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Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy |  | Author: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 4069
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 361
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0393075966
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.973
EAN: 9780393075960
ASIN: 0393075966
Publication Date: January 18, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An incisive look at the global economic crisis, our flawed response, and the implications for the worldâs future prosperity. The Great Recession, as it has come to be called, has impacted more people worldwide than any crisis since the Great Depression. Flawed government policy and unscrupulous personal and corporate behavior in the United States created the current financial meltdown, which was exported across the globe with devastating consequences. The crisis has sparked an essential debate about Americaâs economic missteps, the soundness of this countryâs economy, and even the appropriate shape of a capitalist system.
Few are more qualified to comment during this turbulent time than Joseph E. Stiglitz. Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Stiglitz is âan insanely great economist, in ways you canât really appreciate unless youâre deep into the fieldâ (Paul Krugman, New York Times). In Freefall, Stiglitz traces the origins of the Great Recession, eschewing easy answers and demolishing the contention that America needs more billion-dollar bailouts and free passes to those âtoo big to fail,â while also outlining the alternatives and revealing that even now there are choices ahead that can make a difference. The system is broken, and we can only fix it by examining the underlying theories that have led us into this new âbubble capitalism.â
Ranging across a host of topics that bear on the crisis, Stiglitz argues convincingly for a restoration of the balance between government and markets. America as a nation faces huge challengesâin health care, energy, the environment, education, and manufacturingâand Stiglitz penetratingly addresses each in light of the newly emerging global economic order. An ongoing war of ideas over the most effective type of capitalist system, as well as a rebalancing of global economic power, is shaping that order. The battle may finally give the lie to theories of a ârationalâ market or to the view that Americaâs global economic dominance is inevitable and unassailable.
For anyone watching with indignation while a reckless Wall Street destroyed homes, educations, and jobs; while the government took half-steps hoping for a âjust-enoughâ recovery; and while bankers fell all over themselves claiming not to have seen what was coming, then sought government bailouts while resisting regulation that would make future crises less likely, Freefall offers a clear accounting of why so many Americans feel disillusioned today and how we can realize a prosperous economy and a moral society for the future.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 54
 Efficient people :) August 27, 2010
liliana
I got the book I ordered, it was very good and they sent it very fast.
Economics for the non economist August 22, 2010
Paxton Williams (Texas)
Masterfully done. Written well and easily understandable to the non economist. This book confirms what I already intuitively knew. If you have been paying attention for the last several decades you will find yourself shaking your head with recognition, agreement and with more than a tiny amount of disgust. This should be required reading for anyone who makes economic or monetary policy in this country. I found that I could only read two or three chapters at a sitting. Any more than that and I feared my head might explode. If you really want to understand why we are in this current economic mess then this is the book for you.
 To Whom Is Given Much August 8, 2010
hojodo
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
Don't expect the adage "From Whom is Given Much, Much is Expected" to apply to the content of this book. A Noble prise does not confirm that a good book is written.
Dr. Stiglitz starts by blaming the Bush administration, moves on to praising the Obama campaign since they relied on his policies, and then to the failure of the Obama administration for not following his recommendations. This alone is enough to indicate that we are dealing with ego rather than rational thinking.
He touts Keynesian policies where spending government money generates more private industrial revenue and resulting taxes to more than offset government spending. Even as late as 7/10, this hasn't happened. This theory does not translate into practice.
He blames most everything on 'big bad banks' while not acknowledging the small businesses taking mortgage applications with little regard for ethics, and he doesn't lay any responsibility on government mandates that insist on providing loans to those who can't repaid the loans. These mandates are created to be 'fair', but the result is anything but fair to our society.
Net, do not expect this book to provide a balanced view on reality. If you have a 'progressive' view and want to support your position then by all means read this book. For all the others at the center of the spectrum, don't bother wasting your time with this book.
The Humpty Dumpty Perspective on the U.S. Economic Crisis July 25, 2010
William Dahl (Redmond, OR)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We all know Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and subsequently "had a great fall." What we don't truly understand is:
a. How ol' Humpty got in that precarious position in the first place (What was he thinking? What were his assumptions? Why did he go up there anyway?).
b. Why "all the king's horses and all the king's men - couldn't put Humpty together again."
Columbia University's Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, provides the perspective that other authors who have authored volumes on the U.S. economic crisis have overlooked. It's a terribly important work that proposes explanations for the questions posed above. It's truly about 'freefall' - "When the world economy went into freefall in 2008, so too did our beliefs. Long-standing views about economics, about America, and about our heroes have also been in freefall.(p.xvi). Well, what might this all mean? Stiglitz is hopeful: "The crisis will, I hope, lead to changes in the realm of policies and in the realm of ideas." (p.xiii).
From Stiglitz' perspective, "This book is about a battle of ideas, about the ideas that led to the failed policies that precipitated the crisis and about the lessons that we take away from it. In time, every crisis ends. But no crisis, especially one of this severity, passes without leaving a legacy. "(p.xii).
It is distinctly a crisis of our own creation, as Stiglitz says: The system that failed so miserably didn't just happen. It was created. Indeed, many worked hard-and Spent good money-to ensure that it took the shape that it did. (P. xxiv.).
According to Stiglitz, the crisis is evidence that the marketplace of ideas failed us (particularly as this term relates to 'herd instinct'): "The marketplace for ideas is no more perfect than the marketplace for products, capital, and labor. The best ideas do not always prevail, at least in the short run. But the good news is that while the nonsense 0£ perfect markets may have predominated in, certain parts of the economics profession, some scholars were trying to understand how markets actually worked. Their ideas are there, now, to be used by those who wish to construct a more stable, prosperous, and equitable economy." (P. 274).
The crisis pointed out the central role of the "human element" that remains so dramatically misunderstood in economic behavior: "But the central bankers were, in a sense, right: no one with credibility in their circle challenged the prevailing view, but there was a tautology: no one challenging the prevailing view would be treated as credible. Sharing similar views was part of being socially and intellectually acceptable." (p. 253) --- a terrible cost to pay for ignoring the voices of dissent, in favor of a perceived "socially acceptable" policy position.
Now what? Stiglitz is clear: "The old rules, whether they worked well in the past, are not the right rules for the twenty-first century." (P. 207)...the final parts of this volume provide specific examples of what the authors suggests.
Finally, one sentence from Stiglitz really caught my attention. He writes, "Trust is the grease that makes society function." (P. 289). "Freefall" is really all about the process of how the marketplace of ideas 'greased trust' throughout the entirety of our economic system, facilitating our fall, and how we might approach putting the pieces back together again.
Needless to say, the latter is hardly a completed process and/or one where the marketplace of ideas is moving toward consensus. Will we be more successful than "all the King's horses and all the King's men?"
Imagine not having your head attached to your shoulders correctly...
An Account to tresure July 19, 2010
Oluseun David Onigbinde (Lagos, Nigeria)
A really impressive account that takes a valued understanding of the crisis of capitalism and how the West negates its global policies when its capitalists engines spin out of control...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 54
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