Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Classical Economics
3. Keynes and the World Economy
4. Where the Keynesians Lost Their Way
5. The Rational Expectations Revolution
6. How Central Banks Impact Your Life
7. Why Unemployment Persists
8. Why the Stock Market Matters to You
9. Will There be Another Great Depression?
10. Will Monetary and Fiscal Policy Work?
11. How to Solve a Financial Crisis
Glossary
Notes

About the Author

ROGER E. A. FARMER is a 2013 Senior Houblon Norman Fellow at the Bank of England. He is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at UCLA and served as Department Chair from July 2008 through December 2012. The author of six books and numerous academic journal articles, he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Professor
Farmer has served, and continues to serve, as a consultant to central banks around the world. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, Project Syndicate and VoxEU. He is a co-winner of the 2013 Maurice
Allais Prize in Economic Science for his work on the inefficiency of financial markets; and in 2000, he received the University of Helsinki medal in recognition of his work on self-fulfilling prophecies.

Reviews

"Roger Farmer offers a new diagnosis for what ails the economy. His clear and forceful writing encourages policymakers and the public to think out of the box and reach for new solutions."--Greg Mankiw, Professor and Chairman of the Economics Department at Harvard University
"In the morass of me-too books about the financial crisis, How the Economy Works stands out as a truly big idea." --BusinessWeek
"Bringing new research to life in guiding policy in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Roger Farmer takes the economic ball up the middle between Hayek and Keynes. With an emphasis on swings in confidence and wealth, Farmer's criticisms of fiscal stimulus and interesting prescriptions for monetary policy should be essential reading for anyone trying to understand what happened, especially for economists and policymakers focused on recovery. Nonspecialists
will find the book full of fascinating stories; economists will see some surprising new twists."--Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia Business School, Columbia University, former Chairman of the Council
of Economic Advisers
"This is an important policy proposal from a top thinker. Farmer balances the traditions of Hayek and Keynes to formulate a new way to stabilize the economy-and to solidify society's confidence about its future prospects. He returns us to first principles and builds a clear, succinct argument in language that is easy to follow. No policymakers are rushing to adopt Farmer's approach; but the same was true for Keynes in the 1930s. Let's hope we don't need to
experience another Great Depression before our economic leaders are seriously willing to rethink everything."--Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of
Management, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund
"Farmer provides an excellent discussion of what went wrong with modern economics in the run up to the recent crisis. And to deal with the effects of the financial crisis, boosting investment and employment in the short and the long run, he provides a policy plan to induce a rapid and sustainable recovery through direct intervention in the stock market. If he is right it would improve things quickly, and if he is wrong the tax payer ends up receiving dividends
through the Central Bank investment portfolio. It is worth a try."--Ray Barrell, Director of Macroeconomic Research and Forecasting, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, UK
"Readers with a serious interest in this subject will find this timely book informative..."--Publishers Weekly
"Readers who lack the time or interest to sift through in-depth explanations of economic theories will gain from Farmer's brief explanations of standard economic theories and biographical sketches of major thinkers."--Library Journal