A review by alexisrt
The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon
4.0
The thesis is interesting--the US has become less competitive over the past 20 or so years while the EU has become more competitive. My anecdata suggests this is true.
The majority of the book is a theoretical analysis, with a lot of data. Philippon does as good a job as you can do with this; he explains economics clearly for the layperson. It makes a lot of the book a little dry, though; the more narrative sections, such as the discussion of EU politics and how the EU has developed a more independent competition regulator, have more verve. The last third looks at specific industries, which helps put the principle into practice.
I would have enjoyed more narrative and more details of specific examples, such as concentration in the airline industry, but I learned a lot.
The majority of the book is a theoretical analysis, with a lot of data. Philippon does as good a job as you can do with this; he explains economics clearly for the layperson. It makes a lot of the book a little dry, though; the more narrative sections, such as the discussion of EU politics and how the EU has developed a more independent competition regulator, have more verve. The last third looks at specific industries, which helps put the principle into practice.
I would have enjoyed more narrative and more details of specific examples, such as concentration in the airline industry, but I learned a lot.