New Books at PEOSTA

Reviewed: CHE 16 June 2017 (new books)
Description: Against labor highlights the amazingly successful efforts by employers to control workers while simultaneously shaping themselves into a new class. Ranging across a spectrum of understudied issues, essayists explore employer anti-labor strategies and offer incisive portraits of companies that aggressively opposed unionization. Other contributors examine the anti-labor movement against a backdrop of larger forces, such as the intersection of race and ethnicity with anti-labor activity, and anti-unionism in the context of neoliberalism. (publ.)

Reviewed: The Economist 2 Dec. 2017 p. 75
Description: For years, America has been plagued by slow economic growth and increasing inequality. Yet economists have long taught that there is a trade off between equity and efficiency–that is, between making a bigger pie and dividing it more fairly. That is why our current predicament is so puzzling: today, we are faced with both a stagnating economy and sky-high inequality. In The Captured Economy, Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles identify a common factor behind these twin ills: break-downs in democratic governance that allow wealthy special interests to capture the policy making process for their own benefit. (publ.)

Reviewed: WSJ 1 Aug 2017 p. A13
Description: Former top CEO Steve Clifford examines the reasons behind pay packages for corporate executives–and explains how this hurts all of us–and how we can stop it. Today, the pay gap between chief executive officers of major U.S. firms and their workers is higher than ever before–depending on the method of calculation, CEOs get paid between 300 and 700 times more than the average worker. Such outsized pay is a relatively recent phenomenon, but despite all the outrage, few detractors truly understand the numerous factors that have contributed to the dizzying up-ward spiral in CEO compensation. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR 11 July 2017 (Fresh Air) “Is The Justice Department Shying Away From Prosecuting Corporations?”; 30 July 2017 (Book Review) “Corporate Bungling And Political Scandal Abound In Jesse Eisinger's New Book.”
Description: Why were no bankers put in prison after the financial crisis of 2008? Why do CEOs seem to commit wrongdoing with impunity? The problem goes beyond banks deemed “Too Big to Fail” to almost every large corporation in America–to pharmaceutical companies and auto manufacturers and beyond. The Chickenshit Club–an inside reference to prosecutors too scared of failure and too daunted by legal impediments to do their jobs–explains why. (publ.)

Holdings: Copy held by Calmar; call no. 338.52 Bau

Description: The first consumer credit bureaus appeared in the 1870s and quickly amassed huge archives of deeply personal information. Today, the three leading credit bureaus are among the most powerful institutions in modern life—yet we know almost nothing about them. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are multi-billion-dollar corporations that track our movements, spending behavior, and financial status. This data is used to predict our riskiness as borrowers and to judge our trustworthiness and value in a broad array of contexts, from insurance and marketing to employment and housing. (publ.)

Reviewed: LJ 1 Feb. 2018 p. 108
Description: Offers lessons and inspiration drawn from the experiences of dozens of influencers and entrepreneurs who rejected the predictable corporate path in favor of pursuing their dreams by building thriving businesses and extraordinary personal brands. (publ.)

Reviewed: NPR 5 July 2017 (“Fresh Air”) “The End Of Loyalty And The Decline Of Good Jobs In America.”
Description: In this book, Rick Wartzman chronicles the erosion of the relationship between American companies and their workers. Through the stories of four major employers–General Motors, General Electric, Kodak, and Coca-Cola–he shows how big businesses once took responsibility for providing their workers and retirees with an array of social benefits. At the height of the post-World War II economy, these companies also believed that worker pay needed to be kept high in order to preserve morale and keep the economy humming. Productivity boomed. But the corporate social contract didn’t last. By tracing the ups and downs of these four corporate icons over seventy years, Wartzman illustrates just how much has been lost: job security and steadily rising pay, guaranteed pensions, robust health benefits, and much more. (publ.)

Reviewed: FA 96(5) Sept./Oct. 2017 p. 183; Economist 3 June 2017 p. 76
Description: In mid-2015, Volkswagen proudly reached its goal of surpassing Toyota as the world's largest automaker. A few months later, the EPA disclosed that Volkswagen had installed software in 11 million cars that deceived emissions-testing mechanisms. By early 2017, VW had settled with American regulators and car owners for $20 billion, with additional lawsuits still looming. …Faster, Higher, Farther reveals how the succeed-at-all-costs mentality prevalent in modern boardrooms led to one of corporate history's farthest-reaching cases of fraud. (publ.)

