Inside the Economist's Mind (I.T.E.M.)

Wiley Preview of ITEM

2009-12-19T07:27:00.001-06:00

Wiley now has a preview of the book online.

Sad News

2009-12-13T15:38:00.002-06:00

The following sad news just appeared on economicprincipals.com:

"Paul A. Samuelson, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died peacefully this morning of congestive heart failure. He was 94. John Maynard Keynes may have had more influence on policy makers, Milton Friedman on citizens, Kenneth Arrow on economic theory, but Samuelson had more influence on the way economics is done today, and the purposes to which it is put, than any other economist of the twentieth century."

German Edition of ITEM

2009-12-13T09:44:00.009-06:00

The German edition of Inside the Economist's Mind has just been published by Wiley-VCH. Here is the information from its online catalog:

Samuelson, Paul A. / Barnett, William A. (Hrsg.)
Große Ökonomen im persönlichen Gespräch
Wie Volkswirtschaftslehre Geschichte schreibt

1. Auflage - Dezember 2009
29,90 Euro
2009. 310 Seiten, Hardcover
- Fachbuch -
ISBN-10: 3-527-50444-3
ISBN-13: 978-3-527-50444-2 - Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

Preis inkl. Mehrwertsteuer zzgl. Versandkosten.

Australian Bookstore

2009-12-12T16:03:00.004-06:00

If you are in Australia and are interested in ITEM, I recommend Boomerang books.

Pirated Book

2009-10-25T21:52:00.005-05:00

I see that the book, ITEM, is online at scribd. I understand that this is a violation of Wiley's copyright. I assume scribd will be removing it soon, as is now being required by Wiley's attorney.

German Edition

2009-07-20T08:20:00.002-05:00

The German edition of ITEM now is available to be advance ordered from Wiley, but Wiley will not begin delivering the German copies until December 2009.

Adam Smith Blog

2009-03-18T09:56:00.003-05:00

The following comment just appeared in the blog, Adam Smith's Lost Legacy:

The reputation of Paul Samuelson, from the start of his illustrious academic career, and the publication of his Phd dissertation, Foundations of Economic Analysis (1947), is enormous. His popular textbook, Economics, was used to teach, literally, tens of thousands of post-war students, and even his latest writings on his profession (e.g., Inside the economist's mind: conversations with eminent economists‎, 2007) show why his reputation is so high.

Foreword to Russian Translation of ITEM

2009-01-28T20:51:00.002-06:00

A foreword was added to the Russian translation of ITEM. That foreword was written by the Rector of the SKOLKOVO School of Management in Moscow. I've had it translated into English and put online.

ITEM Translated into Russian

2009-01-12T08:27:00.002-06:00

The book, Inside the Economist's Mind, now has been translated into Russian. The ISBN of the Russian translation is 978-5-9614-0793-8. The Editor of the translated edition is O. Nizhelskaya. The translators are E. Pestereva and E. Kalugin. The book is within the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO series, published by Alpina Business Books, Moscow, in December 2008. The SKOLKOVO series' ISBN number is 978-5-9614-0633-7.

A Blog Post in Nepal

2009-01-09T08:28:00.002-06:00

An interesting post about ITEM appeared yesterday (January 8, 2009) on a blog in Nepal.

A Principles Course Syllabus

2008-12-27T09:30:00.003-06:00

I have found an interesting course syllabus online for a principles of macroeconomics course being taught at a community college in Los Angeles. The course uses ITEM as supplementary reading for a required essay. The regular text for the course is Greg Mankiw's principles book.

Wiley Takes Over

2008-12-23T08:59:00.003-06:00

Although the book, ITEM, originally was published by Blackwell, the takeover of Blackwell by Wiley has resulted in the move of the publisher's site for the book to Wiley's site. Wiley now has pages both for the paperback and for the hardcover editions.

Russian Translation

2008-11-24T08:13:00.003-06:00

The Russian translation of the book, ITEM, is now at the printers and will be published and available for sale from its Russian publisher, Alpina, in mid-December.

Chinese Translation

2008-11-24T07:20:00.007-06:00

I have just been informed that the book, ITEM, has been translated into Simplified Chinese and has been available from Peking University Press in Beijing, China since October 1, 2008. The translator is Cao Heping.

The book title in Chinese is "经济学家之经济学家" with an ISBN no. of 978-7-301-14225-7 and can be ordered through Amazon's Chinese site (www.amazon.com.cn) or a Chinese online bookseller called 当当网(www.dangdang.com) or www.zhuoyue.com. The book also is in many bookstores in China, including Xidan Bookmall and Peking University Bookstore in Beijing.

Why Did the Bubble Burst?

2008-11-12T12:16:00.003-06:00

My own Guest Commentary on the current financial crisis appeared in the November 11, 2008 edition of the Kansas City Star Business Weekly. The unedited original, including the Federal Reserve charts that support it, are online as a working paper.

