Knowledge that Transforms

Marc F. Bellemare of University of Minnesota reviews “The New Breadline: Hunger and Hope in the Twenty-First Century” by Jean-Martin Bauer. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the societal causes of and solutions to hunger, highlighting the systems of racism, classism, and sexism that prevail in hunger-prone countries.”

The categories listed below are used to classify books, book reviews, journal articles, and dissertations indexed in JEL and EconLit. New changes to the classification system appear as soon as possible on www.econlit.org . The JEL classification system may be used freely for scholarly purposes. We suggest the following format: “JEL: A10, B10, etc.”

Ricardo Nunes of University of Surrey, CIMS, and CfM reviews “The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level” by John H. Cochrane. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Considers ways to make fiscal theory accessible, developing stories and intuition for how it can help facilitate an understanding of the world. Explores a simple two-period fiscal theory model with perfectly flexible prices, constant interest rates, short-term debt, and no risk premiums, in addition to a simple intertemporal model.”

Ola Innset of BI Norwegian Business School Oslo reviews “Hayek: A Life 1899–1950” by Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausinger and “Liberalism’s Last Man: Hayek in the Age of Political Capitalism” by Vikesh Yadav. The Econlit abstract of these books begin: “Discusses the life of Friedrich Hayek from his birth in 1899 through his move from the London School of Economics to the University of Chicago in 1950, outlining his intellectual contributions and the context in which he developed his ideas.” And “Presents a close reading of Friedrich Hayek's ‘The Road to Serfdom’ (1944), promoting an argument in favor of a revival of liberalism in the twenty-first century.”

Anujit Chakraborty of University of California, Davis reviews “Arguing about Tastes: Modeling How Context and Experience Change Economic Preferences” by David M. Kreps. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores preference formation and evolution, discussing the interaction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives in both static situations and in more dynamic contexts.”

Shulamit Kahn of Boston University reviews “Disparate Measures: The Intersectional Economics of Women in STEM Work” by Mary A. Armstrong and Susan L. Averett. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the economic promises of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and the viability of those promises, focusing on women from historically disadvantaged populations who work in STEM occupations.”

Catherine Louise Kling of Cornell University reviews “Pricing the Priceless: A History of Environmental Economics” by H. Spencer Banzhaf. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how economists have thought about the tension between delighting in the wilderness as it is encountered and also taming it and making it useful, focusing primarily on applied economics in the United States between the 1940s and 1980s.”

Andrew Samwick of Dartmouth College and NBER reviews “Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy” by Teresa Ghilarducci. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the implications of compelling older people to work longer, presenting a pro-worker alternative that, instead of cutting pensions and forcing work on elders, enforces anti-age-discrimination laws, institutes effective job training, and pays for good pensions and more Social Security benefits.”

Editor's Note Our policy is to annotate all English-language books on economics and related subjects that are sent to us. A very small number of foreign-language books are called to our attention and annotated by our consulting editors or others. Our staff does not monitor and order books published; therefore, if an annotation of a book does not appear six months after the publication date, please write to us or the publisher concerning the book.