I believe the adage that history provides many rich lessons, and those who choose not to heed these lessons are destined to repeat the errors of the past. For this reason, this book was my favourite read of 2023 (with a couple of honourable mentions).
The book is ultimately about a topic close to my heart: governance. But unlike my book, which focuses on governance within institutions, this book focuses on the governance of states. Using their theory of “The narrow corridor”, Acemoglu and Robinson describe how governance arrangements play a key role in creating states that grow, thrive, and become prosperous on the one hand, and decay, implode, and ultimately die on the other.
I was blown away by the vast sweep of political history provided to illustrate the theory.
"Why is it so difficult to develop and sustain liberal democracy? The best recent work on this subject comes from a remarkable pair of scholars, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. In their latest book, The Narrow Corridor, they have answered this question with great insight." -Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post
From the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, a crucial new big-picture framework that answers the question of how liberty flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy in others--and explains how it can continue to thrive despite new threats.
I occasionally dip into the scripture within the ancient texts as I believe it has so much to teach us. Admittedly, it can be hard work at times, as the books are written in a different time, context, and culture.
So when you have someone of the calibre of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks doing the heavy lifting for you by not only interpreting the scripture but illuminating the lessons that emerge from it, it makes the task so much easier. By masterfully taking us on a journey through the five books of the Hebrew Bible, Rabbi Sacks provides something for everyone in this compilation of essays.
From afar, I was a big fan of the late Rabbi Sacks. Reading this book was like taking a sip from his bottle of wisdom.
Why was Abraham ordered to sacrifice his son? Was Jacob right in stealing the blessings? Why were we commanded to destroy Amalek? What was Moses' sin in hitting the rock? And how did the Ten Commandments change the Jewish people, and humankind, for good? Essays on Ethics is the second companion volume to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's celebrated series Covenant & Conversation. Believing the Hebrew Bible to be the ultimate blueprint for Western morality, Rabbi Sacks embarks upon an ethical exploration of the weekly Torah portion, uncovering its message of truth and justice, dignity and compassion, forgiveness and love.
I have followed the debate over the efficacy of the rational man model that underpins the theories of economics (so-called homo economicus) closely. Is, as many psychologists have claimed, homo economicus dead? Or does homo economicus still have a pulse and need to be revived? I like the way Lionel Page bravely tackles this debate.
Although he is not blind to the shortcomings of the rational man model, he illustrates that there are good reasons for the departures from it that have been identified over the past two to three decades. Far from trying to put another nail in the homo economicus coffin, Page suggests that it can be refined to make its prognostications more valid.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the study of human behaviour.
For a long time, economists have assumed that we were cold, self-centred, rational decision makers - so-called Homo economicus; the last few decades have shattered this view. The world we live in and the situations we face are of course rich and complex, revealing puzzling aspects of our behaviour. Optimally Irrational argues that our improved understanding of human behaviour shows that apparent 'biases' are good solutions to practical problems - that many of the 'flaws' identified by behavioural economics are actually adaptive solutions. Page delivers an ambitious overview of the literature in behavioural economics and, through the exposition of these…
This book marries a unique professional experience with research from experimental economics and finance to explain why governance failures occur within our institutions.
In the largely revised second edition, not only has the research referenced been updated, but the book takes a more targeted approach and uses the Australian banking and finance industry as the case study (an industry that has been the subject of considerable attention over the past decade due to failures in governance).
The book illustrates that when the conditions are permissive, humans have a predisposition towards dishonesty, and therefore, to reduce the likelihood of ethical failure, leaders must focus obsessively on putting in place appropriate institutional arrangements.
