Authors: Daniel Altman
ISBN-13: 9780312428099, ISBN-10: 031242809X
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: September 2008
Edition: First Edition
Daniel Altman received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and has written for The Economist and The New York Times, where he was the youngest member of the editorial board. He is now a columnist for the International Herald Tribune. He splits his time between New York, Hong Kong, and Buenos Aires.
What if you could look behind the headlines of the global economy to see how it really worked? Now you can. In Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy, Daniel Altman teaches us how the billions of decisions made by individuals can and do change the future. Connected is part travel guide, part owners manual-an absorbing, accessible, and essential road map for every citizen of the global economy in the twenty-first century.
Altman's overview of the world's economic workings is useful and informative, though surprisingly dutiful considering the author's promise of a "whirlwind tour." Moving briskly between topics pegged to an hour-by-hour timeline gimmick he discusses many concepts: exchange rates, trade deficits, international deals, currency markets, corruption, financial derivatives, technological innovation, the importance of oil. While addressing the outsized role of the U.S., Altman offers valuable glimpses of key foreign economies and leaves us with a solid understanding of how they fit into "the world trading system." "If you want to cope with connectedness," journalist Altman writes, "you have to be as connected as you can in other words, you have to pay attention to what's happening in the rest of the world." Granted, anyone who's already paying attention will find much of the book's information somewhat remedial. And Altman's attitude toward globalization is so studiously evenhanded and argument-free that the reader may long for the glossy zeal of an advocate like Thomas Friedman or a detractor like Lou Dobbs. Still, as global macroeconomic primers go, this is a quick read that reminds us that we're all in this together and that many of us have an awful lot to learn to keep up with the global economy. (May 1)
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