Pirated Book

I see that the book, ITEM, is online at scribd. I understand that this is a violation of Wiley's copyright. I assume scribd will be removing it soon, as is now being required by Wiley's attorney.

German Edition

The German edition of ITEM now is available to be advance ordered from Wiley, but Wiley will not begin delivering the German copies until December 2009.

Adam Smith Blog

The following comment just appeared in the blog, Adam Smith's Lost Legacy:

The reputation of Paul Samuelson, from the start of his illustrious academic career, and the publication of his Phd dissertation, Foundations of Economic Analysis (1947), is enormous. His popular textbook, Economics, was used to teach, literally, tens of thousands of post-war students, and even his latest writings on his profession (e.g., Inside the economist's mind: conversations with eminent economists‎, 2007) show why his reputation is so high.

Foreword to Russian Translation of ITEM

A foreword was added to the Russian translation of ITEM. That foreword was written by the Rector of the SKOLKOVO School of Management in Moscow. I've had it translated into English and put online.

ITEM Translated into Russian

The book, Inside the Economist's Mind, now has been translated into Russian. The ISBN of the Russian translation is 978-5-9614-0793-8. The Editor of the translated edition is O. Nizhelskaya. The translators are E. Pestereva and E. Kalugin. The book is within the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO series, published by Alpina Business Books, Moscow, in December 2008. The SKOLKOVO series' ISBN number is 978-5-9614-0633-7.

A Blog Post in Nepal

An interesting post about ITEM appeared yesterday (January 8, 2009) on a blog in Nepal.

A Principles Course Syllabus

I have found an interesting course syllabus online for a principles of macroeconomics course being taught at a community college in Los Angeles. The course uses ITEM as supplementary reading for a required essay. The regular text for the course is Greg Mankiw's principles book.

Wiley Takes Over

Although the book, ITEM, originally was published by Blackwell, the takeover of Blackwell by Wiley has resulted in the move of the publisher's site for the book to Wiley's site. Wiley now has pages both for the paperback and for the hardcover editions.

Russian Translation

The Russian translation of the book, ITEM, is now at the printers and will be published and available for sale from its Russian publisher, Alpina, in mid-December.

Chinese Translation

I have just been informed that the book, ITEM, has been translated into Simplified Chinese and has been available from Peking University Press in Beijing, China since October 1, 2008. The translator is Cao Heping.

The book title in Chinese is "经济学家之经济学家" with an ISBN no. of 978-7-301-14225-7 and can be ordered through Amazon's Chinese site (www.amazon.com.cn) or a Chinese online bookseller called 当当网(www.dangdang.com) or www.zhuoyue.com. The book also is in many bookstores in China, including Xidan Bookmall and Peking University Bookstore in Beijing.

Why Did the Bubble Burst?

My own Guest Commentary on the current financial crisis appeared in the November 11, 2008 edition of the Kansas City Star Business Weekly. The unedited original, including the Federal Reserve charts that support it, are online as a working paper.

James Hamilton's Review

James Hamilton's review of ITEM is online in EconPapers. The review was published in the Cambridge U. Press journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics.

IMF Review

A review of ITEM just appeared on the IMF (International Monetary Fund) web site.

German Translation

I have been informed that a German translation of ITEM is to be published by Wiley VCH.

Economic and Political Weekly Review

A book review of ITEM has appeared in the July 19 - 25, 2008 issue of the highly regarded Indian journal, Economic and Political Weekly. The review begins with:

"This book can make you fall in love with economics all over again. A collection of interviews with 16 eminent economists, it presents the attractive face of the field – one rediscovers an economics concerned with improving the human condition by putting to good use tools borrowed from disciplines as diverse as mathematics and psychology. The book is a labour of love for William Barnett, the editor of the journal Macroeconomic Dynamics in which these interviews originally appeared between 1997 and 2005. Though the interviews were aimed at professional macroeconomists, much of the book is of broader interest. That is because these eminent economists, interviewed by their peers, are often able to describe their complicated work in simple terms, with modesty and humour, and enriched with anecdotes from their lives."

The author of the four page review was Prakash Loungani, Advisor, Research Department, International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

Russian Translation

Evidently ITEM's translation into Russian is soon to be available. See Russian School of Management SKOLKOV.

If you look at that site, you will find the following statement:

" The SKOLKOVO publishing series is opened by books of world-renowned authors:

- 'Essential Writings on Management' Peter Drucker;
- 'The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do' Clotaire Rapaille;
- 'Hostage at the Table: How Leaders Can Overcome Conflict, Influence Others, and Raise Performance' George Kohlrieser;
- 'The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World' Alan Greenspan;
- 'Inside the Economist's Mind', edited by Paul Samuelson and William Barnett)."

