Andrew Felton Brimmer (Mass): The Political Economy of John Kenneth Galbraith: Glimpses of His Eclectic Academic Life. Brad DeLong reviews Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction by Thomas K. McCraw. From Laissez-Faire, an article on the economics of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. A review of By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey by Janos Kornai. From NYRB, survival of the richest: Robert Solow reviews A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World by Gregory Clark. Blame the Rich: They made us who we are, some researches now say. A review of How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor by Erik Reinert. More on The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. A review of How Capitalism Was Built: The Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia by Anders Aslund. A review of Invested Interests: Capital, Culture and the World Bank by Bret Benjamin. James D. Wolfensohn says farewell to development’s old divides. From The Economist, the panic about the dollar: A full-blown dollar collapse would be disastrous — thankfully, it need not happen; and how long will the dollar remain the world's premier currency? Could changes in psychology be big enough to tip us into a world recession? From Der Spiegel, a special report on the dollar nosedive: Why America's currency is the world's problem. Who gains when the dollar sinks? US consumers and companies may lose first; other global players stuck with the greenback will soon follow. The dollar is falling, and that’s good news.
