The Age of Diminished Expectations, Third Edition: U.S. Economic Policy in the 1990s by Paul Krugman (PDF)

Description

Paul Krugman’s popular guide to the economic landscape of the 1990s has been revised and updated to take into account economic developments of the past three years. New material in the third edition includes:- A new chapter―complete with colorful examples from Lloyds of London and Sumitomo Metals―on how risky behavior can lead to disaster in private markets.- An evaluation of the Federal Reserves role in reining in economic growth to prevent inflation, and the debate over whether its growth targets are too low.- A look at the collapse of the Mexican peso and the burst of Japans bubble economy.- A revised discussion of the federal budget deficit, including the growing concern that Social Security and Medicare payments to retiring baby boomers will threaten the solvency of the government. Finally, in the updated concluding section, the author provides three possible scenarios for the American economy over the next decade. He warns that we live in an age of diminished expectations, in which the voting public is willing to settle for policy drift―but with the first of the baby boomers turning 65 in 2011, the U.S. economy will not be able to drift indefinitely.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review The Age of Diminished Expectations is a remarkable achievement, a quick read that tells you much of what there is to know about the great economic issues of the day. Peter Passell , New York Times Book Review― About the Author Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and a New York Times columnist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2008.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The age of diminished expectations lays out a series of interesting national level economic problems as viewed from the mid to late 1990s. These list of issues are all present and he makes a compelling argument for how little we are willing to do about it. He provides solid justification that we are not willing to take the paint and therefore there can be no gain. Read it.

⭐Had this as a textbook for an MBA course. It’s great to say the least. You might need to have some business and financial background to understand it, but it’s brilliant. It’s a short read, too, which is better!

⭐…dry toast. Required for an international economics course. Grossly overpriced. Kept putting me to sleep. ZZzz…

⭐I think the above review does not do justice to this wonderful book. It doesn’t say”Japan is coming, sky is falling” at all, this is exactly the sort of thing he criticizes in the book. One of the great thing about this book, however, is that he does try to give a fair explanation of various theories, even when he doesn’t agree with them. You always get the fair and whole picture of the issue at hand. A great book, almost everything you need to know about economics as a layperson is here.

⭐Krugman is an excellent writer and a superb economist. This book admirably combines those traits. Krugman’s grasp of economic theory and economic reality means that this is a wonderful economic history of the modern United States and explanation of why supply-side and other pop economic doctrines won’t work. Buy this for the liberal and the conservative in your family, because each will learn from it.

⭐Although this book was written in the early 1990’s, it still provides a good economic analysis of key policy issues that even exist today – from the trade deficit, health care, inflation, unemployment, etc. The book begins slowly, and disappointing because it seems like Krugman doesn’t really enjoy writing about the subject. Many of his initial policy suggestions are “there will never be any change because it is too politically sensitive subject”. The book begins to shine when they talk about his speciality though – international trade and finance. Dr. Krugman won the nobel prize last year for his work in this field, so it should be no surprise that he can explain this topic with more vivid detail and clarity that are lacking in other sections in the book. At the end of his text, he details three possible scenarios for the American economy going further – economic expansion, a “hard landing”, and the status quo. He said the most likely scenario was the status quo – which didn’t end up being the case. Overall, this was a good quick read and I anticipate reading more works from him.

⭐Thanks to Paul Krugman, I learned things related to economics from his book “The Age of Diminished Expectations” I did not at university. The book discusses possibilities for the American economy from the period 1995 to 2005 (roughly). We are already in 2006 and Paul Krugman’s most likely scenario — that the standard of living and economy would remain more or less the same — proved correct. It is complacency by Americans regarding their living standards and their limited expectations of what politicians can do for them that makes the description “age of diminished expectations” appropriate for Professor Krugman. In earlier times, Americans were very optimistic on the future, looking forward to ever greater increases in national prosperity.The book discusses the importance of productivity on the standard of living, and how they tend to correlate. From 2000 to 2004, American productivity growth jumped to 3%, which has helped America move ahead of other industrialized nations with sluggish economies. This achievement likely would have come as a surprise to Professor Krugman when he first wrote the book.Ominously, Professor Krugman points out the seriousness of the budget deficit and national debt, which will only worsen as Medicare and other costs associated with America’s aging population skyrocket, while these same productive workers leave the workforce to retire without being replaced adequately in sufficient numbers by younger workers.How is America going to pay off its debt, which will only worsen if changes are not made? Eventually there must be major cutbacks on social benefits and services, or an increase in taxes, or both. Letting the problem grow will only lead America to a state of eventual insolvency.

⭐Krugman’s argument in this book is that the US economy, while not doing badly, isn’t doing that well. Surely we can do better if only we expect more from our country. He goes on to provide an amazing economics lesson for the lay reader that discusses major economic topics, recent economic issues that are highly political, large problems with our current system, and what the future might hold. The chapters on international finance are particularly well written.It’s not the most recent of books, but it explains quite a lot of stuff, and most importantly, as with many of Krugman’s books, you get to have a feel for the way an economist thinks. Economics is a state of mind in the sense that the more you study it, the more difficult it becomes to connect with other people. They just won’t understand how your mind is thinking about things. What Krugman does is to make economics quite understandable without dumbing it down to the point where most academics would discard it as popular junk. He has strong political leanings that you are aware of if you read his column in the Times, but he is smart, and the “Age of Diminished Expectations” is definitely a good read.

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