Jean Tirole

This book would be a good gift to a young person about to make decisions on university studies, at least if you want to encourage her to consider economics. The author demonstrates clearly that academic economic research can contribute to the common good on many fronts, and that basic economic knowledge can be important for avoiding social calamity. He discusses market failures, climate change, labour markets, national debt, the financial crisis of 2008, innovation and industrial policy, intellectual property and economic efficiency in infrastructural industries, etc.

The discussion is non-technical and for the most part accessible also to readers without economic training. It takes a good writer to distill important practical conclusions from economic theory without simplifying too much. The book also contains a couple of chapters on economics as a profession. The author stresses the societal role economists should take in educating the public. His own efforts in this vein are certainly impressive.… (mehr)