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GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History by PH.D. Coyle, Diane: Used
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A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. scuff marks, but no holes or tears. If this is a hard cover, the dust jacket may be missing. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. No highlighting of text, no writing in the margins, and no missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
- Buy it nowGDP: A Brief But Affectionate History by PH.D. Coyle, Diane: Used
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Item specifics
- Condition
- Publication Date
- 2014-02-23
- Pages
- 168
- ISBN
- 9780691156798
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Princeton University Press
ISBN-10
0691156794
ISBN-13
9780691156798
eBay Product ID (ePID)
175266988
Product Key Features
Book Title
Gdp : a Brief but Affectionate History
Number of Pages
168 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2014
Topic
Economic History, Economics / Macroeconomics, Economics / General, Econometrics, Statistics
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Business & Economics
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
0.7 in
Item Weight
11 Oz
Item Length
8.7 in
Item Width
5.7 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2013-022478
Reviews
Diane Coyle's new book, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History , is a timely contribution to discussions of modern economic performance. ---Arnold Kling, American, "As a potted history of approaches to quantifying national output from the 18th century onward, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History deserves high marks. It is particularly edifying to learn about the military motivation behind the initial attempts." ---Martin S. Fridson, Financial Analysts Journal, " GDP is a thought-provoking account of how the gross domestic product statistic came to be so important. . . . The book is a useful and timely contribution." ---Louise Rawlings, Economic Record, "[T]his is as engaging a book about GDP as you could ever hope to read. It falls into that genre of books that are 'biographies of things'--be they histories of longitude, the number zero or the potato--and is both enlightening and entertaining."-- Andrew Sawers, FS Focus, One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Books of 2014 One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 One of FA-mag.com 's Books of the Year 2014 One of "The Books Quartz Read" in 2014 One of Minnpost.com 's 'Three (plus) books for the econ buff on your list' 2014, "In a charming and accessible new book, Diane Coyle untangles the history, assumptions, challenges and shortcomings of this popular rhetorical device, which has become so central to policy debates around the world. . . . Coyle's book is a good primer for the average citizen as well as the seasoned economist." --Adam Gurri, Ümlaut, "Diane Coyle renders GDP accessible and introduces a much-needed historical perspective to the discourse of what we measure and why. A must-read for those interested in the far-reaching impact of GDP on the global economy, just as we seek ways to go beyond it." --Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, "Coyle's account of the emergence and hegemony of GDP is a timely one, capturing in lucid historical detail the major conceptual weaknesses in the construction and use of GDP and the menu of alternative measures one might turn to." ---Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, Coyle's account of the emergence and hegemony of GDP is a timely one, capturing in lucid historical detail the major conceptual weaknesses in the construction and use of GDP and the menu of alternative measures one might turn to. ---Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, [T]his is as engaging a book about GDP as you could ever hope to read. It falls into that genre of books that are 'biographies of things'--be they histories of longitude, the number zero or the potato--and is both enlightening and entertaining. ---Andrew Sawers, FS Focus, Winner of the 2015 Bronze Medal in Economics, Axiom Business Book Awards One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Books of 2014 One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 One of FA-mag.com 's Books of the Year 2014 One of "The Books Quartz Read" in 2014 One of Minnpost.com 's 'Three (plus) books for the econ buff on your list' 2014 Longlisted for the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2014, "Coyle is surely right when she says that GDP is not outmoded, despite all the problems. The people who use GDP need to understand what it is and what it isn't, and to know what are its strengths and weaknesses. They should read this invaluable and accessible guide." ---Bill Allen, Business Economists, "Diane Coyle's new book, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History , is a timely contribution to discussions of modern economic performance."