Brad DeLong easily has the most interesting mind in modern
economics. Before this book, I was unfamiliar with his co-author. But when I
saw that DeLong was writing a book, no matter what the subject, I was ready to
pounce on it. Thankfully the people at the Harvard Business School Press gave
me and advance review copy, and then I was inconsiderate enough to not read
review it in any form until now.
What Concrete Economics calls for is an economic plan on pragmatism.
The realization is that both parties may have strayed too far into an ideology
that doesn’t work (neoliberalism in the vein of Thatcher and Reagan and
continued to this day) in the light of the crisis that was almost ten years ago
now. What we need, according to the authors, is to look at the administration
of Hamilton’s Treasury Department on doing what is needed to help the country
grow and prosper. It reminds me of the dictum attributed to FDR in the
Depression – Try something, and if that doesn’t work, try something else.
The prescription is timely, since growing inequality and
stagnating wages at the middle of the distribution have given rise to the
voices of populism and xenophobia. These
current developments are scary to people who have tried to make the economic
system work for everyone, and though I am to the left of the authors
politically, I would much prefer a politics and economics of pragmatism much
more than one based on fear of the other. Thankfully and hopefully, DeLong is a
creature on the edge of the establishment, so maybe his voice will be heard in
the next administration. (As long as the vox populi doesn’t make some sort of
fatal mistake.)
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