Systems thinking is en vogue these days as we increasingly realize how complex the world really is. Too many manage enterprises based on small rules and adages, but neglect to see how the bigger picture works. Then they are surprised when their interventions end up with a different effect. That’s because the rest of the world works systemically through feedback loops. The small game is not the only relevant factor. Before she died, Dartmouth professor…
The economic gap between the rich and poor has increased in recent decades, yet the access to technology in many ways democratizes the world. Increasingly, many of the rich don’t find much meaning in just earning another dollar. Here, Jacqueline Novogratz shares her tale of receiving a business education but not aspiring to Wall Street. Instead, she went to Africa and saw the potential to introduce capitalistic motivations for the greater cause of human happiness.…
Current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is the first female to hold the post that Alexander Hamilton first held over two centuries ago. She is also the first person to serve as Treasury Secretary, head of the Federal Reserve, and chief of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. In short, she has had a career that anyone of any gender identity would be proud of. Her work has been critical to American economic prosperity since…
It’s no secret that climate change has begun to affect human lifestyles. Unfortunately, world politics and economics are ill-positioned to deal with this crisis. If we can’t agree that vaccines are a good thing, how can we agree on the difficult sacrifices required to preserve our planet for future generations? Despite this (or perhaps because of this), Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the philanthropy Gates Foundation, is lending not only his name but also…
Sunstein, a Harvard law professor, has served in several administrations, both Republican and Democratic. In this book, he exposits his experience in regulation to suggest more effective ways to do so. Instead of partisan pro-con analysis, he suggests to measure costs and benefits, an idea originally implemented by Reagan through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). This practice provides a pragmatic – Sunstein calls it “technocratic” – way of assessing which regulations are…
This book was written shortly before Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President. Notably, that time was also just before the Great Recession. In that light, this book seems to suggest an ending to the deep conflicts between the world-views of conservative and liberal Baby Boomers and an opening to some sort of resolution of their tensions. It attempts to paint a middle way between economic conservatives (libertarians) and economic liberals (paternalists), a way called “libertarian…
In this book, the author Kahneman shares with us his essential philosophical insights which propelled him to a Nobel Prize. He describes the foundation in neuroscience and psychology which changed his view of how we ascertain something’s value to us. This changed the way that many economists see how the public chooses one choice over another. Traditional economic theory places a dollar value on an economic choice. So for instance, would you rather have $45…