You can also find the following there:

"Being realized in partnership with the government of the Russian Federation, SKOLKOVO is a part of the national priority projects programme, funded exclusively by private business. Dmitry Medvedev, the President of the Russian Federation, is the Chairman of the SKOLKOVO International Advisory Board."

The Housing Bubble

An excerpt from Vockler's interview in ITEM appeared in Dirk Ehnts' blog, econ101.de. Dirk relates the excerpt to the failure of Central Bank regulation of lending practices associated with the housing bubble. Indeed Volcker was clear in his interview about the risks of inadequate supervision and regulation by central banks.

Korean Translation of ITEM

The book has been translated into Korean and published on March 27, 2008. The publisher is JISIK-SANUP Publishing Co.Ltd. in Seoul. The translators are Jeong Ho Hahm and Tae Hong Jinn. Many book reviews have appeared in the Korean press. I understand that 10 such reviews have already appeared, including reviews in the Maekyung Business Newspaper, Munhwa Ilbo Daily Newspaper, Financial News in Korea, and the "big three" Korean newspapers, Chosun Ilbo Daily Newspaper in the April 12, 2008 Saturday culture section, Donga on April 1, 2008, and JoongAng Daily Newspaper on April 12, 2008. None of those reviews have been translated into English, but the Chosun Ilbo review also is online (in Korean) in the newspaper's own web site.

Economic History Review

A book review of ITEM appeared in the journal, Economic History Review, vol 60, no 4, 2007, pp. 869-871. It was written by Roger Middleton himself. He is the Book Review Editor of that journal. Among the statements in the review is: "All of the interviews first appeared in the journal Macroeconomic Dynamics, of which Barnett is the editor, and, uniquely for a leading peer-reviewed academic economics journal, all were given significant space and free licence to say what they wanted about economists and economics to their peers. The end result is a most welcome addition to the genre in which leading economists outline their life philosophies and reflect candidly on the evolution of modern economics. Moreover, whilst not all of the interviewees took advantage of the licence to offend, those that did will not disappoint, and the reader is directed to pp. 44–5 on how to respond when your head of department tells you that you are a luxury good."

Google Books Preview

The Google Books preview of ITEM has improved dramatically since it first appeared in January of 2007. I don't know how they manage to do this, but Google Books has gotten together a lot of relevant information about the book.

Wiley Takeover of Blackwell

Since Wiley has taken over and absorbed Blackwell, ITEM now is published by Wiley. Although the Blackwell site still exists, it is gradually being fazed out. ITEM now is in the Wiley site for both the paperback and the hardcover.

Amazon Reviews

Amazon.com has a new site for reviews. ITEM is reviewed as 5 stars out of a possible 5.

Economics Roundtable Book Picks

The highly regarded Economics Roundtable blog, hosted by William Park at the University of North Carolina, has posted its six recommended book picks. ITEM is among the six. This puts ITEM in very good company indeed, including two classics. The other five are:

1. Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, Monetary History of the United States.
2. John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.
3. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics.
4. Gregory Mankew, Principles of Economics.
5. David Warsh, Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations.

Economists who Love to Fish

Interesting photos from ITEM in the August 25, 2007 "The Bayesian Heresy" blog.

London Times Supplement

Choice Picks

Each month, the editors of Choice magazine publish online the reviews they decide to highlight as "Editors' Picks." ITEM was a "highly recommended" Editors' Pick for June 2007.

Choice Magazine Review

The following review appears in the June 2007 issue of Choice Magazine:

Social & Behavioral Sciences \ Economics

Inside the economist's mind: conversations with eminent economists , ed. by Paul A. Samuelson and William A. Barnett. Blackwell Publishing, 2007. 419p afp ISBN 1405159170 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9781405159173 pbk, $29.95. Reviewed in 2007jun CHOICE.

Inside the Economist's Mind offers 16 stand-alone, candid personal interviews with some of the world's best economists, conducted by other leading economists. A far cry from Matt Lauer talking with Tom Cruise on The Today Show, these 25-page conversations quickly hone in on what makes these leading economists from the academic world and public policy corridors tick, and how they--and the profession itself--evolved in research and thinking. These chapters originally appeared in an academic journal (Macroeconomic Dynamics, various issues, 1998-2005), and the exchanges are pitched at a fairly sophisticated level and tilt toward macroeconomic theory and policy matters. Some knowledge about and appreciation for higher economic analysis should be expected from readers; such readers have the most to gain from the book. But the people and the personalities show through in this superb collection of "economists' economists," or more specifically, the "old guard"--all are over 60; a companion volume on the "young and the restless" would make a nice complement. Bibliographic materials--references, appendixes, index--are not necessary or included in the volume. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Informed general readers; students, lower-division undergraduate and up; researchers and practitioners. -- A. R. Sanderson, University of Chicago

Bottom Line/Personal

ITEM was just listed as one of the four "Best Personal Finance Books" by Bottom Line/Personal.

