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cheenu's review against another edition
2.0
Feels more like a book written to make a certain word count and deadline rather than a result of deep research. Travel anecdotes, random statistics and bits and pieces of economic history. I thought the author was an actual economist but it looks like there is an author with the same name as him who is an economist and the author of the book has no background in economics.
andrewritchie's review against another edition
4.0
The nine chapters of this book tell different stories of how economies develop, whether formal or informal.
All of the chapters are intriguing and interesting, however some felt a little more contrived in their conclusions than others.
Most of the chapters really gave me something to think about which is one of the things I always look for in a book.
Overall close to 5 stars and definitely a book I'd recommend to people interested in how people interact in extreme circumstances as well as those economically minded.
All of the chapters are intriguing and interesting, however some felt a little more contrived in their conclusions than others.
Most of the chapters really gave me something to think about which is one of the things I always look for in a book.
Overall close to 5 stars and definitely a book I'd recommend to people interested in how people interact in extreme circumstances as well as those economically minded.
livewisdom's review against another edition
4.0
One of the more engaging and interesting economic books I've read!
The author posits that we can prepare for our global future by examining some cases of negative economic extremes - micro and national economies that failed big, or succeeded in spite of unique challenges. He steers away from traditional measures of economic success and short-term focus towards solutions (often grass roots) that create stronger and healthier communities.
It adds some good new pieces to the puzzle of what the future might look like. Am thinking he can write one heck of a sequel in about 10 years!
The author posits that we can prepare for our global future by examining some cases of negative economic extremes - micro and national economies that failed big, or succeeded in spite of unique challenges. He steers away from traditional measures of economic success and short-term focus towards solutions (often grass roots) that create stronger and healthier communities.
It adds some good new pieces to the puzzle of what the future might look like. Am thinking he can write one heck of a sequel in about 10 years!
miguelf's review
4.0
If nothing else this was an interesting look at some out of the way places in the world that gives unique insight into local economies and conditions on the ground. The author visits 9 out of the way locales, breaking up the book into places of ‘resilience’ (for instance, comparing 2 Syrian refugee communities in Jordan), places of ‘lost potential’ (such as Kinshasa in the DRC), and places of ‘tomorrow’ (e.g., Tallinn). Overall the theme of ‘Extreme’ economies worked well, although one could argue that once you’re outside of OECD countries things get ‘extreme’ pretty quickly. Breaking up into the three blocks works a bit less well, for instance it seems in the last section that there’s quite a variation between the Tallinn and Santiago examples, with the former being a story of a city riding high on a technical-adaptation wave while the latter was a former high flyer bogged down with a dose of resource curse and exacerbated inequality after years of Friedman inspired policies. Also the section grouping Glasgow and Darian seems a stretch. In spite of this each locale was given a good level of detail and was well beyond just a Wikipedia reference. Also appreciated was that the author did appear to be unbiased in spite of having clear preferences on the Syrian camps, and in the final chapter giving a balanced view on Chicago school influences (warts & all) on the Chilean economy.