A Country Is Not a Company
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that business leaders need to understand the differences between economic policy on the national and international scale and business strategy on the organizational scale. Economists deal with the closed system of a national economy, whereas executives live in the open-system world of business. Moreover, economists know that an economy must be run on the basis of general principles, but businesspeople are forever in search of the particular brilliant strategy. Krugman's article serves to elucidate the world of economics for businesspeople who are so close to it and yet are continually frustrated by what they see.
About the Author
Paul Krugman is a op-ed columnist for the The New York Times a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2008.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Pithy explanation of why businessmen don't necessarily make good advisors to national politicians
13 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
This is a brief essay - 5,000 words, formatted for easy reading - by the Nobel-winning economist. It originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 1996, but the passage of time has not dated it.
In brief, Krugman's argument is that expertise in business does not translate into expertise in the government of a national - or, by implicit extension, a global - economy. His argument hinges on characterising businesses as open systems and economies as closed systems, and the body of knowledge necessary to understand the latter as significantly more technical and complex than the skills required to prosper in the former.
Krugman's argument is persuasive. This little book - postcard sized, and 55 pages rather than the advertised 64, of which only 50 constitute the article itself - should be required reading for British politicians hypnotised by the rhetoric of charismatic businessmen - and perhaps for businessmen overconfident that mastery of a successful company will give them automatic insight into matters of national finance and economic strategy.
It has to be said that I found the book poor value for money even at the discounted price - it took me less than forty minutes to read. Compare, for example, Penguin's publication of Tyler Cowan's The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better:A Penguin eSpecial from Dutton - similar quality, three times the length yet barely half the price.
My four star rating is therefore a compromise between five stars for content and three for presentation.
In brief, Krugman's argument is that expertise in business does not translate into expertise in the government of a national - or, by implicit extension, a global - economy. His argument hinges on characterising businesses as open systems and economies as closed systems, and the body of knowledge necessary to understand the latter as significantly more technical and complex than the skills required to prosper in the former.
Krugman's argument is persuasive. This little book - postcard sized, and 55 pages rather than the advertised 64, of which only 50 constitute the article itself - should be required reading for British politicians hypnotised by the rhetoric of charismatic businessmen - and perhaps for businessmen overconfident that mastery of a successful company will give them automatic insight into matters of national finance and economic strategy.
It has to be said that I found the book poor value for money even at the discounted price - it took me less than forty minutes to read. Compare, for example, Penguin's publication of Tyler Cowan's The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better:A Penguin eSpecial from Dutton - similar quality, three times the length yet barely half the price.
My four star rating is therefore a compromise between five stars for content and three for presentation.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Country is not a Company is the kind of provocative book that makes you think again.
Most of its stuff goes against your common sense, but when you work it up, it makes sense. It makes economic sense, although not always «no-nonsense sense».
It is a very small booklet, really more of an essay; you can read in one hour. If economics interests you, it is a well spent one hour.
Most of its stuff goes against your common sense, but when you work it up, it makes sense. It makes economic sense, although not always «no-nonsense sense».
It is a very small booklet, really more of an essay; you can read in one hour. If economics interests you, it is a well spent one hour.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is more of an essay than a book; but it is a very well argued and accurate thought provoking piece that achieves its goal of shattering the illusion that countries are analogous to companies.
Despite the specialist nature of the topic, it is also very accessible and someone with even the most basic financial knowledge will be able to understand the arguments.
Despite being very expensive for the numbers of words and pages, it still represents excellent value! That said, if you have access to an academic library, you'll be able to dig it up for free in the physical or on-line archives of the Harvard Business Review!
Despite the specialist nature of the topic, it is also very accessible and someone with even the most basic financial knowledge will be able to understand the arguments.
Despite being very expensive for the numbers of words and pages, it still represents excellent value! That said, if you have access to an academic library, you'll be able to dig it up for free in the physical or on-line archives of the Harvard Business Review!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not worth in
The book is simply not worth it. If you want to read the article, read it on line. The magazine article is 4 pages long, and that is exactly what content you get with the book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Georgios Karakatsanis
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This is a reprint of one of Krugman's popular articles from the Harvard Business Review, on why business leaders make poor advisors on economic policy. Read more
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