Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World

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Only when we balance these different types of freedoms will we have a more balanced society or more humane form of capitalism. I don’t believe that there’s just one kind of capitalism. There are many different kinds, and we can make institutional changes to make capitalism more humane. My two greatest passions are food and economics, and I thought that this book was a natural pairing of two things that I dearly love. For one reason or another, I never got to write this book until couple of years ago.

For decades, a single, free-market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this intellectual monoculture is bland and unhealthy. Chang was close to the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell (“a very smart guy”) when he was on Labour’s front bench, but he is not enthused by the party’s present leadership. “Keir Starmer is basically saying we’ll maintain the same model with a few modifications, fewer rough edges, maybe a bit more caring. He’s not proposing to reindustrialise Britain or seriously reform the financial system.” Economic thinking - about globalisation, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation and much more - in its most digestible form In the 19th century, cotton and tobacco, which were mostly grown on plantations that held slaves, were the main exports of the United States. It was not an industrialized country; it was an agrarian economy. These two agriculture products alone provided up to 65 percent of US export earnings. Two-thirds of the exports were produced by slaves. Given this prevalence of unfree labor, first in the form of slavery and then in the form of indentured labor, it is quite ironic that freedom has become the central concept in the defense of capitalism by free-market economists. I don’t believe that there’s just one kind of capitalism. There are many different kinds, and we can make institutional changes to make capitalism more humane.

Of course, the author is not an historian and neither is he a sociologist, and his explanations are going to be simplified for the sake of readability, clarity, and brevity too, as this is a short book. So do bear in mind that the book is meant for the general public, the lay public, and not for specialists in economy or history, and that a lot of the things asserted here are the author's opinions and experiences, and tastes in food, which are always personal. I had my favourite chapters, and plenty of moments exclaiming "I never knew that!" But I also could tell when information was incomplete, or simply not true. The chapter on Coca-Cola, for one, showed me the author (or his research team) aren't all that versed in Latin American politics, so the commentary there was grating to me. There's one footnote in which he says "installed by the coup d'état" about the former president of Bolivia, which isn't true, and tells me more what the author/his research team were reading to have given such an overview of the entire continent in the manner he did. I'm very used to Europeans and Europe-based gurus (the author is South Korean, but he's made his career in the UK, so I'm counting him in) being awful at analysing South America, save the Spaniards and Portuguese because language and historical ties that continue make them closer and more in touch, but it never ceases to bother me how ill-informed their commentary can be sometimes. There's enough omitted and oversimplied in that chapter that it was bothersome. My food stories are a bit like the ice cream that some of your mums may have offered to ‘bribe’ you to eat your ‘greens’ – except that in this book ice cream comes first, the greens later (what a deal!)” - admits Ha-Joon Chang in the preface. But he is also right when he adds: “my economic stories are going to be rewards in themselves because I have made them tastier than the usual by making them more varied in kind and more complex in flavour”. I would be lying if I said I didn't have passion for food. So when I saw this unusual premise of explaining economics through what we eat, I had to read it. What people are now doing is saying that these policies are needed, especially with the big shifts that are coming to the global economy. A lot of countries are being more honest and admitting that the government has always played an important role in industrial development, so they’re now thinking they might as well do it in a more systematic way.

Of course his conclusion says he hopes this book gives us deplorables an appreciation for the variety of economic viewpoints. This is just a cover that he can use when his real agenda is exposed. I have devoted my entire academic career to the study of industrial policy. When I first started doing research on this as a graduate student in the late 1980s, industrial policy for many people was a four letter word—it was something that you didn’t mention in polite company. Today, a lot of countries that used to denounce industrial policy are now very keen to do it. The US is the best example, with the Green New Deal and reindustrialization momentum.

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I was worried that this book would be similar to the Jungle and I'd be considering being a vegan after reading this book. But alas, Edible Economics didn't go in that direction. I've been in a bit of a rut with my reading and this non-fiction book caught my attention (extra kudos regarding the cover design) . For decades, a single free market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this is bland and unhealthy - like British food in the 1980s, when bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang first arrived in the UK from South Korea. Just as eating a wide range of cuisines contributes to a more interesting and balanced diet, so too is it essential we listen to a variety of economic perspectives.

P130: “[more re climate change] “…we need to drive less in personal vehicles….” And government has to determine better living arrangements for us- so we can walk to stores or use public transportation. This is the same egomania that underlined Stalin and Mao’s collectivization drives that killed millions.Este libro es fascinante porque conjuga con eficacia la gastronomía, la historia , la geografía y la economía. Permite viajar en el tiempo, por lugares diversos, conociendo detalles sabrosos de los alimentos y de ricas tradiciones culinarias, enlazando todo aquello con reflexiones convincentes sobre problemáticas económicas que repercuten en la vida cotidiana de todos los habitantes de este planeta.