Erik Angner, How Economics Can Save the World (London: Penguin, 2023)

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How Economics Can Save The World describes what economics is, what it does, and what it's for. 

From parenting to organ donation, housing to anti-social behaviour, economics provides the tools we need to fix the biggest issues of today. Far from being a means to predict the stock market or enrich the elite, economics provides a lens through which we can better understand how things work, design clever solutions and create the conditions in which we can all flourish.

With a healthy dose of optimism, and packed with stories of economics in everyday situations, Erik Angner demonstrates the methods he and his fellow economists use to help improve our lives and the society in which we live. He shows us that economics can be a powerful force for good, awakening the possibility of a happier, more just and more sustainable world.

Due out in January 2023. ​

This wonderful book demystifies economics and explains the practical tools it provides for thinking about challenges we all face in everyday life – from getting small children to go to sleep to doing what we can to tackle climate change. A model of clarity and wisdom about a subject that is so often misunderstood and maligned. – Diane Coyle, Professor of Public Policy, Cambridge University

• This optimistic new voice offers useful rules to help understand the world around us, and how to make it a better place. Angner's writing is refreshingly human, filled with intellect and dry humour, this book is as enjoyable to read as it is serious about inspiring change. – Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Director, The World Economic Forum 

• Provides an optimistic outline for improving society and our lives. With pristine clarity, good humor, and solid authority, Angner sketches solutions to the most stubborn problems, both small and large, from poor retirement planning to poverty itself​. The same simple yet bracing themes run through all of the success stories: Rely on data, use the economist's methodological toolkit, and have a more experimental attitude toward fixing our most difficult problems. His prescriptions even contain norm-changing hints of how to get ordinary folks to implement his recommendations. Whether or not we show the good sense to comply with its lessons, How Economics Can Save the World exposes the decision-making structures that cause persistent threats to our happiness and well-being, and provides readers with the tools, knowledge, and hopeful impulse to disable these threats. – J.D. Trout, John and Mae Calamos Professor of Philosophy, Illinois Institute of Technology