The Ordinary Business of Life

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• huitzitziltzin · Jan 6, 2024 · Recommends

  This is not at all a serious syllabus on this topic. I cannot understand the inclusion of ChatGPT. If you want a nice, single-volume history try Roger backhouse’s “the ordinary business of life”, soon to come in a second edition. There is a much older book by schumpeter but it’s extremely dated as well as overly long.

  on “My history of economic thought reading list” ↗
• dredmorbius · Sep 8, 2011 · Recommends

  …cunningly disguised treatise on the emergence of stock corporations, banking, and modern finance and capital), Niall Fergusson's The Ascent of Money (a less cunningly disguised version of same), and The Ordinary Business of Life which is dry as dust but still a wonderful exposition of 3000 years of economic thought. A book I've just heard of but haven't read is David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years. He's a radical anthropologist,…

  on “Krugman on BitCoin” ↗
• dredmorbius · Jul 22, 2012 · Recommends

  …found in 25 years on economics. That, Niall Feguson's Ascent of Money (the guy is in many ways an ass, but this is a pretty good book), Nassim Taleb, Nouriel Rabini, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, The Ordinary Business of Life: A History of Economics from the Ancient World to the Twenty-First Century (Roger Backhous) -- hardly a page-turner, but a very good compendium of 3000 years of economic thought, and Neal Stephenson's…

  on “Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees” ↗
• jihadjihad · Nov 10, 2021 · Recommends

  One to look into is Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life (2002). A good overview of the subject that incorporates ancient and modern perspectives.

  on “US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis” ↗
• dredmorbius · Aug 26, 2014 · Mentions

  …We've been having what are fundamentally the same economic debates for 2000+ years, largely over fairness of pricing, wages, equity, and control, as a survey history such as Roger E. Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life details. In the 20th century, the three major challenges to free-market capitalism as espoused by Adam Smith and his followers have been the Great Depression of 1929-1940, the environmental and oil shocks…

  on “Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep” ↗
• dredmorbius · Sep 23, 2016 · Mentions

  …development concepts. I happen to think his views have merits.) There are several books which cover the history of economic thought, from more and less inclusive perspectives. Roger Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life is extraordinarily dry, but reasonably encompasses the mainstream. http://www.worldcat.org/title/ordinary-business-of-life-a-hi... Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers is a classic: http://www.worldcat.org/title/worldly-philosophers-the-lives...…

  on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗
• dredmorbius · Aug 25, 2014 · Critical

  …question, a large number of economic texts and papers still begin with this discussion, and it's been at the heart of economic thought for well over 2,000 years (see for example, Roger E. Backhouse, The Ordinary Business of Life, which covers, in an exceptionally dry fashion, much of this history). The question of how to value GDP over time isn't a trivial one, though I'll note that for most of history it's actually not particularly…

  on “Economists Don't Understand the Information Age, So Their Claims Are a Joke” ↗
• dredmorbius · Feb 6, 2014 · Mentions

  …commodities: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3300/3300-h/3300-h.htm#link2H... The longer discussion involves much of what is now called economic discourse prior to Smith, see generally Backhouse, The Ordinary Business of Life http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780691116297-1 In particular, the market can grossly overvalue items (bubbles), and it can put premiums on present consumption during times of crisis (e.g., burning…

  on “The Ocean is Broken (2013)” ↗
• dredmorbius · Jun 29, 2017 · Mentions

  …way through various economic works, in a bit of a hop-scotch. There are a few good histories of thought -- The Worldly Philosophers, by Heilbronner, was popular in my uni days (1980s). Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life is more comprehensive, though exceedingly dry. I found Arnold Toynbee (the elder), Lectures on the Industrial Revolution, to be fascinating. I'm going through a bit of John Stuart Mill (both he and…

  on “Is it unethical for me to not tell my employer I've automated my job?” ↗
• dredmorbius · Nov 6, 2017 · Mentions

  …capitalism" as a cover for monopoly mercantilistic rent-extraction. Having put a fairly considerable amount of study into the history of economic thought, back to Greek and Roman times (see Backhouse's The Ordinary Business of Life for a comprehensive, if dry, overview of mainstream economic thought), and with a strong focus on Smith to present, this problem is a pervasive one. The irony is that it's practiced quite ardently by…

  on “UN Study Warns: Growing Economic Concentration Leads to “Rentier Capitalism”” ↗
• dredmorbius · Mar 1, 2018 · Mentions

  …are not generally addressed today. There are overviews and histories of economic thought and its development which should be useful. I've read Heilbroner (The Worldly Philosophers) and Backhouse (The Ordinary Business of Life), both of which provide a broad overview. Ha-Joon Chang has Economics: The User's Guide, which is a pretty good overview of various schools of thought. I'm particularly impressed currently by Steve…

  on “Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind US Productivity Gains” ↗