What is Diane Coyle reading?

Today's featured contributor at Writers Read: Diane Coyle, author of The Economics of Enough: How to Run the Economy as If the Future Matters.

Her entry begins:

I read a lot of economics and current affairs books linked to my work as an economist – and blog about them on The Enlightened Economist – but anyway find non-fiction the ideal relaxing read. I love reading history, popular science, and books about ballet too. I’ve been doing ballet classes for 30 years and often go to watch performances as London, where I live, is blessed with a vibrant ballet and contemporary dance scene and some of the very best performers in the world.

Recently I’ve read two big history books with completely different perspectives on the grand sweep of human experience. One is Ian Morris’s Why The West Rules For Now, running from pre-history to the prospects ahead for China and the west – he thinks China is in for a few centuries of dominance. The other is...[read on]

Among the early praise for The Economics of Enough:

"In The Economics of Enough, Ms. Coyle adds a knowledgeable and earnest voice to the discussion about how to face these global challenges.... Ms. Coyle has written a thoughtful, sprawling work. I was impressed with both the magnitude of the subject matter and her keen grasp of it.... Ms. Coyle has made an important contribution to the debate on the nature of global capitalism."
--Nancy F. Koehn, New York Times

"If Diane Coyle had written The Economics of Enough a year or so earlier, a British political party would probably have laid claim to its message during the general election campaign. Coyle's work manages to tie up fiscal policy, inequality and the environment with reflection on civil society.... Coyle makes a particularly effective assault on the view, often espoused by environmentalists, that economic growth ought not to be a policy goal. While she calls for other objectives--and the use of a greater range of economic indicators--she backs output growth as an objective.... [A] solid guide to the challenges that face governments in the coming years."
--Christopher Cook, Financial Times

"Are we bankrupt? Are countries like the US and the UK in as much fiscal trouble as Ireland or Greece? The bond markets say no: they've been quite content to lend to the UK and the US as though they were low-risk propositions, and perhaps they are right. But even if bond holders look safe enough, citizens may not be. Diane Coyle, author of a new book, The Economics of Enough, argues that we need to go beyond traditional measures of debt in thinking about future obligations."
--Tim Harford, Financial Times

Read more about The Economics of Enough, and visit The Enlightened Economist blog.

Writers Read: Diane Coyle.

--Marshal Zeringue