-- Arnold Kling, American, Anyone who wants to know how GDP and the SNA have come to play such important roles in economic policy-making will gain from reading Coyle's book. As will anyone who wants to gain more understanding of the concept's strengths and weaknesses. ---Nicholas Oulton, Science, "Coyle's book GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History . . . provide[s] comprehensive and readable accounts of the history of national income and of the role of GDP in contemporary political and economic life." ---David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement, " GDP is a thought-provoking account of how the gross domestic product statistic came to be so important. . . . The book is a useful and timely contribution." --Louise Rawlings, Economic Record, "Coyle's book GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History . . . provide[s] comprehensive and readable accounts of the history of national income and of the role of GDP in contemporary political and economic life." --David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement, GDP is, as Diane Coyle points out in her entertaining and informative GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History , a bodge, an ongoing argument. ---John Lanchester, London Review of Books, "Anyone who wants to know how GDP and the SNA have come to play such important roles in economic policy-making will gain from reading Coyle's book. As will anyone who wants to gain more understanding of the concept's strengths and weaknesses." ---Nicholas Oulton, Science, The strongest part of the book charts the development of national accounting from the 17th century through to the creation of GDP itself and its literal and metaphorical rises and falls in the 20th and 21st centuries. . . . This is lively and surprisingly readable stuff. ---Eilís Lawlor, LSE Review of Books, " GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History is a fascinating 140-page book that I cannot recommend highly enough. This is simply the best book on GDP that I've ever seen." --John Mauldin, Diane Coyle's book is as good a simple guide as we are likely to see. ---Samuel Brittan, Financial Times, "Diane Coyle has bravely attempted in a recent book to make the subject once more accessible, and even interesting."-- John Kay, Financial Times, "[I]t is interesting and important, particularly when it comes to the emphasis now given to GDP, and the inadequacies of this now time-honoured measurement of how our economies are doing. . . . With clarity and precision, she explains its strengths and weaknesses." ---Peter Day, BBC News Business, Coyle is surely right when she says that GDP is not outmoded, despite all the problems. The people who use GDP need to understand what it is and what it isn't, and to know what are its strengths and weaknesses. They should read this invaluable and accessible guide. ---Bill Allen, Business Economists, Coyle has written an engaging, introductory to mid-level book on the GDP that makes sense of a statistic that hardly anyone actually understands. . . . It does not require any training in economics, but it covers many topics that even professional economists would find beneficial, including an argument that GDP is an increasingly inappropriate measure for the 21st century., Winner of the 2015 Bronze Medal in Economics, Axiom Business Book Awards One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Books of 2014 One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 One of FA-mag.com 's Books of the Year 2014 One of "The Books Quartz Read" in 2014 One of Minnpost.com 's 'Three (plus) books for the econ buff on your list' 2014 Longlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2014, "GDP is, as Diane Coyle points out in her entertaining and informative GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History , a bodge, an ongoing argument." ---John Lanchester, London Review of Books, "Coyle takes the reader on a whistle-stop tour of the development workhorse of economic modeling and analysis. . . . The book developed out of a talk by the author in 2011 and it retains the liveliness of a performance." -- Central Banking Journal, "The strongest part of the book charts the development of national accounting from the 17th century through to the creation of GDP itself and its literal and metaphorical rises and falls in the 20th and 21st centuries. . . . This is lively and surprisingly readable stuff." --Eilís Lawlor, LSE Review of Books, GDP is a thought-provoking account of how the gross domestic product statistic came to be so important. . . . The book is a useful and timely contribution. ---Louise Rawlings, Economic Record, "Coyle's greatest achievement is to succinctly describe the history of the concept as it emerged in the 1940s as a result of wartime politics obsessed with measuring productive capacity in an economy." ---Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, "[A] little charmer of a book . . . GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History is just what the title promises. . . . Cowperthwaite himself would nod in agreement over Ms. Coyle's informed discussion of what the GDP misses and how it misfires. . . . Ms. Coyle--a graceful and witty writer, by the way--recounts familiar problems and adds some new ones. . . . [E]xcellent." --James Grant, Wall Street Journal, [I]t is interesting and important, particularly when it comes to the emphasis now given to GDP, and the inadequacies of this now time-honoured measurement of how our economies are doing. . . . With clarity and precision, she explains its strengths and weaknesses. ---Peter Day, BBC News Business, As a potted history of approaches to quantifying national output from the 18th century onward, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History deserves high marks. It is particularly edifying to learn about the military motivation behind the initial attempts. ---Martin S. Fridson, Financial Analysts Journal, Diane Coyle has bravely attempted in a recent book to make the subject once more accessible, and even interesting. ---John Kay, Financial Times, Diane Coyle's eloquently written and accessible book provides a rich account of the history of GDP. ---Johannes Hirata, International Review of Economics, "Diane Coyle's new book, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History , is a timely