Thanks to Netgalley and Basic Books for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Having thoroughly enjoyed The Alternative by Nick Romeo, it has taken me far too long to put my thoughts to paper for the benefit of future readers. First things first. It was music to my ears to have the author emphasise time and time again that economy should not be seen as a science. Not even a dysmal one. As a mathematician working in the finance industry, I similarly feel that this cannot be stressed enough. Sometimes, I feel surrounded by people who think that it is normal to entrust our everyday economic decision making process to a system than can be described purely mathematical formulae. But are then surprised by events which should be occurring according to those same formulae. Economy is not a science. Full stop.

Don't let me be understood. Our current liberal market capitalist system has done a tremendous job in solving the puzzle of connecting a society of consumers with producers providing the former with products and services they deem to be of value, whilst optimizing for capital (the name says it all), thus removing the need for a single decision maker. It is a form of economic Darwinism where we as a society constantly innovate, try and test whether something makes money or not. We no longer need an ultimate decision maker when we are ourselves in aggregate all the arbiter of our system as we input our own prices and this price information flows through the system. The result is an intricate system of quoted prices which clears supply with demand.

But this beautiful system has its flaws too as the author explains in this book. The foundation upon which are society is based has started to wobble - the message the cover seems to be conveying - with widening inequality, environmental destruction, and millions of workers stuck in precarious, soul destroying jobs. The author runs through each of the abovementioned problems providing solutions as he progresses.

So why my 4 stars? I'll need to revisit this book in the future to think and rethinkthe solutions the author has provided. I'm not yet convinced that the problems described can be solved by just small adjustments which the author proposes. The suggestions are usually illustrated with successful real-life examples. But just running through the proposals reaps a deeper understanding of the underlying problem.

I'm very happy to recommend this book as a requisite to understanding the limitations that our system has. HIghly recommended reading for economists.

#TheAlternative #NetGalley

Should be required reading for Economists and politicians. But non-Economists will love it for the Tolstoy and the very real alternative ideas. The dismal science lost its way in the headlong pursuit of becoming a science like physics. Nick Romeo puts the 'humanity' back at the heart of economics and shows that there are real alternatives. Highly recommended. Special thank you to John Murray Press and NetGalley for a no obligation advance review copy.