Isabella M. Weber, Fabrizio Tassinari, and more for PS Read More

Pocketbook Politics, by Meg Jacobs; Central Banking and Financialization, by Daniela Gabor; and more The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Read More]( In this week's edition of PS Read More, we share recommendations from Isabella M. Weber, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We also highlight a work by Fabrizio Tassinari, Executive Director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute. And don't miss recommendations from Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations and a founder of Human Rights Watch, and Jorge G. Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico and a professor at New York University. Isabella M. Weber Recommends... Politics:]( [Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America]( By Meg Jacobs In this eye-opening read, Jacobs chronicles the political struggles that have arisen from cost-of-living challenges throughout United States history. From housewives protesting against skyrocketing meat prices to consumer organizations helping to sustain price-control efforts during WWII, the “politics of prices” have long shaped policymaking. This is relevant to any culture of consumption. It also gets to a key question in today’s inflation debate: If some prices matter much more than others, how can they be managed for the common good? Letting essential prices explode erodes consumers’ purchasing power, with wide-ranging macroeconomic – and political – implications. [Central Banking and Financialization: A Romanian Account of How Eastern Europe Became Subprime]( By Daniela Gabor Gabor is widely known for her contributions to the field of critical macro-finance, but this book has not yet received the attention it deserves. In unpacking the economics of Romania’s transition from socialism, Gabor shows that an alternative approach – which looked a lot more like Chinese economic-reform strategy – was on the table. Yet, despite policymakers’ economic astuteness, politics led the country down a path that ended in economic collapse. Gabor’s meticulous analysis of the economics of shock therapy should influence how we think about the “green transition.” and Chinese Histories of Economic Thought: Theories and Images of Good Governance]( Edited by Iwo Amelung and Bertram Schefold Research on the history of economic thought is very rarely comparative, which makes Amelung and Schefold’s volume – a dialogue between leading Chinese and European economists on foundational questions – all the more valuable. The essays they have assembled cover a lot of ground, from the question of state agency and the value of land and money, to interest rates and price stabilization. The result is a fascinating historical survey that opens up new perspectives on the world economy today. Don't miss Weber's recent [Say More interview]( in which she advocates targeted price controls over growth-depressing interest-rate hikes, warns the US and Europe to avoid energy “shock therapy,” considers the Communist Party of China’s current economic priorities, and more. [Click here to read](. By a PS Contributor [The Pursuit of Governance: Nordic Dispatches on a New Middle Way]( By [Fabrizio Tassinari]( Tassinari says: “This book was born out of my personal experience working in Scandinavia at the crossroads between policy and academia for almost a decade. I wanted to distill and dissect the formula that has enabled the Nordic countries to become world leaders in governance. At the same time, I wanted to make sense of some glaring paradoxes, which have given rise to disconcertingly extreme policies, from anti-immigrant policies in Denmark to the Swedish approach to COVID-19. While it is impossible to extricate these findings from their specific cultural context, I wanted to examine what the Nordic experience can tell us about good governance in Europe and beyond." In "A Green New Deal for Europe," Tassinari and Massimiliano Santini considered what it will take to ensure the structural transformation needed to address climate change in Europe. [Click here to read](. More Contributor Recommendations Aryeh Neier Recommends... [The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy]( By Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes This is, in my view, an important account of liberalism’s failure to take hold in Russia, and of the recent rise of xenophobic nationalism in countries like Hungary and Poland. Among other things, the authors discuss how imitation of the West acquired a hostile character. (From 2020) [Read more](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Jorge G. Castañeda Recommends... [Capital and Ideology]( By Thomas Piketty Piketty’s second major work, this is a history of the inequality that has pervaded practically every part of the world since time immemorial. It’s a heavy lift, but Piketty provides an enormous amount of valuable information, useful comparisons, and interesting stories. And his programmatic suggestions for tackling inequality today are intriguing. (From 2020) [Read more](. [Register now for Forsaken Futures, streaming live on September 14 at 3:00 PM CEST]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter does not entitle the recipient to re-publish any of the content it contains. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. 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