Knowledge that Transforms

Saumitra Jha of Stanford University reviews “Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World” by Marc-William Palen. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the anti-imperialist dissent that accompanied the global spread of imperialism, focusing in particular on how free-trade cosmopolitanism facilitated the international peace and anti-imperialist movements that occurred from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.”

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.”

Farley Grubb of University of Delaware reviews “The Forgotten Financiers of the Louisiana Purchase: European Bankers, the US, and the Rise of International Finance” by Larry Neal. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the financial details of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, focusing on the role played by key actors and companies in bringing about financial innovation and facilitating a transaction that doubled the size of the original United States and helped set the country on a path to global power.”

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.

Jishnu Das of Georgetown University reviews “Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance” by Karthik Muralidharan. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores ways of improving the functioning of Indian governance and accelerating its development, focusing on state-level governance and the delivery of public services.”

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.”