Grand pursuit : the story of economic genius

The Epic Story Of The Making Of Modern Economics, And Of How Economics Rescued Mankind From Squalor And Deprivation By Placing Its Material Fate In Its Own Hands Rather Than In Fate. Nasar's Account Begins With Charles Dickens And Henry Mayhew Observing The Condition Of The Poor Majority In Mid-nineteenth-century London, The Richest Place In The World. She Describes The Often Heroic Efforts Of Marx And Others To Put Those Insights Into Action, With Revolutionary Consequences. From John Maynard Keynes To India's Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen, She Shows How The Insights Of These Activist Thinkers Transformed The World--from One City, London, To The Developed Nations In Europe And America, And Now The Entire Planet. In Nasar's Dramatic Narrative We Witness Men And Women Responding To Personal Crises, World Wars, Revolutions, Economic Upheavals, And Each Other's Ideas To Turn Back Malthus And Transform The Dismal Science Into A Triumph Over Mankind's Hitherto Age-old Destiny Of Misery. Perfectly New: Engels And Karl Marx In The Age Of Miracles -- Must There Be A Proletariat? Alfred Marshall's Patron Saint -- Miss Potter's Profession: Beatrice Webb And The Housekeeping State -- Empire Of Energy: Irving Fisher And The Cross Of Gold -- Creative Destruction: Joseph Schumpeter And Economic Evolution -- The Last Days Of Mankind: Schumpeter In Vienna -- Europe Is Dying : Maynard Keynes At Versailles -- The Joyless Street: Schumpeter And Hayek In Vienna -- Immaterial Mechanisms Of The Mind: Keynes And Fisher In The 1920s -- Starter Trouble: The Great Depression -- Searching: Webb And Robinson In The 1930s -- Economists' War: Keynes And Friedman In Wwii -- Exile: Schumpeter And Hayek In Wwii -- Past And Future: Keynes At Bretton Woods -- Road From Serfdom: Hayek And The German Miracle -- Paul Samuelson Goes To Washington -- Inventing The Future: Robinson In Moscow And Beijing -- Tryst With Destiny. Sylvia Nasar. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 467-526) And Index. In a sweeping narrative, the author of the megabestseller A Beautiful Mind takes us on a journey through modern history with the men and women who changed the lives of every single person on the planet. It's the epic story of the making of modern economics, and of how economics rescued mankind from squalor and deprivation by placing its material fate in its own hands rather than in Fate. Nasar's account begins with Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew observing and publishing the condition of the poor majority in mid-nineteenth-century London, the richest and most glittering place in the world. This was a new pursuit. She describes the often heroic efforts of Marx, Engels, Alfred Marshall, Beatrice and Sydney Webb, and the American Irving Fisher to put those insights into action—with revolutionary consequences for the world. From the great John Maynard Keynes to Schumpeter, Hayek, Keynes's disciple Joan Robinson, the influential American economists Paul Samuelson and Milton Freedman, and India's Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, she shows how the insights of these activist thinkers transformed the world—from one city, London, to the developed nations in Europe and America, and now to the entire planet. In Nasar's dramatic narrative of these discoverers we witness men and women responding to personal crises, world wars, revolutions, economic upheavals, and each other's ideas to turn back Malthus and transform the dismal science into a triumph over mankind's hitherto age-old destiny of misery and early death. This idea, unimaginable less than 200 years ago, is a story of trial and error, but ultimately transcendent, as it is rendered here in a stunning and moving narrative. The author of the groundbreaking bestseller A Beautiful Mind takes the reader on a journey of discoveryhow the greatest invention of modern times, economics, has changed the lives of every single human being. In a sweeping narrative, the author of the megabestseller A Beautiful Mind takes us on a journey through modern history with the men and women who changed the lives of every single person on the planet. Its the epic story of the making of modern economics, and of how economics rescued mankind from squalor and deprivation by placing its material fate in its own hands rather than in Fate. Nasar account begins with Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew observing and publishing the condition of the poor majority in mid-nineteenth-century London, the richest and most glittering place in the world. This was a new pursuit. She describes the often heroic efforts of Marx, Engels, Alfred Marshall, Beatrice and Sydney Webb, and the American Irving Fisher to put those insights into action A brilliant new approach to the story of modern economics and to understanding how we got into today's financial mess. As the twenty-first century faces new and ever more daunting economic obstacles, Sylvia Nasar tells the story of how our financial world came to function as it does today, and how a handful of men and women would change the lives of every person on the planet. Economics was not always associated with bankers and excess, or with recessions and bailouts. Economics, as we know it, was born in the nineteenth century when Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew chronicled the destitution in London's slums and wanted to turn money into a force for social good. Man's material fate would be placed in his own hands, rather than left to destiny. The torch would be carried on by everyone from Marx and Engels to Keynes and Friedman, with revolutionary results.