Extreme Economies

A highly original approach to understanding what really makes economies tick. Both insightful and accessible to non-economists. * Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England *Davies visits economies pushed to the limit and examines what their response teaches us about resilience in the face of climate change, demographic shifts and state failure. * Financial Times *An exploration of the lessons to be drawn from disaster-stricken economies and imperilled (but innovative) people, which ranges from the jungles of Panama to post-tsunami Indonesia to the prison system of Louisiana and Syrian refugee camps. * The Economist - Books of the Year 2019 *Financial Times Best Books of 2019: Extreme Economies is a reflection on human resilience. The author takes you from a prison to a refugee camp to Kinshasa and Santiago to explain how economies work in extreme circumstances and why markets succeed or fail. Weaving economic theory and individual life stories, this is an important and enjoyable read.We learn most about ourselves at times of extreme stress and challenge. Using nine compelling country case studies, Richard Davies brilliantly demonstrates that the same is true of our economic systems. In its approach and insights, Extreme Economies is a revelation - and a must-read. * Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England *Richard Davies balances economics with art, exposing the trade-offs made by people living today and forcing us to question the outcomes of our decisions. * Will Page, Chief Economist at Spotify *Crisp and sensitive reporting from an extraordinary range of inaccessible places. As a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of markets versus planned economies, Extreme Economies is one of the most subtle and surprising I have read. – Tim Harford * Financial Times *Extreme Economies makes sense of the forces shaping the future. Taken together, the books nine deep dives are a much needed reminder that an economy is not what happens when equations interact with data. An economy is what happens when people – real people, people with names – interact with people. Anyone who wants to learn economics, is learning economics, or pretends to know some economics should read this book. * Paul Romer, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences *Accessible and original. The author draws on sociology and anthropology and the simple power of observation and conversation to bring economics alive. – Vince Cable * New Statesman Books of the Year *A fascinating book on economics in extremes. What happens when things go really wrong or are really different. – Martin Wolf * Financial Times *

Richard Davies is an economist based in London. He is a fellow at the London School of Economics, and has held senior posts in economic policymaking and journalism. He has been Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers at HM Treasury, an economist and speechwriter at the Bank of England, and economics editor of The Economist.

Richard has published widely on economics. He was the editor of The Economist’s recent guide to economics (Profile, 2015; CITIC 2018) and his articles have featured in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Times and 1843 Magazine. He is the author of numerous research papers and is a founding trustee of CORE, a charity which provides open-access resources for economics teachers and students in universities across the world.