Changing Times -- Bookshops in Kolkata

Fascinating video about College Street in Kolkata -- the throbbing home of a maze of old book shops and stalls and this traditional place of learning and trading hosts the largest non-trading book fair in the world every year. But encroaching globalization, in the form of a modern and fancy book mall being built opposite, casts a shadow over this traditional and treasured place.

Hard Bound -- Birth of a Book

Wonderful video on how bound hardback books are made:

The book being printed is Suzanne St Albans’ 'Mango and Mimosa' published as part of the Slightly Foxed series.

Video shot, directed & edited by Glen Milner

Paying the Price for Inequality

Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman agree on many things. But the two have been at odds over whether economic inequality is holding back the recovery. Stiglitz says it is, and Krugman, while agreeing the inequality is unfortunate, says it is not. "Economics is not a morality play," Krugman observes. See Krugman vs Stiglitz in the New Republic. 

Stiglitz talks about his book, "The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future," in the video below.

Stiglitz passionately describes how unrestrained power and greed are writing an epitaph for the American dream.

New York Times review

Review in the Observer

All for One -- F&D magazine on inequality

Banking on Europe

The IMF has published a new policy paper on banking supervision in Europe as part of its Staff Discussion Note series. The paper, titled "A Banking Union for the Euro Area," argues that a union is the logical conclusion of the idea that integrated banking systems require integrated prudential oversight.

The case for a banking union for the euro area is both immediate and longer term. 

Moving responsibility for potential financial support and bank supervision to a shared level can reduce fragmentation of financial markets, stem deposit flight, and weaken the vicious loop of rising sovereign and bank borrowing costs. In steady state, a single framework should bring a uniformly high standard of confidence and oversight, reduce national distortions, and mitigate the buildup of concentrated risk that compromises systemic stability. "Time is of the essence," the paper argues.

Read an article in IMF Survey magazine

Eating Better

An economic approach to food

How to find the best tortillas while traveling in Mexico? Why is American food often so bad today? Is agribusiness good for the global economy? Prolific author, blogger and economist Tyler Cowen takes on these questions--and many more--in his new book, “An Economist Gets Lunch New Rules for Everyday Foodies.”

Cowen's economic approach to good food applies the following principle: “Food is a product of economic supply and demand, so try to figure out where the supplies are fresh, the suppliers are creative, and the demanders are informed.” 

Read a review in F&D magazine: Food for Thought 

Listen to a podcast interview with Tyler Cowen.

Spies, Gold, and Whitewash

Interesting review in the latest Finance & Development magazine by Eric Rauchway, History Professor at the University of California at Davis, of the "The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order," by Benn Steil.

Rauchway says the book is marred by "far-reaching claims based on inadequate evidence," particularly about the role of White, who was a senior U.S. Treasury official now believed to have given intelligence clandestinely to the Soviet Union (a subject touched on by IMF historian James Boughton).

The 1944 Bretton Woods conference laid the foundations of the modern international monetary system, but little was known about the exact proceedings of that historic gathering, until now. A U.S. treasury economist’s discovery of the original transcript of that meeting provides an insight into the characters and the intense debate surrounding the birth of two major international organizations. Listen to this podcast with Kurt Schuler

Read the F&D books section. 

New York Times review : "... should become the gold standard on its topic. The details are addictive. But be warned: the book is dense...  Perhaps that is what is missing here — an unmistakable voice, a sense that this rich history is told by one mind. The book sometimes reads like a succession of brilliant but loosely connected graduate seminar papers — an assemblage, a very fine one, but an assemblage nevertheless."

The History of EMU

Princeton History Professor Harold James’s Making the European Monetary Union combines a concise historical narrative of the events leading up to the European Monetary Union (EMU) with a thought-provoking account of its origin, performance, and problems. This in-depth history will appeal to academic readers looking for extensive details about the EMU."This fascinating and well-written book couldn’t be timelier," says LSE Fellow John Ryan.

Full review here.