Extreme economies proposes a new way of thinking about economic and social challenges—the careful study of the world’s most extreme economic environments. It is based on 100,000 miles of travel, and over 500 interviews with people living in the most difficult, pressurised and volatile circumstances on earth. From war zones, natural disasters and failed states, to the extremes of aging and the challenges of technological advance the people in this book live on the edge. Their lives tell stories of human resilience—economic, social and personal—how it works and how it can fail.
These lives at the edge, often so unlike our own, may seem an odd place to look for clues about the modern economy. But the idea that extremes matter has impeccable provenance—it is a foundation stone of both medicine and engineering that economics has somehow overlooked. The lesson from science is clear: we ignore the extremes at our peril.
Awards
Winner, Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, Lonely Planet Debut Travel Writer of the Year (2020).
Winner, Enlightened Economist Prize 2019.
Longlisted, FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award (2019).
The author
RICHARD DAVIES is an economist and author. He is a Professor at Bristol University, a fellow at the London School of Economics and director of the Economics Observatory. He has been Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers at HM Treasury, an economist and speechwriter at the Bank of England, and economics editor of The Economist.
In addition to Extreme Economies, Richard has published widely on economics. He was the editor of The Economist’s recent guide to economics published in English and Chinese, and his articles have featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Sunday Times, The Times and 1843 Magazine. He co-director of the Bristol Festival of Ecoomics and is a founding trustee of CORE, a charity which provides open-access resources for economics teachers and students in universities across the world.
Reviews
A compelling portrait of markets functioning—and sometimes malfunctioning—in all sorts of conditions and cultures. William Easterly, writing in the Wall Street Journal
Davies delivers . . . crisp and sensitive reporting from an extraordinary range of inaccessible places . . . As a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of markets versus planned economies, Extreme Economies is one of the most subtle and surprising I have read. Tim Harford, writing in the Financial Times
The pandemic is having a devastating impact on the global economy … Will economies recover? And if so, how will they recover? Extreme Economies offers timely and revealing insights into how markets recover from catastrophic events … Davies has produced an exciting and well-written travelogue around some of the most marginal communities in the global economy, guiding us carefully through the economics of resilience, of lost potential and, more tentatively, of tomorrow. He provides readers with important historic, economic and geographic context while situating his subjects’ lives and livelihoods within markets. Above all, he gives voice to the people he encounters along the way. Ann Pettifor, Times Literary Supplement.
In this time of global crisis affecting all countries, developed and developing, we would do well to take Davies’ research as a political economy guide in understanding the essential role of networks and how we can allow them to flourish, or, at a minimum, do them no harm. “Extreme Economies” is a must-read, not just for my colleagues who are practitioners and students of international development, but for anyone seized with thinking and acting to get us beyond COVID-19 and rebuild our economic and social structures. George Ingram writing at the Brookings Institution.
Extreme Economies is a reflection on human resilience. The author takes you from a prison to a refugee camp to Kinshasa and Santiago to explain how economies work in extreme circumstances and why markets succeed or fail. Weaving economic theory and individual life stories, this is an important and enjoyable read. Roula Khalaf, FT Editor-in-Chief, Financial Times Best Books of 2019.
This book is full of surprises. It takes the reader to places and situations previously little-known, or not known at all – and describes how the economic principles normally confined to dry text books play out in startling ways. Dame Kate Barker, Society of Professional Economists.
Richard Davies obviously made the kind of road trip many of us only dream of to write Extreme Economies. I tore through it. An economist who can write so well while at the same time explaining the economic principles so clearly is always a joy. Diane Coyle, Professor the University of Cambridge, writing at The Englightened Economist
… accessible and original … The book is not doctrinaire. It shows that markets can work wonders in unlikely places but work perversely in others and need a structure of social organisation within which to function. The author draws on sociology and anthropology and the simple power of observation and conversation to bring economics alive. Sir Vincent Cable, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, writing in the New Statesman
A gimlet-eyed look at developments in the global economy, in which interesting and sometimes ominous things are happening. Highly recommended, sobering reading for anyone interested in the economic future, for good and bad. Kirkus Review.
Praise
Extreme Economies makes sense of the forces shaping the future -- urbanization, aging, technological change, gains and losses of human and social capital -- by describing what people do when pushed to their limits. This strategy of going to extremes pays off spectacularly. One short chapter on the Zaatari refugee camp reveals more about the future of work than the entire stream of reports that is spewing out of the "serious people" echo chamber. Taken together, the books nine deep dives are a much needed reminder that an economy is not what happens when equations interact with data. An economy is what is what happens when people -- real people, people with names -- interact. Anyone who wants to learn economics, is learning economics, or pretends to know some economics should read this book.
Paul Romer, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
We can't forecast the coming decades, but it is enlightening to look at extreme economies for clues what we may be in store for. Davies’ book is fascinating.
Robert Shiller, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
A highly original approach to understanding what really makes economies tick. Both insightful and accessible to non-economists.
Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England
A must read for anyone feeling desperate about the state of world affairs today, Extreme Economies demonstrates with vivid clarity and humanity how those in the most challenging situations can prosper. Many economists are quite narrow in their thinking about life’s challenges, this book beautifully demonstrates why the world’s most interesting places force us to think more openly.
Lord Jim O'Neill, Chair, Chatham House.
We learn most about ourselves at times of extreme stress and challenge. Using nine compelling country case studies, Richard Davies brilliantly demonstrates that the same is true of our economic systems. In its approach and insights, Extreme Economies is a revelation - and a must-read.
Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England
Richard Davies balances economics with art, exposing the trade-offs made by people living today and forcing us to question the outcomes of our decisions.
Will Page, Chief Economist at Spotify
Exciting to see economics strike out into the real world showing how trauma and chaos can yield raw truths about markets, monopolies and the state.
Simon Jenkins, former editor The Times
Breathtaking. An entertaining, fascinating, important reminder of the power of economics to shape all of our lives.
Ed Conway, Economics Editor of Sky News