Ricardo’s Dream
“I loved this book. Gobbled it up. If you want a sense of where economics might have gone wrong, and how it could right itself – this is an excellent primer.”
Ed Conway, best-selling author of Material World and Trade World
Ricardo’s Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray is published by Bristol University Press. Order the book from your local book shop or:
Bookshop.org Amazon (UK) Amazon (US) WaterstonesAs featured in…
“Isaac Newton’s wealth ‘intimately connected’ with slavery, author says” – The Guardian
‘What economists get wrong about tariff wars’ – Financial Times
“The Death of Free Trade” – Unlearning Economics, YouTube
‘How economics wrecked the world — and how we can escape from “Ricardo’s Dream”’ – Salon
“Les mauvais calculs de Monsieur Ricardo.” [The miscalculations of Mr Ricardo] – Alternatives Économiques, France
“Curing Economics’ Addiction to Unreal Theories” – evonomics
“How economists forgot the real world and led us astray” – the LSE Review of Books
“Too much or not enough of Ricardo?” – Branko Milanovic’s Substack
“Isaac Newton é ligado a ouro do Brasil e escravidão” [Isaac Newton is linked to Brazilian gold and slavery] – Folha de S.Paulo, Brazil
“Isaac Newton y su vínculo con la esclavitud” [Isaac Newton and his link to slavery] – ABC, Spain
“Fantasy economics” – The Morning Star
“How Economists Forgot the Real World” – Pitchfork Economics podcast
… and for more videos and podcasts see here
Endorsements
“Ricardo’s Dream is a fascinating – and surprisingly gripping – exploration of how mainstream economists came to inhabit a world of models and formulae increasingly untethered from the real economy.”
– Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism
“We are long overdue a modern, accessible, exploration of what went wrong in economics. Ricardo’s Dream is just that. The book is so well written that I’d place it in the top 1% of economics books for readability.”
– Cahal Moran, creator of Unlearning Economics on YouTube, and author of Why We’re Getting Poorer
“A revelation for those interested in history, economics, science and their rich interaction at the dawn of the modern world.”
– Jacob Soll, University of Southern California, author of Free Market: The History of an Idea
“This important and lucid book skewers – in delightful detail – the false gods of the profession that has wreaked so much modern havoc around the globe.”
– Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands
“Excellently researched and beautifully written, Ricardo’s Dream transformed my understanding of Isaac Newton’s engagement in global trade and British imperialism.”
– Patricia Fara, University of Cambridge, author of Life After Gravity
“Nat Dyer’s gripping, page-turning exposé of the Neverland of economic models, thriving at the crippling expense of the real world, is simply brilliant.”
– Patrick Alley, author of Very Bad People and Terrible Humans
“Dyer skilfully shows how Ricardo’s simple, incredibly influential models hid a history of conquest and exploitation spanning four continents — and how a commitment to models over evidence can hide similar misdeeds even today.”
– Elizabeth Popp Berman, University of Michigan, author of Thinking Like an Economist
“Like Robert Heilbroner in his The Worldly Philosophers, Dyer writes with a clarity that makes even the weightiest economic ideas feel approachable.”
– Lars P. Syll, Professor of Social Studies, Malmö University
“Economics’ addiction to unreal theories [is] so entertainingly described and perceptively diagnosed in Ricardo’s Dream”
David Sloan Wilson, co-founder of Prosocial World
“The book is always fascinating: a real page-turner of an economics text… Dyer is thorough, clear and easy”
David Wineberg, Medium
“A heartfelt and reasoned call for a more human economics.”
– Erica Thompson, author of Escape from Model Land
“A wonderful achievement bursting with humanity.”
– Matthew Watson, University of Warwick
For the full text of endorsements see here.
What the back cover says…
From the workings of financial markets to our response to the ecological crisis, economic theory shapes the world. But where do these ideas come from?
Ricardo’s Dream tells the fascinating story of David Ricardo, Adam Smith’s only real rival as the ‘founder of economics’: The wealthiest stock trader of his day, Ricardo introduced the study of abstract models to economics. He also developed the theory of trade that underpinned globalization and hides, behind its mathematical façade, a history of power, empire and slavery.
Brimming with fresh ideas and stories, Ricardo’s Dream shows how too many economists, from Ricardo’s day to our own, have turned away from observing the real world and led us astray.
New Books Network – Book of the Day
The Syllabus – Book of the Week
Macrodose Podcast – Book of the Month
Keep in touch
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