A review by balhau
How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy

5.0

I usually don't give five stars to a book. This is an exception. The book is, simply put, an amazing one. The writer is a very knowledgeable one in terms of economic affairs he is also a very lucid and clear when putting ideas into paper. A very notable thing is that, despite the almost 400 pages of information the quantity of bullshit/void information is practically non existent. I'd saved precisely 50 notes of notable passages and finished the book with a much more clear idea of what are the financial markets the role in the wealth of nations and the respective risks that arise from the financial leverage that they use to foster the economy with the needed money.
The book starts with a exposure to classical economics, here known as utopian economics, and then it uses the knowledge acquired to build a new approach to a more pragmatic way of doing economics in this book called Reality-Based economics. Topics like the problem of hidden information, prisoner's dilemma and rational herd are exploited to show how, in certain circumstances, the free market just doesn't work. The third part is an serious analysis of the 2008 by noting the importance of the concepts previously introduced.
The book is of enormous importance and the information here is gold. I recomend this book to all responsible adult that want to have a more serious opinion about markets and ultimately in political economy