Talking to My Daughter About the Economy

Or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails

By: Yanis Varoufakis

Narrated by: Leighton Pugh

Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

In Talking to My Daughter About the Economy, activist Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister and the author of the international best seller Adults in the Room, pens a series of letters to his young daughter, educating her about the business, politics, and corruption of world economics.

Yanis Varoufakis has appeared before heads of nations, assemblies of experts, and countless students around the world. Now, he faces his most important - and difficult - audience yet. 

Using clear language and vivid examples, Varoufakis offers a series of letters to his young daughter about the economy: how it operates, where it came from, how it benefits some while impoverishing others. Taking bankers and politicians to task, he explains the historical origins of inequality among and within nations, questions the pervasive notion that everything has its price, and shows why economic instability is a chronic risk. Finally, he discusses the inability of market-driven policies to address the rapidly declining health of the planet his daughter’s generation stands to inherit. 

Throughout this audiobook, Varoufakis wears his expertise lightly. He writes as a parent whose aim is to instruct his daughter on the fundamental questions of our age - and, through that knowledge, to equip her against the failures and obfuscations of our current system and point the way toward a more democratic alternative.

©2013, 2017 Yanis Varoufakis, English translation copyright by Yanis Varoufakis and Jacob T. Moe (P)2017 Random House Audio

Super Digestible

As someone who doesn't know anything about economy this book is the perfect start. Yanis essentially says that economy is more of a philosophy rather than something than can be calculated. He goes over a little about history - why Europeans took over the aboriginals in Australia and not vice versa, experiential value and exchange value, prisoners of World War 2, the decentralized world currency bitcoin, and how it all relates to the economy we know today. The economy is terrible today and the economists that control it, talk about it, and write about it aren't helping. There is no easy and quick fix to our economy and Yanis ultimately argues that it is inevitable to talk about economy without talking about politics.

Brilliant!

Masterfully conceived and written, Talking to My Daughter should be mandatory reading fo all economics majors and highly recommended for all others. Mr Varoufakis has put forth, in a way that is as engaging as it is accessible, a key piece of the theoretical framework we need to build a more humane and sustainable society.

practical, philosophical and poignant

I listened twice almost back-to-back and recommend it to anyone. The stories and references to literature and movies make it accessible and enjoyable to listen to while teaching important subject matter that we all would do well to better understand. When you tear up to a book about the economy, you know it's good.

Worth it!

Very thoughtful provoking, and intellectual yet spoken plainly! Easy listen with historical, present, and future analysis.

Talking economics in non-traditional way

I liked the author from his other books. I expected this book would explain how capitalism fails. However, I found it Difficult to understand this answer. Also the author tried to bring a lot of historical stories to explain staff. I lost concentration amidst the stories while struggling to figure what the section is really about.

A Fantastic Read

Best read after reading the first 3 chapters of Debt: the First 5,000 Years. The themes of this book seamlessly build upon the foundations of the aforementioned title.

fun parent prep for "the Talk" with young adults

text and narration covey absurdity of market economy theology...with effortful hope for future implied.

Communism Yay

Where to start. Let’s start with the positive. I liked the analysis on interest and how it’s shaped parts of the economy. Of course, the precursor to this is a section that seems to argue that life was better prior to a market economy. You know… feudalism and serfdom. Because uh, people had their own plots of land and stuff. This is just a peak into some of the leftist drivel in this book which passes for economics in todays world. It’s a little scary to know these are the ideas being taught at university level today. The book is chalked full of this kind of rhetoric. He argues that commoditization of resources won’t work in the long run and the answer is to split things up and share. Never points out that capitalism has been responsible for pulling million out of poverty and setting humanity on a new trajectory of abundance and science but instead argues that communism (Doesn’t use that word but it’s clear what he means) is the only humane solution. You know, the ideology that’s had disastrous results everywhere it’s been implemented resulting in mass murder, poverty, stagnation, etc. , etc. Lets try that because university professors writing from their comfortable homes, using technology with lots of time on their hands, made possible by innovations brought to them by capitalism, know better than history and empirical data. Listen to this if you want to familiarize yourself with communist ideology that is attempting to pass as serious economic arguments.

Interesting listen

Has some great insights but some of the information presented is not correct. still worth the listen.

Strongly recommend this for anyone

Strongly recommend this for anyone interested in wordly affairs. The topics flow smoothly like water