In common with many other people, the GFC (great financial crisis) has increased my interest in economics so that when Paul McDonnold contacted me to ask me and asked me to consider reviewing The Economics of Ego Surplus, pitching it as a novel that ”help readers understand how the global economy works while being entertained”, I was sufficiently intrigued by the title to agree to take a look.
Published by Starving Analyst Press and available from Amazon, ‘The Economics of Ego Surplus’ is not a typical title for a work of fiction and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect other than, hopefully, to learn something about economics so it came as a pleasant surprise to find myself engrossed from page 1. This is an enjoyable, well-written and often exciting read. The story is centred on a young economics lecturer, Kyle Linwood who joins forces with the FBI to foil an economic terrorism plot. Along the way there are plenty of easy to understand explanations that help provide background for the readers. For example: “Keeping the economy healthy requires keeping the financial faucet adjusted so that the flows balance out. If money and credit is flowing too slowly, there will not be enough to pay for the flow of goods and services. That means unsold inventories will accumulate on store shelves and car lots. Eventually worried business owners will cut back production and lay workers off and a recession will begin. If the financial faucet flows too fast, you get too much money chasing too few goods, which causes inflation.”
In a relatively short novel we learn a little about the thinking of Adam Smith, Keynes and Marx and are introduced to concepts like behaviour economics. I found The Economics of Ego Surplus to be an interesting and enjoyable read that left me keen to learn more about the concepts it discusses.
A free review copy was provided by the author. I have not received any other remuneration for this review.
