The Price of Inequality

How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future

By: Joseph E. Stiglitz

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of the nation's wealth. And, as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains, while those at the top enjoy the best health care, education, and benefits of wealth, they fail to realize that "their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live."

Stiglitz draws on his deep understanding of economics to show that growing inequality is not inevitable: moneyed interests compound their wealth by stifling true, dynamic capitalism. They have made America the most unequal advanced industrial country while crippling growth, trampling on the rule of law, and undermining democracy. The result: a divided society that cannot tackle its most pressing problems. With characteristic insight, Stiglitz examines our current state, then teases out its implications for democracy, for monetary and budgetary policy, and for globalization. He closes with a plan for a more just and prosperous future.

©2012 Joseph E. Stiglitz (P)2012 Tantor

Impressive

If you could sum up The Price of Inequality in three words, what would they be?

Intelligent. Thorough. Instructive.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Price of Inequality?

Stiglitz makes complex economic issues understandable. He clearly explains the consequences of America's future if we allow current practices in finance and government policies to prevail.

What about Paul Boehmer’s performance did you like?

Excellent pronunciation and pacing.

Any additional comments?

Also recommend: "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, "Griftopia" by Matt Taibbi, and "Aftershock" by Robert Reich.

Inequality Threatens Sustainability

Would you consider the audio edition of The Price of Inequality to be better than the print version?

I can't yet compare it to the print version, but listening has convinced me that this is an important book to read.

If you could give The Price of Inequality a new subtitle, what would it be?

Why Fairness Matters

#1 econ how2 reinvent america

#1 econ explanatiom of reinvent america. triumph of the city and patchwork nation also useful

loved the perspective

Great to listen to. I really liked the way topics and counter arguments wove together.

A very important message and perspective

Where does The Price of Inequality rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top in terms of the importance of his perspective. Our economic system needs compassion plus enlightened self-interest.

What did you like best about this story?

The support and evidence that he uses to back up his views. He is not ideological, but clearly pragmatic finding things that work.

Any additional comments?

I wish our leaders would pay attention to points made in this book to make our economy work better.

Poor narration, important topic

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Like always, Stiglitz is a bit lopsided, but he makes a lot of very valid points. What is really annoying about this audiobook is the narration. Paul Boehmer's voice has the soothing, yet emotionally detached air of a spaceship's articifical intelligence computer, which in some settings might work well, but not in this audiobook which makes a passionate normative appeal for equality.

Important reading

The title says it all. The author presents well reasoned, well documented arguments about how the average citizen is losing out to special interests.

Lots of Surface Level Detail and Strawmen

Overall a great analysis. I was a little disappointed that Stiglitz didn't even address the fact that the classical model expects returns to capital and labor to be proportionate to which increases profitability. Not addressing the argument that increased productivity has been almost exclusively the result of capital investments (new software increasing capabilities, new technology increasing automation, etc.) had he addressed that I think this book would have been a lot stronger as an argument.

Nobel Laureate economist explains inequality Hell

This book on the U.S. descent into the divide between the 1% and the 99% is a good lay introduction to how the U.S. fell into deep wealth inequality. The author, Joseph Stiglitz, is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and served as the Chairman of Economic Advisers under Clinton and as Chief Economist of the World Bank. He understands what he's talking about and so, he can make it clear to lay readers.

Stiglitz provides evidence that Trickle-Down Economics combined with the Libertarian agenda of reducing regulations on corporations has resulted in the highest level of income inequality since the 1920's. We're also suffering from the lowest economic mobility of any developed country--lower than experienced in Europe and Japan. Stiglitz presents the dismal economic and social consequences of our sky-high and growing inequality.

He is short on solutions, but long on explanations. You really understand what is going on economically in the U.S. at this time. The book explains the daily headlines that we see.

For more on why income inequality matters, I highly recommend "The Spirit Level," also available from Audible. It details out the health and social consequences of inequality that underlie the current political turmoil in the U.S. today.

This is a book that will genuinely frighten you.

If you could sum up The Price of Inequality in three words, what would they be?

A frightening book.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Stiglitz paints a very compelling picture of American economic inequality and its consequences for America and the world. In its descriptions of area after area of the Economy, it functions as both an explanation and a warning that American Capitalism as it is practiced today is incompatible with anyone's model of fairness, reason or simple decency. His description of "rent-seeking" (the process by which companies and individuals seek forms of subsidy to make money faster and with less effort), is clear, compelling and almost painful.

Stiglitz and Boehmer make you understand this, and once you do, you understand the fundamental problem with American economic policy and why it is that YOU as an American have bailed out the richest slice of American Economic actors (who make money by *breathing*) but not the poor people who were the victims of unscrupulous lending policies made in the name of those at the top and who are even now being evicted from homes.It is a great book that is clear and current and one that will make you angry.

What does Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Paul Boehmer's vocal timbre and reading clarity make the writings of a world-class economist more easily accessible.

Any additional comments?

In most reviews, the usual approach is to say, "blah, this and that were good" or "blah, this and that could have been improved." With Stiglitz and Boehmer, the only thing to say is: "I recommend this and I think you should hear it."If you read it, you will understand and despise, Mitt Romney.