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

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book occupies fairly rare territory: the middle ground. Krugman's most likely scenario for the 1990s is neither crash nor boom but a continuation of the 1980s, with some unemployment, more inflation, and only slow growth in income. Surprisingly, Krugman notes, the public will continue to be satisfied with this performance. Designed for the general reader, the book covers the important economic problems and proposed solutions. One also discovers which problems should be real concerns and which are even amenable to solution. Recommended especially for public libraries as a well-balanced introduction to the 1990s.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 3 edition (August 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262611341
• ISBN-13: 978-0262611343
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #309,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We must strive for more, August 9, 2002

By	Pumpkin King - See all my reviews

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Economics for All of Us, January 3, 2001

By	F. Lybrand "Black Mesa" (Chapel Hill, NC US) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recently read this book and "Getting it Right" by Barro, both had been assigned reading while I was an undergraduate economics major that I had carefully avoided. Having finished Mr. Krugman's work I very much regret having not read this book earlier (it was my favorite of the two). He does a very good job of writing a well thought out, easy to understand description of the evils of several aspects of our fiscal policy in the US. Two sections in particular, Section III on Policy Problems and Section IV on Financial follies, really spell out the illogical nature of many of our nation's legal and ethical dilemnas. I particularly enjoyed the section on the S&L scandal, which should be required additional reading to "Funny Money" by Mark Singer. It is, to say the least, a fascinating read.

If you are interested in understanding how US fiscal policy should function, or how we have fallen into a trap of lowered expectations with regard to the work of our elected representatives, then this is a book that you would very much enjoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Economics for the Rest of us, February 16, 1998

By	Hiroo Yamagata (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Age of Diminished Expectations, Third Edition (Hardcover)

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.