contribution to discussions of modern economic performance." --Arnold Kling, American, "[A] little charmer of a book . . . GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History is just what the title promises. . . . Cowperthwaite himself would nod in agreement over Ms. Coyle's informed discussion of what the GDP misses and how it misfires. . . . Ms. Coyle--a graceful and witty writer, by the way--recounts familiar problems and adds some new ones. . . . [E]xcellent." ---James Grant, Wall Street Journal, "Diane Coyle's book is as good a simple guide as we are likely to see." ---Samuel Brittan, Financial Times, "[T]his is as engaging a book about GDP as you could ever hope to read. It falls into that genre of books that are 'biographies of things'--be they histories of longitude, the number zero or the potato--and is both enlightening and entertaining." --Andrew Sawers, FS Focus, "Diane Coyle has bravely attempted in a recent book to make the subject once more accessible, and even interesting." --John Kay, Financial Times, "Diane Coyle's new book, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History , is a timely contribution to discussions of modern economic performance." ---Arnold Kling, American, "[I]t is interesting and important, particularly when it comes to the emphasis now given to GDP, and the inadequacies of this now time-honoured measurement of how our economies are doing. . . . With clarity and precision, she explains its strengths and weaknesses." --Peter Day, BBC News Business, "In a charming and accessible new book, Diane Coyle untangles the history, assumptions, challenges and shortcomings of this popular rhetorical device, which has become so central to policy debates around the world. . . . Coyle's book is a good primer for the average citizen as well as the seasoned economist." --Adam Gurri, mlaut, "Diane Coyle's eloquently written and accessible book provides a rich account of the history of GDP." --Johannes Hirata, International Review of Economics, "Coyle has written an engaging, introductory to mid-level book on the GDP that makes sense of a statistic that hardly anyone actually understands. . . . It does not require any training in economics, but it covers many topics that even professional economists would find beneficial, including an argument that GDP is an increasingly inappropriate measure for the 21st century." -- Choice, "The strongest part of the book charts the development of national accounting from the 17th century through to the creation of GDP itself and its literal and metaphorical rises and falls in the 20th and 21st centuries. . . . This is lively and surprisingly readable stuff."-- Eilís Lawlor, LSE Review of Books, "In a charming and accessible new book, Diane Coyle untangles the history, assumptions, challenges and shortcomings of this popular rhetorical device, which has become so central to policy debates around the world. . . . Coyle's book is a good primer for the average citizen as well as the seasoned economist." ---Adam Gurri, Ümlaut, "Coyle does good work explicating a topic that few understand, even if it affects each of us daily. A pleasure for facts-and-numbers geeks, though accessibly written and full of meaningful real-world examples." -- Kirkus Reviews, "[I]t is interesting and important, particularly when it comes to the emphasis now given to GDP, and the inadequacies of this now time-honoured measurement of how our economies are doing. . . . With clarity and precision, she explains its strengths and weaknesses."-- Peter Day, BBC News Business, "Diane Coyle's book is as good a simple guide as we are likely to see." --Samuel Brittan, Financial Times, "Coyle is surely right when she says that GDP is not outmoded, despite all the problems. The people who use GDP need to understand what it is and what it isn't, and to know what are its strengths and weaknesses. They should read this invaluable and accessible guide." --Bill Allen, Business Economists, "Coyle's greatest achievement is to succinctly describe the history of the concept as it emerged in the 1940s as a result of wartime politics obsessed with measuring productive capacity in an economy." --Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, "Anyone who wants to know how GDP and the SNA have come to play such important roles in economic policy-making will gain from reading Coyle's book. As will anyone who wants to gain more understanding of the concept's strengths and weaknesses." --Nicholas Oulton, Science, Coyle does good work explicating a topic that few understand, even if it affects each of us daily. A pleasure for facts-and-numbers geeks, though accessibly written and full of meaningful real-world examples., In a charming and accessible new book, Diane Coyle untangles the history, assumptions, challenges and shortcomings of this popular rhetorical device, which has become so central to policy debates around the world. . . . Coyle's book is a good primer for the average citizen as well as the seasoned economist. ---Adam Gurri, Ümlaut, "Coyle's account of the emergence and hegemony of GDP is a timely one, capturing in lucid historical detail the major conceptual weaknesses in the construction and use of GDP and the menu of alternative measures one might turn to." --Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, "Diane Coyle has bravely attempted in a recent book to make the subject once more accessible, and even interesting." ---John Kay, Financial Times, "Well written, interesting, and useful, this book will appeal to many readers. I learned a lot from it." --Robert Hahn, University of Oxford, One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Books of 2014 One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 