James Hamilton's Review

2008-09-06T08:50:00.002-05:00

James Hamilton's review of ITEM is online in EconPapers. The review was published in the Cambridge U. Press journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics.

IMF Review

2008-08-05T10:07:00.001-05:00

A review of ITEM just appeared on the IMF (International Monetary Fund) web site.

German Translation

2008-07-26T12:45:00.002-05:00

I have been informed that a German translation of ITEM is to be published by Wiley VCH.

Economic and Political Weekly Review

2008-07-23T12:47:00.006-05:00

A book review of ITEM has appeared in the July 19 - 25, 2008 issue of the highly regarded Indian journal, Economic and Political Weekly. The review begins with:

"This book can make you fall in love with economics all over again. A collection of interviews with 16 eminent economists, it presents the attractive face of the field – one rediscovers an economics concerned with improving the human condition by putting to good use tools borrowed from disciplines as diverse as mathematics and psychology. The book is a labour of love for William Barnett, the editor of the journal Macroeconomic Dynamics in which these interviews originally appeared between 1997 and 2005. Though the interviews were aimed at professional macroeconomists, much of the book is of broader interest. That is because these eminent economists, interviewed by their peers, are often able to describe their complicated work in simple terms, with modesty and humour, and enriched with anecdotes from their lives."

The author of the four page review was Prakash Loungani, Advisor, Research Department, International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

Russian Translation

2008-07-11T07:29:00.005-05:00

Evidently ITEM's translation into Russian is soon to be available. See Russian School of Management SKOLKOV.

If you look at that site, you will find the following statement:

" The SKOLKOVO publishing series is opened by books of world-renowned authors:

- 'Essential Writings on Management' Peter Drucker;
- 'The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do' Clotaire Rapaille;
- 'Hostage at the Table: How Leaders Can Overcome Conflict, Influence Others, and Raise Performance' George Kohlrieser;
- 'The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World' Alan Greenspan;
- 'Inside the Economist's Mind', edited by Paul Samuelson and William Barnett)."

You can also find the following there:

"Being realized in partnership with the government of the Russian Federation, SKOLKOVO is a part of the national priority projects programme, funded exclusively by private business. Dmitry Medvedev, the President of the Russian Federation, is the Chairman of the SKOLKOVO International Advisory Board."

The Housing Bubble

2008-06-30T08:42:00.004-05:00

An excerpt from Vockler's interview in ITEM appeared in Dirk Ehnts' blog, econ101.de. Dirk relates the excerpt to the failure of Central Bank regulation of lending practices associated with the housing bubble. Indeed Volcker was clear in his interview about the risks of inadequate supervision and regulation by central banks.

Korean Translation of ITEM

2008-04-25T09:15:00.010-05:00

The book has been translated into Korean and published on March 27, 2008. The publisher is JISIK-SANUP Publishing Co.Ltd. in Seoul. The translators are Jeong Ho Hahm and Tae Hong Jinn. Many book reviews have appeared in the Korean press. I understand that 10 such reviews have already appeared, including reviews in the Maekyung Business Newspaper, Munhwa Ilbo Daily Newspaper, Financial News in Korea, and the "big three" Korean newspapers, Chosun Ilbo Daily Newspaper in the April 12, 2008 Saturday culture section, Donga on April 1, 2008, and JoongAng Daily Newspaper on April 12, 2008. None of those reviews have been translated into English, but the Chosun Ilbo review also is online (in Korean) in the newspaper's own web site.

Economic History Review

2008-03-23T10:22:00.004-05:00

A book review of ITEM appeared in the journal, Economic History Review, vol 60, no 4, 2007, pp. 869-871. It was written by Roger Middleton himself. He is the Book Review Editor of that journal. Among the statements in the review is: "All of the interviews first appeared in the journal Macroeconomic Dynamics, of which Barnett is the editor, and, uniquely for a leading peer-reviewed academic economics journal, all were given significant space and free licence to say what they wanted about economists and economics to their peers. The end result is a most welcome addition to the genre in which leading economists outline their life philosophies and reflect candidly on the evolution of modern economics. Moreover, whilst not all of the interviewees took advantage of the licence to offend, those that did will not disappoint, and the reader is directed to pp. 44–5 on how to respond when your head of department tells you that you are a luxury good."

Google Books Preview

2008-01-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

The Google Books preview of ITEM has improved dramatically since it first appeared in January of 2007. I don't know how they manage to do this, but Google Books has gotten together a lot of relevant information about the book.

Wiley Takeover of Blackwell

2007-12-25T07:01:00.000-06:00

Since Wiley has taken over and absorbed Blackwell, ITEM now is published by Wiley. Although the Blackwell site still exists, it is gradually being fazed out. ITEM now is in the Wiley site for both the paperback and the hardcover.