Economics After the Crisis: Objectives and Means

by Adair Turner

Overview

The global economic crisis of 2008--2009 seemed a crisis not just of economic performance but also of the system's underlying political ideology and economic theory. But a second Great Depression was averted, and the radical shift to New Deal-like economic policies predicted by some never took place. Perhaps the correct response to the crisis is simply careful management of the macroeconomic challenges as we recover, combined with reform of financial regulation to prevent a recurrence. In Economics After the Crisis, Adair Turner offers a strong counterargument to this somewhat complacent view. The crisis of 2008--2009, he writes, should prompt a wide set of challenges to economic and political assumptions and to economic theory. Turner argues that more rapid growth should not be the overriding objective for rich developed countries, that inequality should concern us, that the pre-crisis confidence in financial markets as the means of pursuing objectives was profoundly misplaced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262300995
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	03/23/2012
Series:	Lionel Robbins Lectures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Adair Turner, Chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority from September 2008 to March 2013, is a Senior Fellow of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. He is Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and at Cass Business School, City University London, and the author of Just Capital: The Liberal Economy.

Table of Contents

Foreword Richard Layard vii

Introduction ix

1 Economic Growth, Human Welfare, and Inequality 1

2 Financial Markets: Efficiency, Stability, and Income Distribution 35

3 Economic Freedom, Public Policy, and the Discipline of Economics 67

Notes 97

Index 107

What People are Saying About This

Barry Eichengreen

Adair Turner insists that economics should analyze the world as it actually is and human beings as they actually are and avoid taking its simplifying assumptions too literally. In this short volume he sketches the elements of such an analysis and shows how they can be applied to policy problems of the day, from financial regulation and population growth to climate change and income inequality. No one who worries about the future of the economy — and the planet — will fail to be provoked.

From the Publisher

"A well-researched and profound rethink of macroeconomic and financial policy after the crisis. Lord Adair Turner not only challenges the consensus on short-term tactical approaches to regulation and macroeconomic management, but he forces the reader to think more deeply about the long term goals of policy, including unfettered growth and the role of the free market."—Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University

"Adair Turner insists that economics should analyze the world as it actually is and human beings as they actually are and avoid taking its simplifying assumptions too literally. In this short volume he sketches the elements of such an analysis and shows how they can be applied to policy problems of the day, from financial regulation and population growth to climate change and income inequality.

No one who worries about the future of the economy — and the planet — will fail to be provoked."—Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N.

Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California,Berkeley

Kenneth Rogoff

A well-researched and profound rethink of macroeconomic and financial policy after the crisis. Lord Adair Turner not only challenges the consensus on short-term tactical approaches to regulation and macroeconomic management, but he forces the reader to think more deeply about the long term goals of policy, including unfettered growth and the role of the free market.

Editorial Reviews

...With this book, Turner has proved that Britain still produces thinkers who combine ideas with practical experience.

New Statesman

Adair Turner is the jewel in the crown of British public servants. He is one of a tiny minority in public life today capable of thinking and acting at the highest level. Economics After the Crisis, based on three lectures he delivered at the London School of Economics in 2010, is a thinking person's delight, not least for the clear and lucid way in which Turner sets out his arguments.

The Times Literary Supplement - Robert Skidelsky

"...With this book, Turner has proved that Britain still produces thinkers who combine ideas with practical experience."— New Statesman

"Adair Turner is the jewel in the crown of British public servants. He is one of a tiny minority in public life today capable of thinking and acting at the highest level. Economics After the Crisis, based on three lectures he delivered at the London School of Economics in 2010, is a thinking person's delight, not least for the clear and lucid way in which Turner sets out his arguments." — Robert Skidelsky, The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher