BOOK REVIEW: 'THE WELFARE STATE WE'RE IN' BY JAMES BARTHOLOMEW

Introduction
This was a recommendation from The Freedom Festival which I attended earlier this year, put on by The Freedom Association. The weekend was packed with lectures and then I was able to meet the author, James Bartholomew, at The Freedom Festival a few months later. Each chapter is dedicated to a different aspect of the welfare state in Britain and explains how provisions were made previous to the welfare state being introduced. It's a great history lesson and shows how each part of the welfare state could actually be provided by the private sector.

Style
Mostly easy to read although at times I felt the opinions of the author really came through, influencing and supporting the data rather than the conclusions being drawn from the data. Bartholomew writes in a conversational style that is easy to follow although at times the sheer amount of data and anecdote made the writing dense by necessity.

Content
Each chapter considered different aspects of the welfare state grouped around a general chapter heading. The chapter is usually introduced through the use of an anecdote which draws you into the chapter by asking you questions like 'What did Catherine of Aragon have to do with the origins of the welfare state'? while also addressing more general questions like 'Do welfare benefits cause unemployment?'

Other topics include the NHS (subtitled: like a train crash every day), Education, Housing, Parenting and Pensions. The last chapter is a very useful summary of the book while also drawing general conclusions over whether we should get rid of the welfare state altogether.

Conclusions
‘The Welfare State We're In’ was exceedingly interesting to read; I vaguely felt that the welfare state needed reforming before reading this but I wasn't at all aware of how much it had taken over from the private sector in previous years. Bartholomew presents data and anecdote together to form an interesting narrative and picture of Britain. I was quite convinced by the picture presented. However, straight after reading this I read Jack London's "The People of the Abyss" in which London goes tramping around the east end of London in 1902; before the welfare state was properly introduced. This made me realise that although Bartholomew is statistically correct when he says that people got along perfectly well before the welfare state London describes people sleeping six to a bed or people sleeping under and above the bed, or doing 'shifts' depending on the work schedule.

In summary: Very interesting book, excellent picture of how the welfare state doesn't need to exist in it's current state but best taken with a pinch of salt and another set of writings from the opposite perspective.

Usefulness
Very useful read if you're studying public sector economics or if you're looking for a solution to the expansion of government.

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BOOK REVIEW ‘THE WHY AXIS’ BY URI GNEEZY & JOHN LIST

Introduction

Another book that explores ‘the hidden side of everything’. Unlike the Dubner and Levitt books the topics explored here are quite narrow although not less interesting. Rather than separate chapters on different subjects this book looks at some very specific issues and the evidence connecting them.  The main focus of the book the ‘new field’ of economic experiments, controlling for factors and seeing how groups react to different incentives with the aim being to solve problems such as underachievement in schools and discrimination.

Style

Nothing too technical here to put off a casual reader, this is another of many books trying to increase awareness of microeconomics and therefore it has to be accessible to everyone. One thing that did annoy me was that some parts start a story but you can’t find out what happens until it is used to illustrate the conclusion. Although you can’t really  fault a literary device being used in a book.

Content

The main topics explored relate to discrimination and the achievement gap between students. Exploration happens through looking at field experiments, most of which were engineered by the authors or their colleagues during their careers. Other topics that the authors have looked into include how to get people to donate to charity, experiment to get ahead in business and a number of interesting by products besides this. Some topics span multiple chapters which other topics are only a few pages long.

Conclusions

‘The Why Axis’ covers a few subjects in a great deal of detail and although all of these topics are interesting the ties between them are vague. ‘The Why Axis’ was a very interesting read and I learnt a lot from it that I hope I’ll have power to put into practice some of the suggestions to combat discrimination and inequality. The only criticism I have is that the topics don’t really ‘flow’ together all that well, it can’t be helped as there’s not enough material for a singular book on a singular topic so it has to be a mash-up of previous work in a nicely digestible holiday novel.

Usefulness

In terms of classes I don’t think this is a very useful book. Yes it was interesting and yes I enjoyed reading it but I don’t think I would ever be able to reference this book in an essay. Still, if you enjoyed ‘Freakonomics’ you’ll enjoy this one too!

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BOOK REVIEW ‘THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST’ BY TIM HARFORD

Introduction

I found this book in the library when I was supposed to be studying. Good call because this was actually a great revision book for MICROECONOMIC POLICY! Look at the contents page…. It’s practically the syllabus… The chapters are not sequential so you can pick and choose what you read about and the topics are all have ‘everyday applications’ as the whole idea of the book is to look at the world around you with ‘the eyes of an economist’ so each theoretical concept is introduced with real world evidence.

Style

Tim Harford is a great author because he’s so easy to read. Sometimes a book will say ‘no previous knowledge of economics necessary’ but they’re flat our lying. That’s not the case with Harford as he builds up your knowledge from the beginning and then adds to it with every chapter.

Content

I’m not saying that you can ace Micro Policy with this book but the basic concepts are explained in a way that make it easy to build on with the lecture notes. Here are most of the topics that Harford explores and explains:

• Ricardo’s theory of rent & scarcity power
• The value of the marginal
• The effects of rent control
• The effects of immigration
• Price discrimination (including location pricing)
• How perfect markets work and why we use them (1)
• Efficiency vs fairness in taxation
• Market & Government failure
• Dealing with externalities
• Asymmetric information/incomplete contracts/moral hazard
• Efficient market hypothesis
• Game theory and auctions
• Competitive and absolute advantage
• Rent seeking

Also topics such as the rise of china, the recent financial crisis and environmental issues are also discussed

Conclusions

‘The Undercover Economist’ is well written and covers a lot of material in a non-convolute way. Topics of recent interest are discussed thoroughly using concepts that Harford introduces through storybook examples and anecdotes.

Usefulness

If you are taking Microeconomic Policy you should read this book. It’s like revision but easier. I thought I understood the topics presented in lecture but Harford is able to go through the concepts with more leisure so that the examples he used still stick in my mind even a year after I first read them.

Notes

(1) I re-read this chapter a lot because it explains why economists continue to use models of perfect markets when they’re so inapplicable to the real world

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BOOK REVIEW ‘END THIS DEPRESSION NOW!’ BY PAUL KRUGMAN

Introduction

I used to really love Paul Krugman because he explains things in such an easy way. Recently people have been telling me Krugman isn't the most reliable economist around so I decided to re-read this book in particular which I thought was the best book ever written for a time because it’s so straightforward.

Style

The book is dedicated: ‘To the unemployed, who deserve better’ which tells you a lot about Krugman’s writing style. The book assumes an intelligent reader with no previous knowledge of economics so lots of important concepts that are thrown around during lectures are explained remarkably well. However only rarely does Krugman tell us what the concept is called ‘in the jargon’ so it’s not something that’s suitable to read the night before the Macro Theory exam.

Content

The first chapter explains the effects of unemployment and lost economic growth the result has been anger and despair that rivals that of the great depression. Krugman then speaks about how the depression led to the rise of Hitler in inter-war Germany (1).I know there’s a word for the fallacy of taking an argument and drawing it to a silly, worst case scenario conclusion but I don’t remember what it’s called. Maybe that fallacy applies here or maybe Krugman is just being rational when he warns that a depression brings out the worst in people.

This introduces Krugman’s central message: economists have learnt from the great depression and know what has to be done to fix it but the fix is difficult politically. The government needs to raise spending to boost demand (2)  and this has to be done through fiscal policy as during a liquidity trap monetary policy becomes useless.(3)

The large part of the book is then taken up with the run-up to the current crisis, some common fallacies spread by political phrasing and generally refuting any arguments that could be levied against the conclusions drawn. I enjoyed this build up as Krugman is quick to draw comparisons and make snide remarks during what would otherwise be a dry section which makes the chapters easy to read.(4) For example, I am now informed that there is no ‘structural problem’ in unemployment or whatever other excuses politicians make up; they simply just don’t want to fork out the amount of money that would be necessary to end this recession.

We are reminded of the Obama stimulus bill, known as the ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ totalling $787billion. Krugman says fiscal stimulus of this size was ‘too small for the job’ and ended up discrediting the whole idea of fiscal stimulus. Reasons why opponents criticize fiscal policy are discussed and dismissed, including fears of debt and inflation.

Finally, a chapter is spent analysing the problems in Europe along with the dangers of austerity. Krugman ends the book with a five point plan to end the crisis and a summary of what has been discussed. The very last paragraph contains a call to put more pressure of the government to respond to the current economic situation before it’s too late.

Conclusions

Mr. Sean Rickard once said during a lecture that most economics books for the general public could probably be condensed into a slightly-too-long chapter and forget the extra 200 or so pages that come after. But without 200+ pages you can’t sell the book for £15. I think this might be one of those book.

The book is enjoyable to read due to the sarcastic way arguments are deflected but a lot of the information could be condensed without the irrelevant stories and comparisons. The conclusions of the book make sense after the detailed reasoning Krugman employs but I’m not sure whether his evidence supported his conclusions or whether they just refuted all other options.

Usefulness

Although not particularly relevant to a particular course, the chapters covering the current financial crisis are detailed and well explained. Background is also given on the great depression so that comparisons between the 1930s and 2008 can be made so there’s lots of economic history that students should really be aware of explained.

The book assumes an American reader so the reader will need to understand the barebones of the Federal Reserve System and a rudimentary knowledge of macroeconomics is useful if you want the knowledge to really stick in your head. If you have time to kill between macro theory and macro policy this book would be useful in creating a bridge between the two courses.

Notes

(1) This is immediately followed by a mention of Godwin’s law which should have prompted that part of the chapter being summarily deleted but nevermind…

(2) Can I just say I am sick of this ‘Great Capitol Hill Baby Sitting Co-Op Crisis‘ story? I don’t care how well it illustrates a point can we please find a different example of quantitative easing already?
(3) Which Tim Congdon disagrees with in ‘Money in a Free Society‘ which kick started my whole ‘Someone disagrees with Krugman?!’ disillusioning process in which I learnt that many economists can seemingly be right at the same time while still disagreeing with each other.
(4) I particularly like the idea of a ‘garden- variety recession’ that is quickly turned around with quantitative easing. I mostly like this because other sources agree with this view and it’s less confusing for the poor undergraduate students when economists agree with each other.

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BOOK REVIEW: 'ROBINSON CRUSOE' BY DANIEL DEFOE

The thing is, I really can't get excited about adventure novels, I was thinking that the next novel I was going to read would be Moby Dick but I don't know if that's a good idea. I may just stick the Jane Eyre. Please bear that in mind when you read this!

So, 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe is a novel about a man who turns 18 and decides to go off to sea. His fist adventure ends up badly and but he recovers and earns his fortune but then decides to go on another journey! This pattern repeats and repeats until finally he ends up shipwrecked on a deserted island.

But even here he survives and manges to make bread and have a flock of goats and stays on the island until he is rescued as an old man. He does most of this alone apart from a parrot which he teaches to talk. Near the end he also rescues a native from a neighbouring island from being eaten by cannibals and this man becomes the famous 'My Man Friday'.

Unfortunately, Friday doesn't show up until.... two thirds through the novel? I've never seen a Robinson Crusoe movie but perhaps he shows up earlier in reproductions because everyone I talked to expected me to know who he was.

Crusoe finds Friday

So that's the main plot, there's bits in-between and a bit at the end when he's going back to England but that's the bones of it. It reminded me of the voyages of Sindbad, another stupid man who just had to keep going back to sea to seek his fortune despite being rich already. I just think it's a bit impractical but I suppose some people aren't content with a good life.

As a character, Robinson Crusoe is a very interesting person. In Wilkie Collins' 'The Moonstone' there is a character who uses Robinson Crusoe as one might use a bible, reading it every day and picking out a passage when he has a problem. I can understand that as the way Crusoe overcomes adversity and still manages to survive with his optimism intact is brilliant.


Also, he moves from not really loving God at all, to being a God fearing man who thanks God for everything that he has. It's got a very strong Christian message which I wasn't sure about. I don't mind it, but at times I felt like I had been fooled into reading the story of a convert rather than a adventurer. I can understand why people prefer Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' which is a more realistic portrayal of a man faced with adversity, but even then I could never get through the whole novel. Adventures just really aren't my thing.

If you like, you can play the story instead!

Summary:

Best Part: The novel is an uplifting tale about a man against adversity. It does make you feel proud of humans!

Worst Part: There's no real conflict in most of the novel. Just a man surviving against the odds and you know he's going to survive.

What I learnt: With some ingenuity, it is possible to survive so you should never give up no matter the circumstances.

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REVIEW: 'A TALE OF TWO CITIES' BY CHARLES DICKENS

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

'A Tale of Two Cities' is a book that has been recommended to me a few times by people, mostly during my A-Levels because I really love reading Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London' and I needed another novel to compare with Orwell for my coursework.

In the end I used Orwell for my second, non-comparative piece with a feminist reading so I never read this novel and I never really wanted to in the first place.

The reason being: Charles Dickens and I do not get on. I don't know why it is, I have a great love of Victorian England and Dickens' literature is as good a picture of London during the time. You can't go through a 'literary guide to London' without most of the guide being dedicated to him.

But his books are just so long! And they never really seem to have much suspense in them, just overly complicated plots and too many characters to count.

'David Copperfield' is very popular in our house and it is the last Dickens book I've ever completed. Before that I read 'Oliver Twist' and 'A Christmas Carol' of course, but as children's classics. Then I found David Copperfield so long and complicated that it really did put me of Dickens altogether.

I picked up 'A Tale of Two Cities' because I was learning about the French Revolution and wanted something to supplement that picture, I also watched The Rose of Versailles which I've been waiting for an excuse to watch.

The novel was originally serialised, as most of Dickens' novels were, and is also divided into the traditional 3 volume novel. This particular story is also noted for having less sub-plots than his other novels which encouraged me to have a read.

So, the novel is set just as the French Revolution is beginning. It begins with Lucy's Father, Dr. Manette being rescued by Mr. Lorry from the Tellson's Bank and his long lost daughter Lucie. This is really all that happens in the first part of the novel. It's an introduction to the main characters and to the owners of the wine shop which will later become important.

I found the first third of the novel interesting enough although I didn't understand some of what was going in regards to the political implications of details that were described. All the characters introduced here turn out to be important in some way or another, even the man who rides the horse to catch up to the carriage, and I didn't understand this as I read it so by the time I encountered these characters again I found it a little difficult to match them up to those that I had read being described previously.

The second/middle of the book I did not understand at all! Or sometimes I did and then I would loose it. Again, all the characters are important and I didn't pay enough attention to them when they were introduced since I'm used to disposable characters as it were.

In this part we are introduced to a few more characters. It begins with a timeskip and Lucie is in the centre of a love triangle and it's a lovely little description on London life. The one subplot is introduced via a minor character called Jerry Cruncher who is a runner for Tellerson Bank and a couple of chapters are devoted to how he lives his life.

I started to get bored here. There isn't any particular conflict of such. Just a normal domestic family life and a little drama in the form of a love triangle. Two of the characters get married and they give birth and loose their son within a paragraph. I really didn't enjoy reading this and I contemplated giving it up.

However, I persevered and I'm very glad I did!

The end of the novel brings absolutely everything together. In a way the whole book reads a little like a mystery novel and you have to think about what the motivations for the characters really are, who holds the power and who's hiding what.

The end is touching and the whole last third of the novel, the part set completely in revolutionary France, gave me a real sense of terror and helped me imagine the plight of those aristocrats and friends of aristocrats who were endangered through their associations, rather than their actions.

Somehow... 'The Rose of Versailles' was more 'edge of your seat' stuff though

Summary: 

Best Part: The abrupt end and the mystery behind the final twist.

Worst Part: The middle which muddles through lots of plot, collecting pieces and leaving them scattered around for someone to find.

 What I learnt:  I expanded my picture of the French Revolution and the terrors. I also learnt that maybe a Charles Dickens novel can be enjoyable, and I wont be put of by that name in the future.

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