Money and Power

This fascinating book presents profiles of 16 world leaders who have had a broad impact on we understand the impact of economic theory on political situations. Each leader is given about 20 pages with a bit of biography, consideration of the situation they faced, what they did, how it went and the broader legacy they left. Cable writes with real clarity, summarising complex situations and economic theories in an accessible way. It makes a very enjoyable and informative read.

The value of the book is in the choice of the leaders and the quality of the writing and analysis. Here the selection is really diverse and wide-ranging, running from Alexander Hamilton to Trump, via Bismarck, post-war Germany, Argentina and Sweden, the Asian miracles (South Korea, Singapore), post-Mao China, Thatcherism, post-Communist Poland, and recession hit Japan. He evaluates the achievements in an even-handed way, always trying to sift the good from bad and to giver a fair hearing to supporters and critics, even for a leader like Trump, who is clearly not Cable's cup of tea.

Some of these stories I knew and some I didn't but the sequence of leaders and policies generates its own bigger story, broadly tracing an arc from development economics, opening out to the wider economy and ensuring the stable growth that raises living standards. There is a good mix of global regions and the consideration of both developed and developing economies,

Naturally, the author’s own Liberal agenda comes across: free markets are good and some central direction and pace-setting are also ok, if done to raise living standards and increase competitive vitality. Creating an educational and transport infrastructure are important but he is a bit dubious about attempts to blur economics with morality (Lee Kuan Yew, Margaret Thatcher, and Xi Jinping all lose marks for this). Anything like protectionism, corporate cartels, price controls, natural monopolies, or cronyism are bad. His 16 leaders mainly tend to be those who dismantled barriers, tariffs, and state corporations while also keep an eye on money supply to control interest rates, but he does include those, like Peron and Trump, who did the opposite.