An arguable thesis, perhaps, but an evenhanded view of a topic generating much heat.
Economist Galbraith (Univ. of Texas; The End of Normal: The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth, 2014, etc.) ventures an anti-Pikettian view of the sharply divisive fact that not all wallets are created equal.
In strictest economic terms, inequality is not a bad thing; it “generates the competition that determines status and standing and prestige,” writes the author, and therefore serves as a driver of economic progress. Galbraith, who allows that it’s hard to separate politics from the idealized world of numbers and formulas, enumerates several kinds of inequality, of which one in particular, income inequality, is hard to measure: income is often hidden, tax records obscured, numbers skewed for (mostly) political reasons. The French economist Thomas Piketty has made the same observation, most recently with regard to tax statistics. Galbraith, though, sharply departs from Piketty on many points, arguing, for one thing, that income inequality has become “less certain and inexorable after 2000 than it was before” and that after the crisis of 2008, inequalities have declined slightly. This seems counterintuitive given the pronounced gulf between the haves and the have-nots, as does Galbraith’s assertion that richer societies are generally more equal than poorer ones because “a rich society, by definition, must have a large middle class.” Given another trend, the steady erosion of the middle class, this again seems questionable, at least for the U.S., but Galbraith defends his arguments capably. At times his prose, generally dry but accessible, catches fire, as when he writes in favor of the inheritance tax in light of “the privileged, feckless, and lazy brats that the original founders of great fortunes tend to spawn.” Readers with economics and political science backgrounds will benefit most from the book, and they alone are likely to be interested in such things as his account of inequality in history and his political excurses on, for instance, “whether egalitarian societies do better on the battlefield than their unequal opponents.”
An arguable thesis, perhaps, but an evenhanded view of a topic generating much heat.Pub Date: March 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-19-025046-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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