Teresa Ghilarducci and Stephen S. Roach for PS Read More

Slouching Towards Utopia, by J. Bradford DeLong; Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke; and more The PS Say More Newsletter [PS Read More]( In this week's edition of PS Read More, we share recommendations from Teresa Ghilarducci, Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research, and highlight a recent work by Yale's Stephen S. Roach, a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. [A new book from Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson called Power and Progress]( [Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity]( By Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson examine the economics of technological progress and the choices we must make to create true shared prosperity. From Hachette Book Group / PublicAffairs In a recent Say More interview, Simon Johnson offered a glimpse into Power and Progress. [Read now]( Teresa Ghilarducci Recommends... [Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century]( By [J. Bradford DeLong]( "This doorstop of a book offers a surprisingly delightful account of world economic history. DeLong doesn’t expect his readers to know all the economic jargon or recognize dates from ancient history, but nor does he talk down to them. If it were shorter, it would be assigned to every first-year college student – or even high-school senior. (I learned a number of things that I should have learned in high school, if not earlier.) DeLong asks whether there is hope for humans to avoid slaughter and poverty, and offers his take on what it might take to get there. (Hint: authoritarianism and central planning can be tidier, but messy social democracy is a better bet.)" [Unequal Cities: Overcoming Anti-Urban Bias to Reduce Inequality in the United States]( By Richard McGahey "This is a fast-read history of America’s racism- and bigotry-fueled contempt for cities. It offers chilling stories from Detroit, a clinical analysis of New York, and a hopeful lesson from Los Angeles. And it concludes that cities’ political voice must be aligned with their contributions to US economic growth. The idea of shifting power from states to city-states might be fanciful, but it would support prosperity and democracy, and it serves to highlight the extent to which anti-urban policies and politics act as a barrier to prosperity. (Full disclosure, Rick is my husband!)" [Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence]( By Anna Lembke "This best-selling book, written by a scientist and psychiatrist, examines the neuroscience behind compulsion and addiction. For too long, neoliberal economists (including many behavioral economists) taken a narrow view of human decision-making focused on rational tradeoffs, the economization of information costs, and the tendency toward discounting. New scientific discoveries are a relief for institutional economists. What seem like atomistic behaviors actually depend on human-built structures, triggers, and environments. Nothing about our behavior happens in vacuum." [To Paradise]( By Hanya Yanagihara "Economists aren’t just 'left-brained' nonfiction types. This three-part novel tells the story of an American family over several centuries. Part Edith Wharton and part Liu Cixin, it presents counterfactuals, much like economists do. (What if Franklin D. Roosevelt had not been elected US president, and Keynesian economics was not available?) To Paradise imagines an alternate history where gay couples were common and North America comprised six countries, and a future in which climate change has made New York as hot as Phoenix." Don't miss our recent Say More interview with Ghilarducci, in which she considers what we should learn from the recent downgrade of America’s long-term credit rating, praises the Biden administration’s contributions to worker power, suggests how to tackle rising poverty among the elderly, and more. [Read now](. By a PS Contributor [Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives]( By [Stephen S. Roach]( Roach says: “In the past five years, the United States and China have become embroiled in a trade war, a tech war, and now a new cold war. In Accidental Conflict, I argue that the world’s two most powerful countries would not have entered this ominous trajectory of conflict escalation had it not been for the false narratives that each embraces about the other. America’s fixation on its trade deficit with China and China’s failed pro-consumption rebalancing strategy are leading cases in point. Amplified by information distortion (America) and state-sponsored censorship (China), I warn that this confluence of false narratives has become the high-octane fuel of conflict escalation that could be ignited by any number of sparks, not least tensions over Taiwan. To avoid a catastrophic clash between the leading and rising power, I conclude with a plan for conflict resolution, featuring a market-opening Bilateral Investment Treaty and a new architecture of engagement centered around a detailed proposal for a US-China secretariat." [PS. Register now for our next event, streaming live at Climate Week NYC.]( [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. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.