Why read Thinking like an Economist?

Book cover of Thinking like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy

Book description

The story of how economic reasoning came to dominate Washington between the 1960s and 1980s-and why it continues to constrain progressive ambitions today

For decades, Democratic politicians have frustrated progressives by tinkering around the margins of policy while shying away from truly ambitious change. What happened to bold political vision…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Thinking like an Economist as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Emily Erikson

Author

This is a detailed and rigorous history of the relationship between economic thought and state policy in twentieth-century US history. Berman ultimately concludes that economic theory has negatively impacted the democratic party. I disagree and would say that economic theory has given the party new tools with which to govern more judiciously. Either way the institutional story about the increasing influence of economics is fascinating and compelling.

From Emily's list on The best books on the development of economic theory by non-economists.