Books for the Candidates

With “Super Tuesday” settling the presidential field (sort of ), candidates can return to the issues. Over the next few weeks, we will offer some reading suggestions for Clinton, Obama, McCain, Huckabee, and others. The first on our list is The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take on Today’s Problems, edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Aaron S. Edlin, and J. Bradford Delong. In the book leading economists examine a wide range of issues with clarity and incisiveness.

With the economy looming as a key issues in the campaign, this collection provides a wealth of opinion,. insight, and expertise. Contributors are Nobel Prize winners, former presidential advisers, well-respected columnists, academics, and practitioners from across the political spectrum. Joseph E. Stiglitz takes a hard look at the high cost of the Iraq War; Nobel Laureates Kenneth Arrow, Thomas Schelling, and Stiglitz provide insight and advice on global warming; Paul Krugman demystifies Social Security; Richad Posner and Gary Becker consider the economics of capital punishment; Bradford DeLong presents divergent views on the coming dollar crisis; Diana Farrell reconsiders the impact of U.S. offshoring; Michael J. Boskin distinguishes what is “sense” and what is “nonsense” in discussions of federal deficits and debt; and Ronald I. McKinnon points out the consequences of the deindustrialization of America.