 years Jonathan has pricked the conscience of his readers by laying bare the savage inequalities inflicted upon children for no reason but the accident of being born to poverty within a wealthy nation.

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado por qué el café de Starbucks es el triple de caro que el de cualquier otra cafetería? Tim Harford responde en este libro a esta y otras cuestiones, y nos enseña a ver el mundo con la mirada de un economista....

In an era of rapid climate change, this vital account of how agriculture can address major issues is an Australian story with global ramifications. Patrice is at the front line of enormous challenges, from water scarcity and land stewardship to food security and the rural-urban divide. The devastation of drought and the crises created by industrial-scale chemically dependent primary production are discussed and alternatives proposed - along with bold ideas for new sources of energy.

Americans are obsessed with liberty, mad about liberty. On any day, we can tune into arguments about how much liberty we need to buy a gun or get an abortion, to marry who we want or adopt the gender we feel. We argue endlessly about liberty from regulation and observation by the state and proudly rebel against the tyranny of course syllabi and Pandora playlists. Redesign the penny today and the motto would read "You ain't the boss of me".

The Age of Awakening tells India's economic story since the country gained independence. It unfolds a tale of titanic figures, colossal failures, triumphant breakthroughs, and great moral shortcomings. Weaving together vivid history and economic analysis, this book makes for a gripping narrative.

Vivimos acorralados por los precios y a veces no entendemos el porqué de los aumentos. Augusto Costa, exsecretario de Comercio de la nación, explica por qué las cosas valen lo que valen, cómo influyen los formadores de precio y qué puede hacer un Estado para controlar «la mano invisible del mercado».

En este libro pionero, Karlan y Appel conjugan la economía del comportamiento con la investigación de campo. Llevan a sus lectores consigo por pueblos de todo el mundo–desde Ghana hasta Kenia pasando por Sudáfrica, la India y Filipinas, Perú y México–en los que la teoría económica choca con la realidad. Muestran que ciertos cambios en la banca, los seguros, la asistencia sanitaria, la educación junto con otras iniciativas que tienen en cuenta la irracionalidad humana pueden mejorar radicalmente el bienestar de la gente pobre en todo el mundo.

En un mundo completamente transformado a raíz de la crisis global, regresa el economista camuflado. En este libro Tim Harford amplía el foco para ayudarnos a entender cómo funciona en realidad la economía del mundo, prescindiendo de terminologías huecas. Este libro plantea respuestas a cuestiones como: ¿qué sucedería si se cancelara la deuda de todo el mundo?, ¿por qué los bancos continúan pagando unos bonus de escándalo?, ¿cómo se crea realmente empleo?, o ¿llegarán los países emergentes a controlar la economía mundial?

Escrito por una economista y apoyado en evidencia estadística, Economía feminista propone una mirada que sacude a la economía como ciencia y plantea nuevas dimensiones a las viejas discusiones sobre desigualdad y pobreza al tiempo que aporta ideas para construir una sociedad más igualitaria y justa.

Ante la figura desbordantede AMLO como presidente de México, pocas son las publicaciones que tratan su gestión con objetividad. Isabella Cota lo logra en cuanto a la economía. En esta investigación se relatan las sorpresivas contradicciones ideológicas y económicas de la Cuarta Transformación, las luces y las sombras de una presidencia que en definitiva la historia juzgará. Suerte o desastre es un análisis inteligente—respaldado por datos—que desentraña las consecuencias económicas para bien y para mal de la llamada austeridad republicana.

Fox News host and former government insider Steve Hilton shows how populism can be a positive force for improving lives, with revolutionary ideas to restore the economic security that working Americans once took for granted and rebuild the ties of family, community, and nation that have been ripped apart by decades of policies that favored big government, big business, and the powerful.