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From Publishers Weekly
In this intellectual history of recent American economic thought, Krugman ( The Age of Diminished Expectations ) maintains that there is "a constant market for doctrines that play to popular prejudices, whether they make sense or not. In times of economic distress, the search for politically useful ideas . . . takes on a special intensity." He deftly analyzes liberal and conservative academic economists, Keynes and "new Keynesians," as well as "policy entrepreneurs" who, he contends, often offer stylish answers unencumbered by logic or data. Krugman caustically denigrates supply-siders as "ideologues whose economic concepts were cartoonlike in their simplicity." Yet the author, a professor of economics at MIT, is also apprehensive about the pervasive influence of conservative academic economists and of "strategic traders" who have "sold the American public . . . on the idea that our most crucial economic problem is our struggle with other advanced nations for global markets." This benchmark study will stimulate much needed discussion in both academia and Washington, D.C.
From Library Journal
The major problem addressed in this book is that, when choosing between good economics and good politics, policy makers usually choose good politics. Krugman ( The Age of Diminished Expectations , MIT Pr., 1992) asserts that, just as Reagan became enamored of the dubious ideas of supply-siders, Clinton is in danger of being captured by another economic nostrum, strategic trading. The book also contains a most worthwhile exploration of the last 20 years of macroeconomic theory, policy, and performance. Krugman tells a coherent story rooted in economic commonsense accessible to all readers. His thesis of the good politics of bad economics is challenging and often convincing. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.