If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- How did two Nobel Prize-winning economists accidentally prove that humans are incapable of making completely rational economic choices by bankrupting their own companies twice?
- Why does the author argue that your income is determined more by your country's immigration laws and overall societal wealth than by your individual skills or work ethic?
- Contrary to the popular belief that safety nets make people lazy, how does a strong social welfare system actually drive innovation, risk-taking, and higher economic growth?
Listen to 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
- Understand why economics is actually a social science driven by common sense, rather than an objective natural science too complex for the average person to grasp.
- Discover the concept of 'bounded rationality' and learn why human beings are inherently incapable of making the perfectly rational financial choices that free market theories assume.
- Learn how appropriate government intervention in the financial marketplace can actually protect individuals and help them make better, safer economic decisions.
- Find out why the free market assumption that humans are purely selfish actors is incorrect, and see how everyday economic decisions are largely driven by honesty, honor, and respect.
- Realize that your income level is determined more by the society you live in and government protections, like immigration controls, rather than your actual skills or pure free market value.
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Despite what free-market economists claim, their field is not an objective natural science.
Chapter 3: Despite what free market economists think, people cannot make perfectly rational economic choices.
Chapter 4: Human beings are not completely selfish; we often act from altruistic motives also.
Chapter 5: The economy doesn’t pay people what they truly deserve to earn.
Chapter 6: An effective manufacturing base is more vital for overall growth than a strong services or tech economy.
Chapter 7: The financial crisis was driven by a deliberate build-up of risk in the system itself.
Chapter 8: Despite economists’ fears about government economic planning, it already exists and it is performing well today.
Chapter 9: Social welfare is essential for robust economic growth.
Chapter 10: We must stop attempting to fix developing countries with the wrong tools entirely.
Chapter 11: It isn’t capitalism that’s the problem; it’s the way we design and implement it.
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism Summary & Overview
In 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism Ha-Joon Chang destroys the biggest myths of our current economic approach. He explains how, despite what most economists believe, there are many things wrong with free market capitalism. As well as explaining the problems, Chang also offers possible solutions which could help us build a better, fairer world.
Who Should Listen to 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism?
- Students of economics who are fed up with mainstream teaching
- Anyone who takes an interest in the financial crisis and why nobody saw it coming
- Anyone wondering why levels of inequality are so high
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