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Paul Krugman

End This Depression Now! Hardcover – April 30, 2012

by Paul Krugman (Author)

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A call-to-arms from Nobel Prize–winning economist and best-selling author Paul Krugman.

The Great Recession is more than four years old―and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge―all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all―remain in a state of intense pain."

How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years―a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

April 30, 2012
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.6 inches
ISBN-10

9780393088779
ISBN-13

978-0393088779
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Editorial Reviews

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An important contribution to the current study of economics and a reason for hope that effective solutions will be implemented again. "

Starred review. Krugman (Fuzzy Math), winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, takes an edifying and often humorous journalistic approach to the current economic crisis in this accessible and timely study. Rather than provide a mere postmortem on the 2008 collapse (though relevant history lessons are provided), Krugman aims to plot a path out of this depression. Krugman has consistently called for more liberal economic policies, but his wit and bipartisanship ensure that this book will appeal to a broad swath of readers from the Left to the Right, from the 99% to the 1%. "

About the Author

Paul Krugman, recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics and best-selling author, has been a columnist at The New York Times for twenty years. A Distinguished Professor at City University of New York, he lives in New York City.

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ASIN

‎0393088774

Publisher

‎W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (April 30, 2012)

Language

‎English

Hardcover

‎272 pages

ISBN-10

‎9780393088779

ISBN-13

‎978-0393088779

Item Weight

‎15.9 ounces

Dimensions

‎6.5 x 1 x 9.6 inches

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Paul Krugman

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Paul Krugman writes a twice-weekly column for the op-ed page of the New York Times. A winner of the John Bates Clark Medal who was also named Columnist of the Year by Editor and Publisher magazine, he teaches economics at Princeton University.

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Paul Frandano

Substantive Tutorial *****, Smartypants Tone **

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016

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I greatly admire Paul Krugman, have read with pleasure his popular books and one of his scholarly monographs, and look forward to his column every Monday and Friday morning.

But I docked this slender, smart book a star for its condescending "I'm right, you're dumb," tone, which of course is an occupational hazard for the good doctor. It seems true, though, that the austerity policies advocated by the other side defy comprehension: paring government services to the bone, paired with tax cuts that benefit mostly the wealthy, would by simple arithmetic wreck the economy (as they have caused persistent stagnation in Great Britain and elsewhere in other OECD countries as they crawl on their stomachs toward resumed economic growth). (Think about it: to say that austerity policies will usher in a new age of business confidence that will liberate factors and thus drive growth, as in "economic contraction will lead to economic expansion," does seem, on its face, as loopy as it turns out to be.) So I dock PK a star for the exuberance he demonstrates in expounding on his own correctness (and for repeatedly insisting he's more interested in talking about what to do to end the continued high unemployment rather than in rehashing history, when for most of 200 pp - of 239 main-text pp - what PK gives us is analytic history - very finely wrought, tightly argued analytic history).

So, substantively, this for me is a five-star tutorial, with two chapters on banking, finance, and inequality - "Bankers Gone Wild" and "The New Gilded Age" - alone worth the purchase price.

3 people found this helpful

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Dan

What about senior citizens on fixed incomes?

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2012

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I have read "End this Depression Now" and both enjoyed it and learned from it. It's written lucidly for us non-economists.

I agree with all the positions Krugman takes, save one - his championing of inflation.

I understand the points he raises in favor of allowing "modest" inflation, but nowhere do I see any sensitivity on his part to the situation of us senior citizens.

I am 71. My wife Ruth is 65. We are retired (and hove moved to Dominica so as to avoid becoming elderly poor in our former home in Massachusetts). People like us can't exist with inflation eating away at our fixed incomes (supplemented by IRA disbursements). We can't return to work and have no time left to realize investment appreciations, nor can we accept risk - we must adhere to capital preservation. Social Security doesn't give us a break: Our benefits aren't being indexed. And even if they were, neither the CPI nor some core inflation measure reflects the terrible inflation we see in medical and medical insurance costs. Anyhow, any indexing we would get would be after the fact.

4 people found this helpful

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GPS

Clear explanation of what happened and what we should be doing to fix things

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2013

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Krugman is one of those rare individuals who is scathingly brilliant but can write clear prose. This book lays out a clear, logical explanation of what happened in 2008, speculates on why it happened, and most importantly, presents detailed prescriptions for moving forward.

The geniuses in Washington DC won't read this or listen to him because, as Upton Sinclair noted, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." And lobbyists and the one percent themselves have direct access to our legislators.

A number of young people (I work with young people) and older people who do not have business knowledge have asked me why we had this recession and what we should be doing about it. I always refer them to this book (or give them a copy). It's a quick and clear read.

