Lessons from the Great Depression (The Lionel Robbins lectures) by Peter Temin (2-Dec-1991) Paperback

by Peter Temin

The book is brand new and will be shipped from US.

Genres: Economics, History

Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

About the author

Peter Temin was an economist and economic historian, serving as the Gray Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, where he was formerly the head of the Economics Department.

Reviews

[AustrianHistorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merece la pena por el análisis económico (aunque no siempre convincente) de la segunda lección y la primera mitad de la tercera. En el apéndice I expone los modelos macroeconómicos subyacentes a las lecciones (revisiones del modelo IS-LM), lo cual no está mal si uno pretende emprender una lectura completa de la bibliografía especializada.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like The Wretched of the Earth (and for that matter, Being and Having: An Existentialist Diary), this book was slow and technical for a long time, but the last lecture was great for me. I simply lack the economics background for a lot of the details throughout the book, but have enough I guess to get some basic ideas, some "Lessons from Lessons from the Great Depression":

1. A breakdown in a system can come from a shock. The shock might be propagated in a not-so-obvious way, perhaps by something seemingly innocent.

2. Or, a system can break down because it has become unstable. Then, anything can make it break down.

(#1 is Temin’s point, #2 is an alternative that he rejects.)

3. When things start going bad, when a systemic breakdown sets in, you think things are going to get better. Then, after a while, “reality sets in” that they aren’t going to get better.

4. People are rational, to a point. People prone to rationality still need the relevant evidence before they can make sound decisions. The evidence isn’t even enough for them if they don’t have good models underlying their interpretation of the evidence.

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And even more good stuff in the last lecture which I won't spoil -- you'll just have to go out and buy the book yourself!