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Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy |  | Author: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $18.45
as of 3/10/2010 23:39 CST details
You Save: $9.50 (34%)
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 343
Media: Hardcover
Edition: ZZZ
Pages: 361
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0393075966
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.973
EAN: 9780393075960
ASIN: 0393075966
Publication Date: January 18, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 weeks
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780393075960 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An incisive look at the global economic crisis, our flawed response, and the implications for the worldâs future prosperity. The Great Recession, as it has come to be called, has impacted more people worldwide than any crisis since the Great Depression. Flawed government policy and unscrupulous personal and corporate behavior in the United States created the current financial meltdown, which was exported across the globe with devastating consequences. The crisis has sparked an essential debate about Americaâs economic missteps, the soundness of this countryâs economy, and even the appropriate shape of a capitalist system.
Few are more qualified to comment during this turbulent time than Joseph E. Stiglitz. Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Stiglitz is âan insanely great economist, in ways you canât really appreciate unless youâre deep into the fieldâ (Paul Krugman, New York Times). In Freefall, Stiglitz traces the origins of the Great Recession, eschewing easy answers and demolishing the contention that America needs more billion-dollar bailouts and free passes to those âtoo big to fail,â while also outlining the alternatives and revealing that even now there are choices ahead that can make a difference. The system is broken, and we can only fix it by examining the underlying theories that have led us into this new âbubble capitalism.â
Ranging across a host of topics that bear on the crisis, Stiglitz argues convincingly for a restoration of the balance between government and markets. America as a nation faces huge challengesâin health care, energy, the environment, education, and manufacturingâand Stiglitz penetratingly addresses each in light of the newly emerging global economic order. An ongoing war of ideas over the most effective type of capitalist system, as well as a rebalancing of global economic power, is shaping that order. The battle may finally give the lie to theories of a ârationalâ market or to the view that Americaâs global economic dominance is inevitable and unassailable.
For anyone watching with indignation while a reckless Wall Street destroyed homes, educations, and jobs; while the government took half-steps hoping for a âjust-enoughâ recovery; and while bankers fell all over themselves claiming not to have seen what was coming, then sought government bailouts while resisting regulation that would make future crises less likely, Freefall offers a clear accounting of why so many Americans feel disillusioned today and how we can realize a prosperous economy and a moral society for the future. .
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| Customer Reviews:
A "must read" book for money management decision makers. February 26, 2010
Jim
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a rather large book, but it is full of useful historic information
about the present economic global recession. Joseph Seiglitz was in a position to
see clearly the events that lead up to the recession, and to project his ideas
about what the near future might hold.
Stiglitz strongly favors more strict regulation of the investment banks and the private banks. His repititon of thoughts, kind of like a professor giving a university course, is good in a way, in that it helps one to remember the multitude of details.
Stiglitz is credible, and I recommend this book to anyone who desires factual information about how the world got into the present financial mess and possibly how to get out of it.
 Gripping exposure of our disgraceful financial banking crimminal behavier February 26, 2010
A. Peterson (Bethesda, Maryland.)
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
SadlyCHUCK full of superbly detailed ANALYSIS and detailed remedial Suggestions too late to save us from the
Gross financial deficiencies and blunders
of our severely dissfunctial financial banking system
Three O'Clock Courage February 26, 2010
leftyrite (Providence, R.I.)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
While reading Freefall, my mind wandered more than once to imagining the character of Dr. Stiglitz himself, forming impressions of the writer from the writing, as one naturally does.
A quote by Shelby Foote, the Civil War historian, came to mind from a decade or more ago and the Ken Burns documentary. Referring to Grant, arguably not one of his favorites, Foote nevertheless grudgingly alluded to the great man's "three o'clock courage." As I understood it, one could expect to wake Grant at an ungodly hour and still get an honest, cold appraisal of the situation as it actually stood.
Not a rationalization. Not a better sounding lie.
Stiglitz, to me, is like that, and so is his Freefall. This book is a cold, rational appraisal by a man who doesn't have the intention of getting red in the face about anything.
Maybe I should have dropped the Civil War historian reference in favor of a mention of battlefield surgeons, and surgeries, from that era.
I can picture Joe Stiglitz, twelve hours into his rounds, covered in blood and standing next to a quart of bourbon that he'd not had time to drink.
"Handsaw, please."
That's how immediate his economic news is to me.
Sad to say, our young Johnny doesn't know how bad he's hit. And his surgeon isn't about to yell.
Clear presentation February 25, 2010
P. K. Foster (New Zealand)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
A horrifying account of how market systems can fail. Very clear presentation for non-economists. Technique of description in plain language, with copious explanatory chapter notes at the end of the book works very well. The notes give technical details of and/or background to points made in the chapter. There are 62 pages of notes for 297 pages of text. This keeps the flow moving clearly, without distraction by getting into detail for those who do not understand it. But the detail is there if you want it.
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