Economic History Review

The earliest reviews to appear have been in newspapers and magazines in the popular press. Book reviews published by the economics profession take longer to appear. A professional review relative to history of economic thought just appeared in EH.NET (EH stands for economic history). The review is by Professors Michael Szenberg at Pace University and Lall Ramrattan at the U. of California at Berkeley.

EH.Net is supported by the Economic History Association along with the following affiliated organizations: the Business History Conference, the Cliometric Society, the Economic History Society, and the History of Economics Society.

Among the more interesting comments in the long review of ITEM are the following:

"They [Samuelson and Barnett] raise mirrors reflecting the ideas of eminent economists presented in the volume, and these mirrors, like those of the Hubble Space Telescope, focus them in sizable bits for the digestion of the readers . . . The interviews are meticulously balanced . . . Reflecting on the scope of the book, we find rays of spontaneous thought from minds that breathe and dream of economics . . . our review implies that the ideas covered in this volume have some ability to predict and have been validated thus far in their confrontation with reality. . . If one is looking for answers to how economists discover great thoughts, this book is a place to start looking . . . The readers will find this a source book for comprehensive thought on the deep matter of economics. No one interested in the modern economy should fail to read it."

Milken Institute Review

The 2007 second issue of the Milken Institute Review has a chapter on ITEM. The introduction to the chapter is by Peter Passell, who is the Editor of the magazine and formerly was an economics columnist and member of the editorial board of the New York Times. The magazine article appears on pages 65 - 85. The MIR excerpted the book's entire chapter 6, which was the interview of Milton Friedman by John Taylor. The magazine added some photographs that were not in the book, thereby adding to the interest of the interview.

Events Blog

A private Events Blog now exists for the purpose of keeping track of slide shows and other information relevant to ITEM event planning. Access to that blog is limited to the authors of ITEM, the publisher, event organizers, and those with a "need to know." If you are an event organizer or otherwise need access to that information, please inform me to acquire permission to access the private Event Blog.

Kansas City Simulcast

There will be a Lawrence event about the book in Alderson auditorium at the Kansas Union at 7:30 pm on April 24. Unlike the more informal Dole Institute event that was held on March 27, the auditorium event will include 1 1/2 hours of presentation and discussion, moderated by Kay McIntyre of Kansas Public Radio. The event will be simulcast at the Edwards campus in Kansas City.

Dole Institute of Politics

There will be a reception and book signing for the book, Samuelson and Barnett, Inside the Economist's Mind, at the Dole Institute of Politics on March 27, 2007. If you wish to attend and have not received an invitation, you can make the arrangements to attend easily.

Challenge Magazine

A full length book review of ITEM is forthcoming in the May-June 2007 issue of Challenge: the Magazine of Economic Affairs. The author of the review is Dr. Stephen Kinsella on the faculty at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland. The following interesting statements are contained within the review:

"Inside the Economist’s Mind: Conversations with Eminent Economists (ITEM) will prove an invaluable resource for those wishing to understand the greats and their work. . . Readers find eccentric and irascible characters behind some of the major innovations in economic science, and that is the draw to the book."

Of particular interest is the conclusion to the book review:

"Inside the Economist’s Mind is a very rare thing—an economic page-turner, like Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers, Foley’s Adam’s Fallacy, and Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics. The personalities behind the frontiers of economic research make for compelling reading. I can’t recommend it enough."

Bloomberg Markets Magazine

The April 2007 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine highlighted the book, ITEM, in its "Bookmarks" section on p. 24. In addition to providing three of the most interesting of the quotations from the book, the magazine included the following statement: "In this collection of interviews, 16 eminent economists speak candidly on everything from the IQ of U.S. presidents to the herd-like behavior in their profession."

With over 260,000 Bloomberg Professional service subscribers, Bloomberg Markets is now the largest financial monthly magazine in the world. The magazine is carried by the Barnes & Noble and the Borders bookstore chains in the US.

"Book Scores Big"

The Lawrence newspaper is the Lawrence Journal World. On today's LJWorld.com blog, there is a short story with title, "KU Economist's Book Scores Big." It contains some useful links to two of the published reviews of the book, along with some rather odd comments by some undergraduate and graduate students.

