For this month we selected four books that raise the alarm on central banks’ aggressive strategies, the crises of modern economies, and the scale of the environmental problem.

Four books on thinking outside the box: How did the definition of inequality change over the years? The importance of women economists in policymaking; A bold suggestion on how to achieve a sustainable economy; What were the political responses to exogenous supply shocks?

We have selected three books that provide an incisive look at the unequal effects  of globalization, at the efficiency of macroprudential policies so far, and at what happens when few institutions exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The fourth book is a collection of Becker’s unpublished writings.

For June we selected four books on: how is China really using its sovereign funds; inflation as a policy error through the centuries; the seeds of crashes; and how raw materials have defined our past and will define our future.

The four books we have selected for this month address interesting questions: How did economic crashes affect globalization? What are the realistic paths to sustainability? Why the concept of scarcity is historically novel? How does it feel to be a pioneer in economics?

For our selection this month we picked two books on prosperity, one on China but with an insider’s view and one on asset managers who now own the basic building blocks of everyday life.

Our selection for this month includes two books on financial stability and two books on the Federal Reserve. Had this been last month’s selection it would have been quite prophetic!

Four books, four authors who think “outside the box:” on how to tackle the complexity of environmental policy; on regionalism vs globalization; on the truth about India’s economic growth; and on how central banks became so powerful.

Our selection for this month includes: two books with opposing views on the interplay between monetary and fiscal policies; one book on the Fed’s history and another on the ties between democracy and capitalism.