For background reading, I also recommend Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal ... He really deserved that Nobel Prize.

2 people found this helpful

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Baze T

Well written, very easy to read for layman

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012

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I have no formal economics education but have always loved reading economics blogs and columns. Prof. Krugman's book is an extension/collection of some of his writings in the NYT or his (excellent) blog. He presents his case for stimulus in a very readable and coherent way, so the text is not filled with wonky jargon - it is all very understandable and easy to read for someone like myself, with charts that are easy to understand. The reason the book is not a 5star for me is because of two things - one is that he is somewhat repetitive, and the other is that i would have loved a little more depth to the book. I understand that this was done in order to appeal to a wider audience, but at some parts it felt too simplified and rudimentary. Aside from these small comments, i think that is an excellent book and a worthy read for anyone who would like to learn a little more about economics, the state of the world economy and why we are still in the mess we are in.

2 people found this helpful

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Dr. R. G. Bullock

More than economics...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2013

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Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and a columnist at The New York Times. He won the Nobel prize for economics in 2008. His book, `End this Depression Now!', argues that the present economic depression, dating from 2008, is not essentially different from other depressions, notably the Great Depression following the Wall Street crash of 1929. He argues that the experiences, actions and research of the 1930s and 1940s, augmented by recent research, has given us the tools to bring the economic situation under control. They are simply being ignored by governments in the USA, the UK and Euroland, or governments haven't the courage to do it.

He begins by outlining the tremendous costs of a prolonged depression, especially in human terms. His humanity comes through strongly, not something one normally associates with economists. For example, he notes research which shows that a graduate qualifying during a downturn has his or her whole career affected adversely, not just for the duration of the recession. Long recessions cause permanent, irretrievable losses that leave nations with weak industries and poor skill bases, unable to take full advantage of any recovery. They can lead to political extremism - look at Hungary and Greece today.

The lessons of the Great Depression are outlined. Krugman sees himself as a "sorta-kinda New Keynesian" and argues that depressions are essentially due to lack of demand. This can be counteracted effectively by government spending of particular types - infrastructure spending, mortgage debt relief, temporary higher target rates for inflation, and effective devaluation of the currency and "printing of money". He criticises the stimulus package of President Obama as being far too timid and small to be really effective. Krugman does not think debts should not be paid off, but this should be done when the economy is stronger.

His remedies mainly apply to America but there is also discussion of the UK and Europe. He is scathing about the economic policies of the coalition government. As the UK has its own currency and central bank, Krugman states that we could easily apply a stimulus package without causing a troublesome run on the currency (he talks about the "confidence fairy" in debunking the excessive weight given to "confidence" in the design of policy). He shows that such countries (the USA, Japan, the UK, Sweden) are much less prone to being at the mercy of the market compared to those in the Eurozone. He contrasts Sweden and Denmark with Finland: very similar economies but as Finland is in the Eurozone, has suffered much greater speculative pressure. However, he is much more pessimistic about the Eurozone as a whole. The individual countries do not have their own currency, nor their own central bank and this, Krugman maintains, makes all the difference. The only solution he can see is Germany enacting, for a time, strong inflationary policies - totally against the grain in that country - combined with general wage reduction in southern Europe, again not likely to happen voluntarily.

So far, so Keynesian, but the really fascinating parts of the book lie elsewhere. For example, the "paradoxes": the "Paradox of thrift", where everyone saves (and so spends less) leading to generally declining income and shrinking of the economy. The "Paradox of deleveraging" - the more debtors pay, the more they owe. And the "Paradox of flexibility" - lack of demand leads to a cut in prices e.g. for labour - in short, wage cuts. Across the board wage cuts, incomes all reduced, but debt remains the same. It is such things which really counter the usual objection - you cannot cure debt by more debt. Krugman says we need to change the metaphors used to describe the economy in slumps. He shows that in a slump, normal concepts do not apply. He likens it to being on the other side of the looking glass, and I then saw it as akin to quantum mechanics compared to Newtonian physics, or the peculiar properties of materials at extremely low temperatures, e.g. superconductivity. Certain states need ways of thinking that are superficially not logical and counter-intuitive.

Another strong theme of the book is the increasing inequality in Western societies since the early 1980s (the time of President Reagan and "Reaganomics"). Krugman sees this time as the one where the dominant economics changes from Keynesian ideas to those of the laissez-faire economists who believe that human beings are logical and markets always do the right thing. This has the ring of doctrine, not science, and Krugman mentions the messianic tendencies of some of this ilk. Keynesian ideas were seen by conservatives as the thin end of the wedge - socialism would surely follow. Keynes was certainly not a socialist.

