From the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times
bestselling coauthor of Deaths of Despair and the Future of
Capitalism, candid reflections on the economist's craft
When economist Angus Deaton immigrated to the United States from Britain
in the early 1980s, he was awed by America's strengths and shocked by
the extraordinary gaps he witnessed between people. Economics in
America explains in clear terms how the field of economics addresses
the most pressing issues of our time--from poverty, retirement, and the
minimum wage to the ravages of the nation's uniquely disastrous health
care system--and narrates Deaton's account of his experiences as a
naturalized US citizen and academic economist.
Deaton is witty and pulls no punches. In this incisive, candid, and
funny book, he describes the everyday lives of working economists,
recounting the triumphs as well as the disasters, and tells the inside
story of the Nobel Prize in economics and the journey that led him to
Stockholm to receive one. He discusses the ongoing tensions between
economics and politics--and the extent to which economics has any
content beyond the political prejudices of economists--and reflects on
whether economists bear at least some responsibility for the growing
despair and rising populism in America.
Blending rare personal insights with illuminating perspectives on the
social challenges that confront us today, Deaton offers a disarmingly
frank critique of his own profession while shining a light on his
adopted country's policy accomplishments and failures.