One of FA-mag.com 's Books of the Year 2014 One of "The Books Quartz Read" in 2014 One of Minnpost.com 's 'Three (plus) books for the econ buff on your list' 2014 Longlisted for the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2014, "This is an engaging and witty but also profoundly important book. Diane Coyle clearly and elegantly explains the fundamental difficulties of GDP--and how this headline figure is liable to radical change by apparently simple changes in method. She also provides a nice treatment of alternative proposals such as happiness surveys." --Harold James, author of Making the European Monetary Union, "Coyle has written an engaging, introductory to mid-level book on the GDP that makes sense of a statistic that hardly anyone actually understands. . . . It does not require any training in economics, but it covers many topics that even professional economists would find beneficial, including an argument that GDP is an increasingly inappropriate measure for the 21st century."-- Choice, [A] little charmer of a book . . . GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History is just what the title promises. . . . Cowperthwaite himself would nod in agreement over Ms. Coyle's informed discussion of what the GDP misses and how it misfires. . . . Ms. Coyle--a graceful and witty writer, by the way--recounts familiar problems and adds some new ones. . . . [E]xcellent. ---James Grant, Wall Street Journal, "In a charming and accessible new book, Diane Coyle untangles the history, assumptions, challenges and shortcomings of this popular rhetorical device, which has become so central to policy debates around the world. . . . Coyle's book is a good primer for the average citizen as well as the seasoned economist."-- Adam Gurri, Ümlaut, "[T]his is as engaging a book about GDP as you could ever hope to read. It falls into that genre of books that are 'biographies of things'--be they histories of longitude, the number zero or the potato--and is both enlightening and entertaining." ---Andrew Sawers, FS Focus, Coyle takes the reader on a whistle-stop tour of the development workhorse of economic modeling and analysis. . . . The book developed out of a talk by the author in 2011 and it retains the liveliness of a performance., Coyle's book GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History . . . provide[s] comprehensive and readable accounts of the history of national income and of the role of GDP in contemporary political and economic life. ---David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement, Winner of the 2015 Bronze Medal in Economics, Axiom Business Book Awards One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Books of 2014 One of Choice 's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 One of FA-mag.com 's Books of the Year 2014 One of "The Books Quartz Read" in 2014 One of Minnpost.com 's 'Three (plus) books for the econ buff on your list' 2014 Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2014, "Diane Coyle's eloquently written and accessible book provides a rich account of the history of GDP." ---Johannes Hirata, International Review of Economics, "As a potted history of approaches to quantifying national output from the 18th century onward, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History deserves high marks. It is particularly edifying to learn about the military motivation behind the initial attempts." --Martin S. Fridson, Financial Analysts Journal, "Countries are judged by their success in producing GDP. But what is it and where do those numbers reported on television come from? Diane Coyle makes GDP come to life--we see its strengths and its fallibilities, and we learn to understand and respect both." --Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, 2003-2013, Coyle's greatest achievement is to succinctly describe the history of the concept as it emerged in the 1940s as a result of wartime politics obsessed with measuring productive capacity in an economy. ---Atiyab Sultan, Cambridge Humanities Review, "Anyone who wants to know how GDP and the SNA have come to play such important roles in economic policy-making will gain from reading Coyle's book. As will anyone who wants to gain more understanding of the concept's strengths and weaknesses."-- Nicholas Oulton, Science, "Coyle does good work explicating a topic that few understand, even if it affects each of us daily. A pleasure for facts-and-numbers geeks, though accessibly written and full of meaningful real-world examples."-- Kirkus Reviews, " GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History is a fascinating 140-page book that I cannot recommend highly enough. This is simply the best book on GDP that I've ever seen."-- John Mauldin, "The strongest part of the book charts the development of national accounting from the 17th century through to the creation of GDP itself and its literal and metaphorical rises and falls in the 20th and 21st centuries. . . . This is lively and surprisingly readable stuff." --Eils Lawlor, LSE Review of Books, "As a potted history of approaches to quantifying national output from the 18th century onward, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History deserves high marks. It is particularly edifying to learn about the military motivation behind the initial attempts."-- Martin S. Fridson, Financial Analysts Journal, "The strongest part of the book charts the development of national accounting from the 17th century through to the creation of GDP itself and its literal and metaphorical rises and falls in the 20th and 21st centuries. . . . This is lively and surprisingly readable stuff." ---Eilís Lawlor, LSE Review of Books, "GDP is, as Diane Coyle points out in her entertaining and informative GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History , a bodge, an ongoing argument." --John Lanchester, London Review of Books
