The Age of Turbulence

Adventures in a New World

De: Alan Greenspan

Narrado por: Robertson Dean

The Age of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan’s incomparable reckoning with the contemporary financial world, channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. Following the arc of his remarkable life’s journey through his more than 18-year tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to the present, in the second half of The Age of Turbulence Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour d’horizon of the global economy. The distillation of a life’s worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspan’s personal and intellectual legacy.©2007 Alan Greenspan; (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Economists beware

The narration is excellent. The book is downloadable in three parts. The content is disappointing and a bit smug. Ideal, for anyone who hasn't spent much time studying Economics. Economists can buy it to help them get to sleep.

Greenspan has decided to take many of the headline topics in the history of economic doctrines and couch them in everyday words, reinforcing the concepts by adding his own highly general comments. As one would expect, the poorly read mainstream media has already installed Greenspan as a genius -- a term with which he feels entirely at home. I was astounded at the naivite of his knowledge of modern Economics. For example, he claims he was influenced by H. De Soto when the two met. It was de Soto that led him to think that establishing a dedicated system of property rights could lead to an expansion of wealth in the Third World. But, property rights have been on the table in economics since at least Coase's time in the 1930's and have long been a well known specialty at schools like UCLA, the University of Virginia, and VPI. Giants in economic thought like Buchanan, Tullock,Demsetz, Alchian, and Hirchleifer have always emphasized the essential nature of property rights. I was taught this 30 years ago. How come it took Mr. Greenspan so long to get it?

When he gets to Adam Smith he finds someone worthy of apotheosis. Yet, he misses the most
important part of Smith's analysis -- namely that "free international trade" can expand the scope of the market and allow the otherwise limited division of labor and specialization of industry. R. Coase and G. Stigler have much more penetrating insights into Smith than Mr. Greenspan. But, they didn't serve as the head of the US central bank. They didn't enjoy making routine speeches to jet-setting, caviar filled bellies at Davos.

In summary, I expect the book will be justly panned at our major universities. Mr. Greenspan is in danger of breaking his own arm patting himself on the back.

Great memoir - little insight

I was a little disappointed with Greenspan's efforts as it did not provide nearly as much insight into his and the Fed's thinking and process as was hyped - most of the information he presented is already common knowledge amongst market participants; however, the memoir aspect of how he, the markets and the Fed evolved were very enjoyable.

More than meets the ear

Mr. Greenspan touches issues of such sensitive nature after giving a full history of their origin and evolution. He hints at the source of economic destabilization as the loss of the "invested" base of society - those who save and construct or build wealth. The US savings rate plunged negative for the first time in US history in the post 9/11 era. This loss of economic base has complexed and weakened the economy and made historic economic models invalid. Greenspan addresses the way forward in candid, bold foresight.

An excellent listen with a unique point of view

I really enjoyed this book. While Mr. Greenspan is not really a great author, his insight and perspective are unique and clarifying. Mr. Greenspan has strong libertarian tendencies, but demonstrates realism and practicality in his positions. He blasts tax-break and spend republicans just as strongly as tax and spend democrats (if not more so). He provides glimpses into how several recent presidents and their staffs have approached economics and the politics of taxation, interest rates, and spending. Even the personal vignettes were interesting enough. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the politics of US economic policies.

Tripled my understanding of our economy

Never even took economics in school, but Greenspan talks about the economic history of America since he began his career after World War II. Fascinating even if you don't understand it all. Explains how capitalism really works, why it's the best system in the world so far, and what it is that keeps thirdworld countries so destitute (hint: unenforced property rights). The last chapter explains how gross domestic product is increasingly based on intellectual property rights, and what that means for our future.