Tax Guru's Amazon Store

The book has appeared as a "Must Read" on the "Tax Guru's Amazon Store." The list seems to be the same as Tom Keene's list, but it is packaged differently, since the links to the books on this list go to different places from the link's in Tom's list.

Valor Review Translated

In the February 9th post below, I mentioned a major review of ITEM in the Brazilian newspaper, Valor Economico. I have now acquired a complete English translation. It is fascinating. In addition to the comments on the book by the editor and five commentators, the article contains South American perspectives on many important matters, such as the recent shifts to the left in South American politics, the reasons for Brazilian disillusionment about flexible exchange rates, discussion of the effects on debtor countries of Volcker's high interest rates, among many other observations and views that are not often heard within the United States. There also are some surprising personal insights into the private family lives of some of MIT's most famous economists.

The translator was Professor Marcelle Chauvet at the University of California at Riverside. She is Brazilian, so this translation can be viewed to be accurate. I am impressed by the investment of Valor in this article. Too bad that there is no English edition of Valor. If there were, and if this review is representative of coverage in Valor, I'd subscribe myself.

Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star newspaper has a weekly business section on Tuesdays. That section contains a "Noteworthy" subsection. Today's (February 20, 2007) Noteworthy section contains three short articles. One was about ITEM and contained the following sentence: "Even casual students of economics should find much to like in this collection of conversations with several eminent economists of our time."

Monetarism as an Oral Tradition

There is an interesting thread that began yesterday (February 12, 2007) about monetarism in the Economist's View blog, maintained by Mark Thoma at the University of Oregon. The motivation for the posts is the statements about monetarism in my interview of Paul Samuelson. That interview is reprinted in the book, ITEM.

Paul Volcker

Econbrowser is a very popular economics blog maintained by James Hamilton at the U. of California at San Diego and Menzie Chinn at the U. of Wisconsin. On February 11, 2007, they posted a long discussion of revelations contained in the interview of Paul Volcker in ITEM.

Best Review Yet

The leading financial newspaper in Brazil is Valor Economico (which means "Economic Value"). A major cover story about the book just appeared today (February 9, 2007) in that newspaper. It includes original artwork produced by the newspaper and photographs acquired by the newspaper. The article includes a cover story by the newspaper's editor and commentaries by five Brazilian economists. I shall try to acquire an English translation of all six parts to put online, but at present I only have a translation of the editor's cover story. The color photographs alone are worth seeing, even without availability of the full translation. Here is an excerpt from the newspaper editor's cover story:

"In frank conversations, unburdened by the formalizations found in academic papers, 16 eminent American and European economists posit their philosophies, explain theories and methodologies, and offer their personal experiences. The end result is a picture of the profession that is in constant flux ... ITEM, which was recently launched in Europe and the U.S., is already a best seller on the Financial Times list and offers great help ... The book which is edited by William A. Barnett, macroeconomics professor at the University of Kansas, and Paul Samuelson, 1970 Nobel Laureate, is really a map into the minds of 16 American and European important economists, who are well-known for their major contributions to economic study. The book regales us with personal anecdotes of these economists, their memories, choices made, and landmark moments in their careers ... This book is about unfiltered ideas, not in the tradition found in the usual academic avenues of censored personal views in lieu of purely technical models, theories, or insights. Both interviewers and interviewees successfully rally around the book's central focus on the importance of intellectual exchange ... it is useful to learn about the experiences of these economists and what drives them to their pursuit. This book provides a coherent vision of modern economics and its connection with the lifetime experiences of famous economists, whose work was seminal for the discipline ... It's important to know (or remember) that Janos Kornai's defense in Budapest on the eve of the revolution of 1956 attracted an audience of hundreds. When he published it in book form with a title that spoke of the "excess of centralization", he lost his job, and a close friend was executed ... ITEM is a valuable work, and it succeeds in the need to contextualize the advances of the field's theories with a sense of its implicit history."

Best Seller

The online FT Bookshop, operated by Bertrand Group Limited in the UK, listed ITEM as first on their paperback best seller's list early this week. Perhaps the article last week in the Financial Times had something to do with this. But they ran out of their stock of the book (temporarily, they say).

News about Paul Samuelson

Daylife maintains a site about Paul Samuelson. The Daylife Samuelson Site provides press coverage about Paul and is the place to look for what the press is saying about him and what he is saying to the press.

Google Book Search

A limited preview of the book is available in Google Book Search. That preview is a good way to get a quick overview of the book, with the ability to see parts of each chapter. Oddly the Google Book Search preview links only to the hardcover edition for purchase.

