We were asked the other day what books we thought best explain how the economy and jobs have changed over the past couple of decades.
We came up with these 3:
1. Supercapitalism by Robert Reich. The former labor secretary provides a historical view of how over the past few decades Americans as consumers and investors have gained power, while as citizens and employees we have lost power. It was released in 2007 and in our opinion nails how the economy has changed since the 1950s.
2. The Great Risk Shift by political scientist Jacob S. Hacker. Released in 2006 and based on work that started in the late 1990s, Hacker explains how risk has shifted from institutions to individuals. This shift has left Americans less financially secure than they used to be. We consider this to be one of the most important shifts we follow.
3. The Winner Take All Society by economists Robert Frank and Philip Cook. First released way back in 1995, it helps explain the growth of income inequality, the polarization of jobs, the growing role network effects play and many other aspects of how work and jobs have changed over the past couple of decades.
It's interesting that these books are all pretty old.
We read a lot books here at Small Business Labs and review books we think will be of interest to readers. So it's not that we're not exposed to new books.
Maybe we can't really see how good a book is until some time has passed.
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