Dewey Edition
23
Dewey Decimal
339.3/109
Synopsis
Why did the size of the U.S. economy increase by 3 percent on one day in mid-2013--or Ghana's balloon by 60 percent overnight in 2010? Why did the U.K. financial industry show its fastest expansion ever at the end of 2008--just as the world's financial system went into meltdown? And why was Greece's chief statistician charged with treason in 2013 for apparently doing nothing more than trying to accurately report the size of his country's economy? The answers to all these questions lie in the way we define and measure national economies around the world: Gross Domestic Product. This entertaining and informative book tells the story of GDP, making sense of a statistic that appears constantly in the news, business, and politics, and that seems to rule our lives--but that hardly anyone actually understands. Diane Coyle traces the history of this artificial, abstract, complex, but exceedingly important statistic from its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century precursors through its invention in the 1940s and its postwar golden age, and then through the Great Crash up to today. The reader learns why this standard measure of the size of a country's economy was invented, how it has changed over the decades, and what its strengths and weaknesses are. The book explains why even small changes in GDP can decide elections, influence major political decisions, and determine whether countries can keep borrowing or be thrown into recession. The book ends by making the case that GDP was a good measure for the twentieth century but is increasingly inappropriate for a twenty-first-century economy driven by innovation, services, and intangible goods., How GDP came to rule our lives--and why it needs to change Why did the size of the U.S. economy increase by 3 percent on one day in mid-2013--or Ghana's balloon by 60 percent overnight in 2010? Why did the U.K. financial industry show its fastest expansion ever at the end of 2008--just as the world's financial system went into meltdown? And why was Greece's chief statistician charged with treason in 2013 for apparently doing nothing more than trying to accurately report the size of his country's economy? The answers to all these questions lie in the way we define and measure national economies around the world: Gross Domestic Product. This entertaining and informative book tells the story of GDP, making sense of a statistic that appears constantly in the news, business, and politics, and that seems to rule our lives--but that hardly anyone actually understands. Diane Coyle traces the history of this artificial, abstract, complex, but exceedingly important statistic from its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century precursors through its invention in the 1940s and its postwar golden age, and then through the Great Crash up to today. The reader learns why this standard measure of the size of a country's economy was invented, how it has changed over the decades, and what its strengths and weaknesses are. The book explains why even small changes in GDP can decide elections, influence major political decisions, and determine whether countries can keep borrowing or be thrown into recession. The book ends by making the case that GDP was a good measure for the twentieth century but is increasingly inappropriate for a twenty-first-century economy driven by innovation, services, and intangible goods.
LC Classification Number
HC79.I5C725 2014
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- a***a (346)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseThis hardback book is of the highest quality, has a fine appearance , arrived in perfect condition, and is an excellent value. On what I was not asked about this time, communicating with the seller would have required using email outside of the eBay system, because they do not accept eBay messages, the book was well packed in a purpose-designed cardboard box, the shipping was faster than I expected for the bound media rate, and the book was exactly as described and pictured.Tameshigiri - The History and Development of Japanese Sword Testing by Sesko (#282906424466)
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- a***e- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseProfessional Seller; Wide Inventory Selection; Competitive Prices; Great Communication; FAST Ship; Item Safely & Well-Packaged; Item Accurately Described in Listing; Item of High Quality and in Mint Condition; Appearance of Item is Great! Highly Recommended; Hope to Do Business with Again! Thank You Very Much!
- m***u (849)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseAbsolutely delightful seller! As pictured and described, fast shipping, and great communication! Excellent packaging and a phenomenal value! This seller is an extremely valuable asset to the eBay community! A++++! ✨🥇✨
- a***a (346)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseThis hardback book is of the highest quality, has a fine appearance , arrived in perfect condition, and is an excellent value. On what I was not asked about this time, communicating with the seller would have required using email outside of the eBay system, because they do not accept eBay messages, the book was well packed in a purpose-designed cardboard box, the shipping was faster than I expected for the bound media rate, and the book was exactly as described and pictured.Tameshigiri - The History and Development of Japanese Sword Testing by Sesko (#282906424466)