Financial Times of London

A review of the book has appeared in the January 20, 2007 issue of the Financial Times of London. The review is written by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. Here is part of it:

"J.K. Galbraith joked that 'the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable'. Just as economics is half way between science and guesswork, so too Inside the Economist's Mind blends academic analysis with biographical informality.

It comprises interviews with 16 economists, half of them Nobel Prize winners, conducted by fellow economists. The emphasis is on macroeconomic theorists such as Robert Lucas and Milton Friedman, though also numbered among the interviewees are central bankers including Paul Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve under the Carter and Reagan administrations, and Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel.

The aim is to see how their lives and work have intersected. . . . the book's value for the layman is to humanise a branch of thought that is abstruse yet full of practical consequence for everyday life."

This latest review has been added to the rapidly growing list of reviews, commentaries, and endorsements for the book.

Review in Ireland

A long and detailed review of the book just appeared on the blog, stephenkinsella.net, maintained by Stephen Kinsella at the University of Limerick's Kemmy Business School in Ireland. Since the review contains many excerpts from the book, the review's length is prohibitive for inclusion in this blog. But the opening paragraphs, repeated below, might motivate you to go to the full review on his site:

"This is a collection of interviews commissioned for a journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics. The idea is to gauge the position of the profession by asking the people who invented large swaths of the theory their motivations for doings what they did, when they did it, and how they did it. Readers find eccentric and irascible characters behind some of the major innovations in economic science. I loved this book, and read it cover to cover in a day.

The book purports (pg. xi) to “contain unique insights into the thinking of some of the world’s most important economists, whose work contributed to the evolution of modern economic thought,” and does.

. . . So it’s great that William Barnett, the editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics, and the co-editor of this book, decided to ask these men these questions."

Bloomberg Podcasts

On January 16, 2007 from 2 pm to 3 pm EST, Samuelson and Barnett were both interviewed about I.T.E.M. on Bloomberg radio. The program is called Bloomberg on the Economy with host Tom Keene. The podcasts of both segments are online, including the segment with Paul Samuelson and the segment with William Barnett.

If you don't want to take the time to listen to the two podcasts, but would just like to know about Tom Keene's commentary about I.T.E.M. during the program, here it is:

"It was the talk at the American Economic Association meetings. Folks, it has my highest, highest recommendation. It is very exciting. I heard more buzz about this book at the A.E.A. than any I've heard in years. And folks I'll be blunt: it's on my "must read list," and it's the first book ever to go on the "must read list" without being [completely] read. It's so thick, so dense, so rich. Folks I cannot emphasize enough the energy off the page, because of the uncensored nature of some 400 pages ... I am sure there will be a volume 2; and after you sell the movie rights, there will be a volume 3. There is a great energy in this book. The tension among the economists is great.... I cannot convey to you enough the accessibility of the book with a minimal amount of math and a maximum amount of emotion and candor ... Don't take my word for it. Paul Samuelson opens up his part of the book with: 'this book adds up to more than the sum of its parts.' "

Bloomberg on the Economy

ITEM just appeared as one of the eighteen "Book Reviews: Must Reads" on Thomas R. Keene's Amazon list. He is the Host of Bloomberg on the Economy. Here is his review:

"Rules are meant to be broken. Samuelson & Barnett goes on the list without a complete read. Sixteen stunning interviews; the candor shocking. But then, this is Samuelson. Taylor interviews Friedman; Blanchard interviews Fischer. You get the must-read picture."

Evidently the prior rule that he has broken is not to put a book on his "must read" list before completing his reading of the book. Should be interesting to see what he writes after he has finished the book. I don't think he'll change his mind.

Bookviews Review of I.T.EM.

I.T.E.M. just appeared as a January 2007 "pick of the month" in Bookviews, edited by Alan Caruba. He is a charter member of the National Critics Circle. He also is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and of the Society of Professional Journalists. Bookviews has been an authoritative source of book reviews since the 1960's. Here is his review:

• "The study of economics lost one of its greatest minds, Milton Friedman, in November of last year. He was passionate about freedom and keeping government from interfering with the most basic element of choice that underlies the open marketplace of goods and services. A unique book, Inside the Economist's Mind: Conversations with Eminent Economists ($74.95/$29.95, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA, hard and softcover) is edited by two other famed economists, Paul A. Samuelson and William A. Barnett. They sat down with sixteen of their colleagues, and their candid interviews make for some lively reading that even those unfamiliar with this critical field of analysis would find interesting. For those for whom economists represent the guidance needed in an ever shifting landscape of events, this book offers some excellent insights."