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Economics Rules
Book

Economics Rules

The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science

Dani Rodrik
W.W. Norton, 2015

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Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Economist Dani Rodrik critiques the discipline of economics as a social science, acknowledging its occasional successes but also panning its many failures. He includes historical context, theory and clear explanations of how economists tackle real-world problems, and he manages to do all this without littering the text with mathematical equations or Greek letters intelligible only to specialists. Rodrik’s argument, which is quite accessible to the noneconomist, is educational and almost entertaining. getAbstract believes students, teachers and mentors dealing with economics and fiscal policy will appreciate such a rare feat in a book about the dismal science.

Take-Aways

  • Economics is a science because it employs the use of models. Economic models identify probabilities, regularities and tendencies.
  • Models are often mathematical, but math is not indispensable to economic analysis.
  • Economic models can be simplistic, formal and, often, unrealistic.

About the Author

Economist Dani Rodrik is a professor of international political economy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the author of The Globalization Paradox.

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