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The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World Paperback – 30 Dec. 2014

by Zachary Karabell Ph.D. (Author)

4.1 74 ratings

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The Leading Indicators was widely and well received as a much needed corrective to the outdated, outmoded economic figures we are accustomed. Every day, we are bombarded with numbers that tell us how we are doing, whether the economy is growing or shrinking, whether the future looks bright or dim. Gross national product, balance of trade, unemployment, inflation, and consumer confidence guide our actions, yet few of us know where they come from, what they mean, or why they rule our world.Zachary Karabell tells the fascinating history of these indicators, which were invented in the mid-twentieth century to address the urgent challenges of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. They were rough measures--designed to give clarity in a data-parched world that was made up of centralized, industrial nations--yet we still rely on them today. Today's world is shaped by information technology and the borderless flow of capital and goods. If we follow a 1950s road map for a twenty-first-century world, we will get lost. What is urgently needed is not to invent a new set of numbers but to tap into the data revolution that offers unparalleled access to the information we need. Companies should not base their business plans on GDP projections; individuals should not decide whether to buy a home or get a degree based on the national unemployment rate. If you want to buy a home, look for a job, start a company or run a business, you can readily find your own indicators. National housing figures don't matter; local ones do. You can find those at the click of button. Personal, made-to-order indicators will meet our needs today, and the revolution is well underway. We need only to join it.

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Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publication date

30 Dec. 2014
Dimensions

13.97 x 2.03 x 21.27 cm
ISBN-10

9781451651225
ISBN-13

978-1451651225
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Product description

Review

"Zachary Karabell's lively account, The Leading Indicators, is a terrific introduction to the range of statistics economists and governments use to address these questions."

About the Author

Zachary Karabell is an author, money manager, commentator, and president of River Twice Research, where he analyzes economic and political trends. Educated at Columbia, Oxford, and Harvard, where he received his PhD, Karabell has written eleven previous books. He is a regular commentator on CNBC, MSNBC, and CNN. He writes the weekly "Edgy Optimist" column for Reuters and The Atlantic, and is a contributor to such publications as The Daily Beast, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1451651228
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (30 Dec. 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781451651225
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1451651225
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 2.03 x 21.27 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,917,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.1 74 ratings

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Zachary Karabell

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Zachary Karabell was educated at Columbia, Oxford, and Harvard, where he received his PhD. He is a prolific commentator, both in print and on television, and the author of a dozen previous books, including The Last Campaign, which won the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize, and The Leading Indicators. He is also a longtime investor, former financial services executive, and the founder of the Progress Network.

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4.1 out of 5

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roger claessens

Very interesting book on the economic indicators with some good final conclusions at the entrepreneurial level

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2015

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Very interesting book on the economic indicators with some good final conclusions at the entrepreneurial level. Recommended for non economists as well as economists.

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Amazonkunde*seit*1999

Zahlen bitte!

Reviewed in Germany on 17 July 2016

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Schöner Überblick zur Historie der Wirtschaftsindikatoren und mehr oder weniger einziges Buch dieser Form auf dem Markt. Kurzweilig zu lesen - grundsätzliches Interesse vorausgesetzt.

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David N. Buckley

An excellent little volume

Reviewed in the United States on 8 July 2014

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This is a bright, breezy and readable little volume that clearly shows how the sphere of human action that we now call "the economy" is largely a figment of the statistical imagination. It's reported on ad nauseam as though it is a real "thing", but it isn't; and fixation on its numerical measures has caused a deterioration in our thinking and in the quality of the lives we lead. These measures were devised as "indicators" to help us assess whether our policies were working or not; instead they have become a media fetish and a political stick with which to beat us into line. An excellent little volume; highly recommended!

2 people found this helpful

Jifising

GDP, inflation, unemployment... : what those statistics mean (and what they do not mean) for all of us

Reviewed in France on 13 April 2014

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where the national and world economic indicators come from ?
do they measure what they are supposed to ? no
do they reflect the real economy ? no
could they lead to misled political decisions ? yes
are there alternatives ? yes, this is ongoing work.

Richard J. Taylor

A Must Read for Economics, Business and Statistics Nerds

Reviewed in the United States on 5 January 2016

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The Leading Indicators is a fascinating history of economic gages such as the GDP, inflation rate and unemployment rate. A must read for economics, business and statistics nerds. The reasons why the statistics were created and the people behind them make for a great read. Before the 20th century, there was no reliable data to assess the “economy”. At the start of the Great Depression, there weren’t solid statistics that could pinpoint the actual condition of the economy. There were endless antidotal stories of business closures and unemployment, but nothing concrete for the government to determine whether things were on the upswing, getting worse, and what interventions work, etc. From the 1930s on, the federal government, UN, Fed and other organizations started surveying and tracking economic data. This is the meat of the book. The author goes on to point out weaknesses in the various indicators and offers recommendations for improvements. Interesting, but for me, the story of how each leading indicator was developed and used since the depression makes this book a remarkable achievement and one well worth exploring.

One person found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Very good book for anyone interested in what the economic indicators ...

Reviewed in the United States on 9 February 2016

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Very good book for anyone interested in what the economic indicators mean. I would highly recommend it to economics students, journalists, pundits, and politicians. If one becomes familiar with these statistics - GDP, unemployment rate, jobs created - it would not be possible candidates to make statements like Donald Trump's recent proclamation that the "true unemployment rate is around 25 percent". With some knowledge of what the statistics mean and how they are prepared, an informed citizenry could easily spot the demagoguery that pervades our political discourse. Buy this one!

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The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World Paperback – 30 Dec. 2014

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