Talking to My Daughter About the Economy
In Talking to My Daughter About the Economy, activist Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's former finance minister and the author of the international bestseller Adults in the Room, pens a series of letters to his young daughter, educating her about the business, politics, and corruption of world economics. Yanis Varoufakis has appeared before heads of nations, assemblies of experts, and countless students around the world. Now, he faces his most important and difficult audience yet. Using clear language and vivid examples, Varoufakis offers a series of letters to his young daughter about the economy: how it operates, where it came from, how it benefits some while impoverishing others. Taking bankers and politicians to task, he explains the historical origins of inequality among and within nations, questions the pervasive notion that everything has its price, and shows why economic instability is a chronic risk. Finally, he discusses the inability of market-driven policies to address the rapidly declining health of the planet his daughters generation stands to inherit. Throughout, Varoufakis wears his expertise lightly. He writes as a parent whose aim is to instruct his daughter on the fundamental questions of our age and through that knowledge, to equip her against the failures and obfuscations of our current system and point the way toward a more democratic alternative.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
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2019–2023years
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What Hacker News says
- What banks are doing is "a regular cycle" of modern capitalism (although this sounds like nonsense) - greed. This time was HSBC, yesterday was Deutsche, and tomorrow, who knows. I'd suggest reading a light book from Yanis Varoufakis called "Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works--and How It Fails" [1], where he explains how this cycle fuels the synergy of a modern economy, capitalism, and politics.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Daughter-About-Economy-Works-...
- This book is in my to read list for some time. I believe it touches the kernel of the problem about economy as a field. The definition of Value. A good book and easy to read book that touches in this subject is Yanis Varoufakis's excellent "Talking to My Daughter about the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism"
- Additional recommendation: _Talking to my daughter about the economy_, by Yanis Varoufakis. It’s a slender, engaging read that explores the history of economics and works its way to some modern day questions. In general, while learning I think it’s important to keep things fun, and I thought this was a fun read. Once these books get you warmed up with some concepts and footing you can take that fun curiosity and apply it to digging deeper.
- Graeber did not claim to be the first debunking the myth of barter.
However, what does it even matter, when the zombie keeps walking to this day? The linked article repeats the myth of barter.
And lest people think it's only right-ish economists that keep repeating it, Yanis Varoufakis did so too (in his book "Talking to my daughter about the economy").
And yeah sure, nothing "hinges" on the myth of barter. But it is a symptom, a glaring illustration that economists are really bad at arguing from how real people actually act, and cheerfully embrace just-so stories that support their preferred ideas - which is the linked article's whole game, too.
