Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World

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Economics affects all aspects of our lives – but who is writing the basic recipe we're cooking from, and how much do we really know about the ingredients? He added: “When I was born in the early 1960s, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and life expectancy was 53 years. I’m 59, I should be dead. Economic development has completely changed our life chances and possibilities. In the long run, things can dramatically change.”

Edible Economics brings the sort of creative fusion that spices up a great kitchen to the often too-disciplined subject of economics I have devoted my entire academic career to the study of industrial policy. When I first started doing research on this as a graduate student in the late 1980s, industrial policy for many people was a four letter word—it was something that you didn’t mention in polite company. Today, a lot of countries that used to denounce industrial policy are now very keen to do it. The US is the best example, with the Green New Deal and reindustrialization momentum.

Each bite-sized chapter takes the name of a food that, somewhere in the world, is a store-cupboard staple –okra, noodles, anchovies, Coca-Cola – using their histories, recipes and cultural importance to explore a variety of different economic theories. For example, in ‘Strawberry’, Chang explains how this labour-intensive fruit (actually not a berry) has contributed to the rise in low-wage jobs and, later, the automation that is seen as ‘the destroyer’ of those jobs (actually, Chang writes, it isn’t). For decades, a single free-market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this is bland and unhealthy—like British food in the 1980s, when best-selling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang first arrived in the UK from South Korea. Just as eating a wide range of cuisines contributes to a more interesting and balanced diet, so, too, is it essential we listen to a variety of economic perspectives. P111: “[re education] In other words, equality of opportunity is not enough; we need a relatively high degree of outcome.” The food stories are not just a pretext for a dry lecture, they are fascinating and engaging in themselves - so much engaging that you won’t realize when they morph into the economic ones. The author has an uncanny ability to connect very different topics into one coherent tale - say, pasta and automobile industry, or anchovy, guano and fertilizers. Edible Economics is a funny, thought-provoking book that often made me forget that I was reading about economics, which I’m sure was the point. I didn’t reach the end with a full understanding of even the most dominant economic theory – not even close – but Edible Economics has sparked in me an interest in a subject that I had previously found impenetrable, revealing it to be a much broader-ranging topic than I had believed. As the author explains, economics has a direct and enormous impact on our lives, so it’s ‘vital that we all understand at least some of its principles’.

I am sure it will be a tasty treat for everyone interested not only in food or economics but in a good storytelling about how the modern world works. In the 19th century, cotton and tobacco, which were mostly grown on plantations that held slaves, were the main exports of the United States. It was not an industrialized country; it was an agrarian economy. These two agriculture products alone provided up to 65 percent of US export earnings. Two-thirds of the exports were produced by slaves. Given this prevalence of unfree labor, first in the form of slavery and then in the form of indentured labor, it is quite ironic that freedom has become the central concept in the defense of capitalism by free-market economists. Even if none of that sounds particularly interesting to you, it's worth the listen just to scoop up some of the fascinating tidbits (trivia buffs, take note!). Here's some of what I learned: A lot of countries are being more honest and admitting that the government has always played an important role in industrial development, so they’re now thinking they might as well do it in a more systematic way.I asked if there was any country or model that he regarded as exemplar. “No one’s perfect, you have to learn different things from different countries. In terms of building productive capabilities, you should look at countries such as Germany, South Korea, even Taiwan, which has used various types of industrial policy.” When Chang emigrated to the UK 36 years ago his Korean friends and parents were puzzled because it was “considered to be a country in decline”. Does he believe the same is true of Britain today? “Yes, but this is not the gentle decline of the 1970s and 1980s, the whole system is imploding. I don’t know if there will be a way out anytime soon because the country is too divided to forge a new model.” Unlike some – such as the former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney – Chang does not blame Brexit for the UK’s malaise. “Brexit was a symptom, rather than a cause, people voted Leave because they’d had nearly a decade of economic stagnation and they wanted a way out,” he said.

Economic thinking - about globalisation, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation and much more - in its most digestible formEste libro es fascinante porque conjuga con eficacia la gastronomía, la historia , la geografía y la economía. Permite viajar en el tiempo, por lugares diversos, conociendo detalles sabrosos de los alimentos y de ricas tradiciones culinarias, enlazando todo aquello con reflexiones convincentes sobre problemáticas económicas que repercuten en la vida cotidiana de todos los habitantes de este planeta. It’ll help to have Econ 101 under your belt to appreciate this book, but it makes for fine foodie entertainment. Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you're an adventurous eater like me, who also likes micro-history books and the mixing of topics in an amenable way. This book reminded me why Southeast Asian cuisine is the one ethnic food group I most want to try, and reassured me in my obstinately experimental tastes. There's no ethnic food I won't try, to the point those that know me ask me half-teasingly and half-seriously, "Just what don't you like?" Well, perhaps okra, but now that Mr Chang mentioned gumbo was what convinced his palate to welcome okra, I'm going to try it one day.