Why read Economy of Words?

Book cover of Economy of Words: Communicative Imperatives in Central Banks

Book description

Markets are artifacts of language - so Douglas R. Holmes argues in this deeply researched look at central banks and the people who run them. Working at the intersection of anthropology, linguistics, and economics, he shows how central bankers have been engaging in communicative experiments that predate the financial crisis…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Economy of Words as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Daromir Rudnyckyj

Author

Most of us think of economics and economic policy making the same way that we do about other scientific fields, such as physics or engineering. Like those sciences, economics uses numerical models and mathematical analysis to explain how the world works.

In contrast, this book reveals how economics is a very different kind of science from physics or engineering. Holmes shows how economists and economic policy-makers rely on language as much as, or even more than, numbers to achieve their desired policy goals.

From Daromir's list on The best books for illustrating how anthropology helps us understand the economy.