The Age of Diminished Expectations - Revised and Updated

By Paul Krugman

Book Overview

Paul Krugman's essential guide to the economic landscape of the 1990s has been revised and updated to include a new introduction in which Krugman connects George Bush's fall from office to simmering dismay over a long-term economic slowdown. There is a new chapter on international finance that focuses primarily on European monetary affairs, and a new chapter on health care that examines why costs have exploded and explains how managed competition and alternative systems would work, and why it is so difficult to control rising health care costs. There are smaller additions throughout the rest of the book. These include: - a discussion of how people misunderstand the relationship between productivity and competitiveness; - the very minor industrial policy proposals that have been made thus far; - new data reflecting even larger gains for the wealthy than have been thought; - a prediction that Clinton's tax plan will have only a small impact; - a discussion of the junk bond market collapse; - and the startling productivity numbers for 1992. Discussions of unemployment and the trade deficit take into account that unemployment has risen, and there is a new section on how the Federal Reserve fumbled, as well as a new assessment of financial markets in light of the recession.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262610922
• ISBN13: 9780262610926
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.8" x 1.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Concise, straight to the point

Very good book by the 2008 prize in memory of Alfred Nobel: Paul Krugman. Each chapter is a synthesis of facts and theory so that one may understand the economic theory through the facts and viceversa. According to Krugman, the objectives of economics (better, of macroeconomics) are productivity growth, income distribution and employment. All the rest in macroeconomics descends from these three pillars (inflation, the trade deficit, the budget deficit, the dollar ups and downs, protectionism vs.free trade, etc.). A clear prose; worth reading and re-reading.

clear, almost prescient

This book was written when Americans were worried about Japan's so-called ascendence in the late 1980s. That makes is a bit dated, but it is still a great assessement of the strnegths and weaknesses of US economy. For the most part, Krugman was right: we underestimated our strenghts and over-esteemed those of Japan, as the last decade demostrates. For an economist, Krugman is a great writer as well, and his irascibility is fun, though not, I imagine, if his scorn is directed towards you.

Excellent! Makes complex issues accessible

Paul Krugman distills complex economic issues into easy-to-read and comprehend parts. If you want to understand some key economics concepts, but don't have much econ training, his writing is for you. He doesn't "dummy down" the subject, he just uses regular english without an expectation that you know the jargon, and it makes sense.

an excellent introduction to the big economic issues

I found this an excellent account of the big economic issues facing the US today.It is more measured (and perhaps a little less fun!)than a lot of Krugman's popular writing .One fault with the book is it concentrates too much on macroeconomic and international issues as opposed to say industrial and environmental regualtion,the legal system and so forth.The chapter on corporate governace was among the best in the book and more chapters on microeconomic issues would definitely improve the book.

Economics for the Rest of us

I think the above review does not do justice to this wonderful book. It doesn't say"Japan is coming, sky is falling" at all, this is exactly the sort of thing he criticizes in the book. One of the great thing about this book, however, is that he does try to give a fair explanation of various theories, even when he doesn't agree with them. You always get the fair and whole picture of the issue at hand. A great book, almost everything you need to know about economics as a layperson is here.