It was the time of deregulation of the banking sector and failure to regulate the "shadow banks" and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act (to legalise, retroactively, an illegal merger in the banking sector!) All this went hand in hand with the increasing polarisation of politics in American (and the UK). The rich, consisting of corporate executives and "financial wheeler-dealers" in the main, somehow monopolised any increase in the GDP, leaving the incomes of the vast majority flat-lining. The rich managed to do this by fixing thing to their advantage: "soft corruption" at a political level: they had and have more access to power, they are articulate and influence disproportionately. They even influenced which economists had the strongest voice: To quote Krugman:

"The preferences of university donors, the availability of fellowships and lucrative consulting contracts...must have encourages [economists] not just to turn away from Keynesian ideas but to forget much that had been learned in the 1930s and 1940s".

Not only this, but Keynesians were actively discriminated against at some universities. This could sound like a conspiracy theory but it is not a club of rich people colluding to do something. It is a myriad of such people acting in their own interest in a myriad of separate, disconnected actions. These actions carry more weight than that of "little people". There is a net vector to such actions.

He outlines the story of the housing bubble, the subprime mortgage scandal and the ludicrous idea that risk can virtually be eliminated from the financial sector by complex "instruments".

The scope of the book is far wider than one might think from the title. He outlines much of what has gone wrong in the Western democracies over the past thirty years or so. The "culture wars" in the USA, sadly spreading to our blessed isle. The disregard of experts in favour of pure ideology. The disappearance of calm but passionate political discussion in favour of ad hominem attacks. In his postscript, he says: "Tribal allegiance should have no more to do with your views about macroeconomics than with your views on, say, the theory of evolution or climate change...hmm, maybe I'd better stop right there". Who says Americans don't do irony?

8 people found this helpful

G. Burrows

Persuasive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2017

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I read this with my sceptic's hat firmly on and I was surprised at how persuasive I found the ideas in this book. At times, I felt that Krugman was reading my mind because again and again after reading something I would find myself thinking, 'yes, but what about ...', only for Krugman to start debunking that notion in the next paragraph or chapter. The ideas fly in the face of what I have believed (the short term need to eliminate the deficit) but (almost) every argument I could think of was effectively countered. The biggest argument against it is - if it's so obvious what should be done, why aren't more economists saying the same thing?

2 people found this helpful

Adrian J. Smith

An accessible and readable work on the post 2008 economy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2016

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Paul Krugman writes in a very readable and modest style, and this is perhaps one of the more accessible and understandable works written since the Crash of 2008, a field where there is already a great amount of literature.
Speaking as a reader who has been more inclined to the doctrine of austerity, rather than spending, Krugman makes a convincing critique of Austerity policies, and provides great examples and information to support his points.
In all, a very decent book, perhaps one of the more accessible works on the post 2008 economy, and worthy of both reading, and at least considering the policies Krugman advocates.

S. KEENE

Well argued in-depth discussion

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2012

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Books on economics written to be accessible to the non-economist are a popular genre right now, for obvious reasons. This is the best I've read so far. Krugman first analyses the history of the depression(s) we are in and the policy, regulatory and political failures that brought this about. He deals in detail with the the arguments of those who see national economies in the simplistic terms of domestic finance - the Austerians - "pay off the debt and we'll be fine". (Never mind that having paid it off we may well be more broke than ever having failed to invest in the resources for future wealth.) Many of the economists formerly seen as hard right, such as Milton Friedman, are far less convinced about the case for cuts.

Krugman then sets out a well argued case for government spending to create jobs, from which all good things will flow. For those who feel that austerity policies are self defeating and cruel (Krugman's word) it is encouraging to hear the solid arguments against them from a Nobel prizewinning economist.

Although Krugman's style is sometimes a tad patronising, in general this book is well written and readable, and engages much more deeply with the subject than several others I've read. Recommended.

One person found this helpful

Darren Monk

KEYNESIAN ECOMONICS MADE SIMPLE

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2013

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One of the hardest things to explain in ley-terms is economics. The theories can get complicated and sometimes the maths just gets in the way.

This book pitches itself at just the right level. Explains Keynesian economics in a simple yet truthful way, does not patronise and does not baffle with science. Unlike most books on economics where the authors seem to be saying "Look at how clever I am", this book just gets down and tells a story...

... a story about how this damned recession should be over now. How we have the resources to end it and find our way back into growth but how the recovery is being stifled by those charged with its execution. How austerity measures, far from ending the depression, are making matters worse.

This morning (1 Jan 2013), it was announced that the UK is probably about to enter a TRIPLE DIP as the austerity measures are making matters worse. I urge everyone to read this book - although focusing on the USA, it still makes the case for a Keynesian solution clearly.

One person found this helpful

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