A Surprising Economic History of the World

False Economy

*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
 
Why do some countries succeed while others fail? What causes boom or bust? The World Trade Editor of the FT explains how the world really works. 
 
'A thorough examination of economies from the age of empire to the age of the IMF' The Washington Post 
 
Why do oil and diamonds lead to economic disaster more often than boom? Why doesn't Africa grow cocaine? Why might believing in God be good for your balance-sheet? 
 
Botswana and Sierra Leone are both blessed with abundant diamonds. Why did Botswana became the world's fastest-growing economy while Sierra Leone suffered a decade of brutal civil war? 
 
For the past two hundred years Argentina had enjoyed a vista of economic opportunity almost identical to that of the USA but in 2001 Argentina's government bankrupted itself. Why did the USA succeed while Argentina stalled? 
 
Time and again, world leaders have failed to learn the lessons of economic history, and their mistakes continue to have surprising and catastrophic consequences. 
 
The path to prosperity is rarely obvious and the sources of success are often unexpected. 
 
In False Economy, Alan Beattie uses extraordinary stories of economic triumph and disaster to explain how some countries went wrong while others went right, and why it's so difficult to change course once you're on the path to ruin.

Born in Chester, Alan Beattie attended a local comprehensive school before graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in history. After taking a master's degree in economics at Cambridge, he worked as an economist at the Bank of England and then joined the Financial Times in 1998. Currently the FT's world trade editor, he writes about economics, globalisation and development. He lives in London.

Why do oil and diamonds lead to economic disaster more often than boom? Why doesn't Africa grow cocaine? Why might believing in God be good for your balance-sheet? 
 
In 2001 Argentina's government bankrupted itself, yet for the past two hundred years it had enjoyed a vista of economic opportunity almost identical to that of the USA. Why did the USA succeed while Argentina stalled? Botswana and Sierra Leone are both blessed with abundant diamonds. Why did Botswana became the world's fastest-growing economy while Sierra Leone suffered a decade of brutal civil war? 
 
In False Economy, Alan Beattie uses extraordinary stories of economic triumph and disaster to explain how some countries went wrong while others went right, and why it's so difficult to change course once you're on the path to ruin.

Alan Beattie

Mesmerising, supremely entertaining and informative

Fascinating, wide-ranging, engaging, clear and sparky. A brilliant read

A thorough examination of economies from the age of empire to the age of the IMF. Beattie's analysis dazzles with particulars

How Governments are Failing the World Economy

As we watch wave after wave of volatility threaten the global economy, it is tempting to ask, who is in charge here? The answer, journalist and economist Alan Beattie explains, is all too often no one. 
 
The crisis that began with mortgages in American suburbia has now spread around the world from banks to businesses to governments, threatening to bring decades of economic progress to a juddering halt. Globalization's strengths - its speed, breadth, and complexity - have also proved to be weaknesses as the crisis has traveled more rapidly and widely around the globe than the boom, and faster than governments have usually been able to react. 
 
The United States, which has led the global economy since the second world war, has been weakened by political division at home. Like ancient Rome, it has been challenged by an array of upstarts - emerging markets like China, India and Brazil. But just like the tribes that brought down the Roman Empire, the rising powers are strong enough to block American leadership yet not united enough to provide direction of their own. 
 
In Europe, as country after country has slid towards trouble, it has become evident that the eurozone's slow and unwieldy policy frameworks are woefully unfit for dealing with financial crises. As Beattie writes: "It [is] like watching a gang of irascible, quarrelsome architects trying to redesign a house in the middle of a raging fire." 
 
With the penetrating wit for which he is known, Alan Beattie explains how international economic institutions like the IMF can work - and how they often don't. He calls out the more spectacular failures of judgment and leadership, as well as the less frequent bright spots, in handling the crisis, showing how governments scrambled to respond as the ground started to give way.

Alan Beattie

Praise for Who's in Charge Here?

Mesmerising, supremely entertaining and informative

Fascinating, wide-ranging, engaging, clear and sparky. A brilliant read

A thorough examination of economies from the age of empire to the age of the IMF. Beattie's analysis dazzles with particulars

Mesmerising, supremely entertaining and informative

Fascinating, wide-ranging, engaging, clear and sparky. A brilliant read

A thorough examination of economies from the age of empire to the age of the IMF. Beattie's analysis dazzles with particulars

Mesmerising, supremely entertaining and informative

Fascinating, wide-ranging, engaging, clear and sparky. A brilliant read

A thorough examination of economies from the age of empire to the age of the IMF. Beattie's analysis dazzles with particulars

Books by Alan Beattie

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