Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World

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I learned a good deal from each chapter and the author manages to entwine complicated concepts with charming stories and various facts. P132 “…consumers do not have the time and mental capacity to process all the information on the carbon footprints of their food items….

Each chapter has a recipe as a header, not in full but as a list of ingredients that go into the recipe that showcases the food item used as an example to discuss the theme of the chapter. Raczej tę książkę polecam dla młodych ludzi, zainteresowanych lub których chcemy zainteresować ekonomią, gospodarka światową, a nie dla tych którzy mają jako takie pojęcie o tych kwestiach. As Chang points out, the fact of the matter is that places such as Korea developed because of sustained investment.Ha-Joon Chang uses food stories, knitting world history and personal stories together, to explain important themes in economics; often deconstructing popular economic myths that stil inform mainstream economics education and policymaking (including “post-industrialisation”, the “free market”, the importance of the care economy, misunderstandings of the welfare state, protectionism, innovation etc. The author has an uncanny ability to connect very different topics into one coherent tale - say, pasta and automobile industry, or anchovy, guano and fertilizers. I'm not much of a recipe enthusiast, but sometimes I wanted to know the preparation part of the recipe mentioned. Just as eating a wide range of cuisines contributes to a more interesting and balanced diet, so too is it essential we listen to a variety of economic perspectives.

Because one thing that comes through in Edible Economics, which is more absent in his Chang’s previous books, is that development is difficult. Sin duda, en los plateamientos del autor subyace un aprecio por el valor de la democracia, el cuidado del medioambiente y la igualdad de género. But I appreciated the fact that his criticisms of neoclassical economics were packaged in a new and novel way — through food. Now I’m off to read some additional reviews to see what others thought about this one, because I’m not entirely sure what to think.

For Chang, chocolate is a life-long addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into post-industrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism's entangled relationship with freedom and unfreedom. There’s a tendency among leftwing economists to reproduce the boosterism of the neoliberals in the opposite direction; to suggest that a different policy mix with more regulation and redistribution could act as just as much of a silver bullet. His books include Economics: The User's Guide, Bad Samaritans and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, which was a no. The only book I've ever read that made me laugh, salivate and re-evaluate my thoughts about economics – all at the same time.

Curried clam broth leads into consideration of the spice trade, and then to the Dutch East India Company, and then to limited liability companies in general, and to suggestions about how the reform of corporate governance might make it possible to sustain long-term investments in green technology.It's rather a compilation of personal anecdotes, food history tidbits, and a critique of economic theories to explain the world we live in.

Taking the example of the humble anchovy, he tells us how the raw materials based economies were ruined by the surge of synthetic substitutes, as happened to guano, rubber, and dyes, on which economies such as Peru's, Brazil's and Guatemala's were dependent on to prosper, and how this can happen again (and why).

But some of them work much better than others: the train of thought from spices to shareholder value runs along quite smoothly, but elsewhere the narrative shifts from chicken to the welfare system with all the elegance of a Eurovision key-change. The definitive, behind-the-scenes look at why Pokémon's evolution from a single Japanese video game to global powerhouse captured the world's attention, and how the "gotta catch 'em all" mentality of its fanbase shaped pop culture—and continues to do so today. Chang dismisses alternative economic models – those based on commodity exports, or on services – rather quickly. kg can or a 300 g can of anchovies in olive oil on a given run to the supermarket, I appreciated how Mr Chang used commonly eaten and popular foodstuff across the world to explain economic theories, political-economic systems, processes, and even an economist's overview of world history from the recent past to the present. As with a Church of England sermon, it’s easy to chuckle at the artless way in which the points are sometimes brought in, – “In a very real sense, isn’t the carrot rather like a patent system?