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The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
- Author
- Martin Wolf
- Narrator
- John Lee
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 2 February 2023
- Run Time
- 13 hours 17 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
Liberal democracy is in recession and authoritarianism is on the rise. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and spurned, even in democracy's notional heartlands. Around the world, powerful voices argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views, offering a deep and lucid assessment of why the marriage between capitalism and democracy has grown so strained and making clear why a divorce would be an almost unthinkable calamity.
Wolf argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth and productivity, increasing inequality, widespread popular disillusion - democratic capitalism remains the best system and that citizenship is not just a slogan or a romantic idea; it's the only concept that can save us. This wise and rigorous exploration of the dynamic between democracy and capitalism shows us that our ideals and our interests not only should align - they must do so, for everyone's sake.
© Martin Wolf 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Critics Review
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Martin Wolf has been an incisive commentator on economics and politics for a long time. This book is an excellent and thought-provoking synthesis of his views on democratic capitalism and how to fix it.
Ben Bernanke, former chair of the Federal Reserve
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Martin Wolf is one of the deepest thinkers of our times and his latest book is a must-read! He brilliantly analyzes the causes of current crisis of democratic capitalism and presents the reforms needed to successfully rejuvenate it. He rightly calls for a new alliance of reformed democratic capitalist states to protect global peace, inclusive prosperity and the planet against plutocratic populism and tyranny. Hopefully, his words will be carefully read and heeded.
Nouriel Roubini, Professor, New York University
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Martin Wolf is a great humanist and a sharp analytical mind. He unfurls here a bracing indictment of democratic capitalism and an inspiring defense of it. To defend the values of freedom and dignity, democracy and capitalism must both be reformed. A necessary book- and a guide -- for our times
Daniel Ziblatt, Professsor, Harvard University and co-author of HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE
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Martin Wolf brings together many decades' worth of thought and analysis into this superb synthesis. An important guide for anyone seeking answers to the most difficult questions of our time.
Anne Applebaum, Atlantic staff writer and author of TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Martin Wolf is our wisest, most acute, and most experienced commentator. He has long been an optimist, but no more. He believes that today's market economy is no longer compatible with a stable liberal democracy. As Plato long ago warned, insecurity and fear can be the gateways to tyranny. Wolf's recommendations are smart and sensible and perhaps not too late. A must read for both optimists and pessimists.
Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize in Economics 2015
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Martin Wolf has written the definitive account of what ails capitalism and democracy. This staggeringly erudite and beautifully written book is sure to become required reading for anybody who wants to understand how democratic capitalism slid into a deep crisis, why it is worth rescuing, and how to do so.
Yascha Mounk, Professor, Johns Hopkins University and author of THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
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The arrival of this book could not be timelier as the global economy darkens further. Who better than Martin Wolf, with his masterful knowledge of history and understanding of economics, to identify the twin threats of predatory capitalism and demagogic politics and to plot a narrow corridor to escape? It takes someone with a knowledge of the entire forest to isolate the rot at the base of the trees.
Carmen M. Reinhart, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
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Passionate, alarmed, wise: Martin Wolf has poured his soul into the book that may be recognized as his masterpiece. In it, he confronts the disturbing truths dismissed by his own complacent generation, and their consequences, with which the young will contend.
Sir Paul Collier, author of THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM
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The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism will reach a wide and powerful audience. It will be read by world leaders and CEOs. If it convinces some of them to change tack, away from the plutocratic path that national and international economies are currently on, then we should all be grateful.
New Statesman
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a cri de coeur ... This book, impressively researched, is ... a mine of information for anybody wanting to know about the forces driving the global economy in recent decades ... Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others, as Churchill once said. And the same is true of capitalism relative to other forms of economic organisation. Fixing both is the task.
Sunday Times
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Details
- Author
- Martin Wolf
- Narrator
- John Lee
- Duration
- 13 hours 17 minutes
- Release Date
- 2 February 2023
- ISBN
- 9781802062380
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Political economy, Political structures / systems: democracy, Capitalism, Globalization, Economic history, Popular economics
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. Liberal democracy is in recession and authoritarianism is on the rise. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and spurned, even in democracy's notional heartlands. Around the world, powerful voices argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views, offering a deep and lucid assessment of why the marriage between capitalism and democracy has grown so strained and making clear why a divorce would be an almost unthinkable calamity.Wolf argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth and productivity, increasing inequality, widespread popular disillusion - democratic capitalism remains the best system and that citizenship is not just a slogan or a romantic idea; it's the only concept that can save us. This wise and rigorous exploration of the dynamic between democracy and capitalism shows us that our ideals and our interests not only should align - they must do so, for everyone's sake.© Martin Wolf 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
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