A stunning display of insight and erudition and an important contribution to a long-standing debate about the part...
A venture capitalist and theoretician provides a radical reconsideration of the roles of asset bubbles and government investment in technological innovation.
According to the once-dominant perspective of neoclassical economics, efficiently functioning markets and the rational actors who run them justify a minimum of government intervention in the form of either regulation or investment. But in this second edition of his economics book, Janeway (Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, 2012) contends that the most recent market crisis and the existence of bursting financial bubbles in general repudiate that sanguine vision of triumphant human reason. In fact, state action is necessary not only to preserve continuity and confidence during disruptive periods, but also to fund technological innovation. The author conjures a Keynesian model to capture this more nuanced, messier version of progress, one in which the state, the market, and the financial sector simultaneously compete and collaborate—the “Three-Player Game.” Financial bubbles turn out to be necessary: When the timing of the dance between the three players flounders (“coordination failures”), bubbles occur and create the incentive to speculatively invest in risky assets while largely remaining indifferent to their real or future value. Put simply, bubbles generate the conditions for progress, or the “environment in which technological revolutions can reach commercially and economically significant scale.” The propensity to “tolerate unavoidable waste,” for example, to fund research without any expectation that it will generate returns, is the heart of capitalism, not the rational optimization of outcomes, and for this the government is indispensable. But Janeway deftly shows that the digital revolution’s astonishing success, inconceivable without state sponsorship, has paradoxically contributed to the delegitimizing of government by accelerating the expansion of economic inequality and the social stress that ensues. The worrisome consequence could be that a diminished version of the Three-Player Game is unable to steward the next revolution: the emergence of a green economy. This second edition includes a valuable updated reflection on the ramifications of Donald Trump’s presidency and the angry march of populism. The author’s incisive analysis draws deeply from his dual identity as a venture capitalist with over 40 years of practical experience and a theoretician with a Ph.D. in economics from Cambridge University. As a result, he moves agilely from the microscopic assessment of case studies to the rigorous discussion of academic literature. For those in search of advice on how to “construct defenses against the vagaries of living in this uncertain economic world,” he furnishes creative, sensible lessons. But he also supplies a provocative critique not only of neoclassical economic theory, but also of the behavioral models that presume reliable rationality as a signature characteristic of human decision-making. Janeway employs “two different styles of rhetoric,” one more forbiddingly technical and the other more conversationally informal, the result of the material being sourced from different kinds of presentations he’s given. In either case, unfortunately, the writing can be needlessly turgid and unwieldy. For example, “existential negative externality” is the kind of phrase that repudiates itself once said out loud.
A stunning display of insight and erudition and an important contribution to a long-standing debate about the part government plays in technological progress.Pub Date: June 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-108-47127-5
Page Count: 458
Publisher: Cambridge Univ.
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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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