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Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World
'An insightful playbook for getting out of the permacrisis we seem mired in’ - Walter Isaacson
‘A sensible plan for reform that can help us create a fairer and more equitable world’ - Sheryl Sandberg
Do you feel like we’re in a permacrisis? Chances are you feel some anxiety about the state of the world. Gordon Brown, Mohamed A. El-Erian and Michael Spence certainly did.
Three of the most internationally respected and experienced thinkers of our time, these friends found their pandemic Zooms increasingly focused on a cascade of sputtering growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, an escalating climate emergency, worsening inequality, increasing nationalism and a decline in global co-operation.
They shared their fears and frustrations. And the more they talked, the more they realised that while past mistakes had set the world on this bumpy course, a better path leading to a brighter future exists. Informed by their different perspectives, they sought a common achievable solutions to fix our fractured world. This book is the product of that thinking.
At the heart of today’s permacrisis are broken approaches to growth, economic management, and governance. While these approaches are broken, they are not beyond repair. An explanation of where we’ve gone wrong, and a provocative, inspiring plan to do nothing less than change the world, A Plan to Fix a Fractured World , written with Reid Lidow, sets out how we can prevent crises and better manage the future for the benefit of the many and not the few.
The longer a problem goes unresolved, the worse it will get; that’s what happens in a permacrisis – and that’s why we must act now.
‘A sensible plan for reform that can help us create a fairer and more equitable world’ - Sheryl Sandberg
Do you feel like we’re in a permacrisis? Chances are you feel some anxiety about the state of the world. Gordon Brown, Mohamed A. El-Erian and Michael Spence certainly did.
Three of the most internationally respected and experienced thinkers of our time, these friends found their pandemic Zooms increasingly focused on a cascade of sputtering growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, an escalating climate emergency, worsening inequality, increasing nationalism and a decline in global co-operation.
They shared their fears and frustrations. And the more they talked, the more they realised that while past mistakes had set the world on this bumpy course, a better path leading to a brighter future exists. Informed by their different perspectives, they sought a common achievable solutions to fix our fractured world. This book is the product of that thinking.
At the heart of today’s permacrisis are broken approaches to growth, economic management, and governance. While these approaches are broken, they are not beyond repair. An explanation of where we’ve gone wrong, and a provocative, inspiring plan to do nothing less than change the world, A Plan to Fix a Fractured World , written with Reid Lidow, sets out how we can prevent crises and better manage the future for the benefit of the many and not the few.
The longer a problem goes unresolved, the worse it will get; that’s what happens in a permacrisis – and that’s why we must act now.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published October 17, 2023
67 people are currently reading
435 people want to read
About the author
Gordon Brown
148 books30 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 24, 2024
Disappointing. Not so much a plan as an urge to co-operate among nations. Also rather dull
April 18, 2024
"No one would argue that climate change or war problems confined to narrow national boundaries. Financial contagion spreads quickly from one economy to another - a liquidity crisis in one banking sector can scuttle global markets. A different kind of contagion - this time viruses - easily spreads between countries as germs hitch a ride on planes, trains and automobiles traversing the globe. Ours is an interconnected, interdependent world. And global problems demand global solutions"
I like the structure, their stories to introduce every chapter, the information, and the way is told, but I think that the solutions are unrealistic and idealistic.
I like the structure, their stories to introduce every chapter, the information, and the way is told, but I think that the solutions are unrealistic and idealistic.
March 4, 2024
This book is hefty with statistical information on the shortcomings of globalization, widening wage gaps, poverty, climate and sustainability, economic management and the roll of governments in the private sector. However, as an average citizen reading this book, I felt there was little I could do and I wondered what audience this book was meant for.
The "plan to fix" part of the book is largely directed at world leaders and the corporate world (to over simplify).
Policymakers currently move from crisis to crisis rather than shifting to a proactive mindset that would prevent crisis and look at ways to manage the future in ways that would benefit everyone. This is pretty obvious, but changing course seems unlikely.
The obstacles to fixing the biggest issues of our time are massive and would require a dramatic shift in thinking from consumers and leaders and it seems neither has much interest in change.
While the views and information in this book are worthy of consideration, I felt it was also futile.
The "plan to fix" part of the book is largely directed at world leaders and the corporate world (to over simplify).
Policymakers currently move from crisis to crisis rather than shifting to a proactive mindset that would prevent crisis and look at ways to manage the future in ways that would benefit everyone. This is pretty obvious, but changing course seems unlikely.
The obstacles to fixing the biggest issues of our time are massive and would require a dramatic shift in thinking from consumers and leaders and it seems neither has much interest in change.
While the views and information in this book are worthy of consideration, I felt it was also futile.
February 25, 2024
Lots of fascinating ideas and some very helpful explanations but this book is not a plan to fix anything. It's a bunch of wishful thinking without the first indication of how these very good ideas could be put into practice.
July 3, 2024
Once of the best non fiction books I have read in recent years. All the authors are highly distinguished and add their economic weight to our 'Permacrisis' world, but also solvable solutions and hope for the future. I would highly recommend
December 30, 2024
Interesting, but a bit too technical economics for me. Not really the fault of the book per se but a lay-reader might struggle to get through it. Still found it insightful but I wouldn't be able to explain much from it to a friend, so I probably didn't take much in!
June 13, 2024
this review is pretty half-baked
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N...
September 16, 2024
Enjoyable read with interesting information but the plan for solving the issues felt high-level and utopian.
November 2, 2024
Must have been heavily inspired by GenAI, some typical phrases reoccur... apart from that I found the overall narrative disappointing and quite generic.
Want to read
February 6, 2025Sounds really interesting
Read
May 3, 2025read this for uni was actually pretty interesting
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews