But this is bland and unhealthy - like British food in the 1980s, when bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang first arrived in the UK from South Korea. Agent: Ivan Mulcahy, Mulcahy Sweeney Literary.Economic thinking - about globalisation, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation and much more - in its most digestible form.įor decades, a single free market philosophy has dominated global economics. Lay readers with a taste for the field will find plenty to savor. Chang infuses the survey with food-related trivia (strawberries aren't actually berries, South Koreans consume 10 times more garlic than Italians), covers an impressive swath of economics, and concludes with a call that readers scrutinize, think imaginatively, and be open-minded in their quest for economic knowledge. Bananas lead to a look at the effects of multinational companies on "host economies," and a personal story about a spice being "taken for granted" leads Chang to extrapolate on unpaid care work, which isn't included in GDP calculations but "would amount to 30–40% of GDP" if it were.
via the slave trade, and how free market economics only grant freedom to some.
It shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: when we understand it, we can adapt and improve it-and better understand our world.Ĭhang (Economics: The User's Guide), a professor of economics at SOAS University of London, blends culinary facts and economic expertise in this rollicking guide that makes "economics more palatable by serving it with stories about food." "Economics has a direct and massive impact on our lives," Chang writes, and, in an effort to make knotty concepts accessible to a wide audience, he explains economic theory with culinary anecdotes: okra's use in gumbo gives way to a discussion of how the vegetable was brought to the U.S. Myth-busting, witty, and thought-provoking, Edible Economics serves up a feast of bold ideas about globalization, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation, and why carrots need not be orange.
For Chang, chocolate is a lifelong addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into postindustrial knowledge economies and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism’s entangled relationship with freedom. But this intellectual monoculture is bland and unhealthy.īestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang makes challenging economic ideas delicious by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world, using the diverse histories behind familiar food items to explore economic theory. Edible Economics brings the sort of creative fusion that spices up a great kitchen to the often too-disciplined subject of economicsįor decades, a single, free-market philosophy has dominated global economics.
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