Edible economics : a hungry economist explains the world

Summary: "Bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang makes challenging economic ideas delicious by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world, using the diverse histories behind familiar food items to explore economic theory. For Chang, chocolate is a lifelong addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into postindustrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism's entangled relationship with freedom."--Front book jacket flap.

Item details

ISBN: 1541700546
ISBN: 9781541700567
ISBN: 1541700562
ISBN: 9781541700543
Physical Description: print
xxv, 191 pages ; 24 cm
Edition: First US hardcover edition.
Publisher: New York : Public Affairs, 2023.
Copyright: ©2022

Contents / Notes

General Note:	"Originally published in 2022 by Allen Lane in Great Britain."--Title page verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction: Garlic : in which the stinky bulb establishes Korea, frightens the Brits and tells you why you will want to read this book. -- Part one. Overcoming prejudices: 1. Acorn : in which the acorn-eating pigs of southern Spain and acorn-loving Koreans tell you how culture is not as important as you think in determining economic outcomes -- 2. Okra : in which the 'lady finger' reveals how blinkered and misleading the language of free-market economics is -- 3. Coconut : in which the brown fruit reveals why it is wrong to believe that various 'brown' people are poor because they don't work hard. -- Part two. Becoming more productive: 4. Anchovy : in which the small fish, which used to give countries not just rich flavours but fabulous riches, turns out to be an ambassador for industrialization -- 5. Prawn... or shrimp? : in which the crustacean is shown to be an insect in disguise that tells us why developing countries need to use protectionism against superior foreign competition -- 6. Noodle : in which the intertwined story of two noodle-obsessed nations makes us re-examine the way we think about entrepreneurship and corporate success -- 7. Carrot : in which the once-outrageous idea that a carrot can be orange helps us see why and how we need to fix the patent system. --