Reviewed: TLS 14 July 2017 p. 9
Description: Vaughan and Fitch make it clear that the Libor affair was not just the result of the activities of a single individual who was intelligent enough to subvert the entire financial system. Rather, the banks themselves were complicit in providing the environment in which such activities could take place. (TLS)

Reviewed: FA 97(3) May/June 2018 p. 194; TLS 11 May 2018 p. 33.
Description: A provocative critique of the pieties and fallacies of our obsession with economic growth. We live in a society in which a priesthood of economists, wielding impenetrable mathematical formulas, set the frame-work for public debate. Ultimately, it is the perceived health of the economy which determines how much we can spend on our schools, highways, and defense; economists decide how much unemployment is acceptable and whether it is right to print money or bail out profligate banks. The backlash we are currently witnessing suggests that people are turning against the experts and their faulty understanding of our lives. Despite decades of steady economic growth, many citizens feel more pessimistic than ever, and are voting for candidates who voice undisguised contempt for the technocratic elite. (publ.)

Reviewed: LJ Dec. 2017 p. 29 (Best Books 2017)
Description: Nothing “goes viral.” Each blockbuster has a secret history of power, influence, dark broadcasters, and passionate cults that turn some new products into cultural phenomena. Atlantic Senior Editor Derek Thompson uses the tools of economics and psychology to reveal the secrets of what makes a hit a hit. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 2 Oct. 2017 p. 30
Description: In the 1950s, manufacturing generated nearly 30 percent of U.S. income. Over the past fifty-five years, that share has gradually declined to less than 12 percent. At the same time, real estate, finance, and Wall Street trading have grown. While manufacturing's share of the U.S. economy shrinks, it expands in countries such as China and Germany that have a strong industrial policy. Meanwhile Americans are only vaguely aware of the many consequences of the loss of that industrial base, including a decline in their self-image as inventive, practical, and effective people. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 26 June 2017 p. 33
Description: Compared to 25 years ago, today’s retail experience is a world apart. Almost anything can be ordered, delivered and picked up rapidly, often customized to personal preferences at no extra cost. The smartphone has created a world of limitless consumer expectation and logistical possibility. So how much further can it go? What will the retail experience look like in ten, twenty, or even fifty years–and how should companies, big and small, be preparing? Dart & Lewis address these and other questions in their new book. (publ.)

Note: Library standing order.

Description: Helps readers understand the foundations of and principles behind social media; manage and participate within online communities; and succeed in the changing field of modern public relations. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 26 Mar. 2018 p. 109.
Description: From the award-winning journalist and author comes this examination of 1) how and why major American institutions no longer serve us as they should, causing a deep rift between the vulnerable majority and the protected few, and 2) how some individuals and organizations are laying the foundation for real, lasting change. … By examining the people and forces behind the rise of big-money lobbying, legal and financial engineering, the demise of private-sector unions, and a hamstrung bureaucracy, Brill answers the question on everyone’s mind: How did we end up this way? Finally, he introduces us to those working quietly and effectively to repair the damages. (publ.)

Note: Library standing order.

Reviewed: FA 97(1) Jan./Feb. 2018 p. 153.
Description: There have been numerous books examining the 2008 financial crisis from either a U.S. or European perspective. Tamim Bayoumi is the first to explain how the Euro crisis and U.S. housing crash were, in fact, parasitically intertwined. Starting in the 1980s, Bayoumi outlines the cumulative policy errors that undermined the stability of both the European and U.S. financial sectors, highlighting the catalytic role played by European mega banks that exploited lax regulation to expand into the U.S. market and financed unsustainable bubbles on both continents. U.S. banks increasingly sold sub-par loans to under-regulated European and U.S. shadow banks and, when the bubbles burst, the losses whipsawed back to the core of the European banking system. “[Bayoumi] reminds readers that active participants in the financial system are typically playing with other people’s money. … he ends his book with an epigram: ‘Beware of bankers proffering improvements’.” (publ.)

Reviewed: FA 96(5) Sept./Oct. 2017 p. 175
Description: Nearly everyone agrees that public debt in many advanced economies is too high to be sustainable and must be addressed. There is little agreement, however, about when and how that addressing should be done—or even, in many cases, just how serious the debt problem is. … Too often, public debate about public debt is burdened by lies and myths. This book not only explains the basic facts about public debt but also aims to bring truth and reasoned nonpartisan analysis to the debate. (publ.) The author is the former director of the International Monetary Fund’s Fiscal Affairs Department.

Reviewed: TLS 23 Feb. 2018 p. 32.
Description: The battle between Mattel, the makers of the iconic Barbie doll, and MGA, the company that created the Bratz dolls, was not just a war over best-selling toys, but a war over who owns ideas. When Carter Bryant began designing what would become the billion-dollar line of Bratz dolls, he was taking time off from his job at Mattel, where he designed outfits for Barbie. Later, back at Mattel, he sold his concept for Bratz to rival company MGA. Law professor Orly Lobel reveals the colorful story behind the ensuing decade-long court battle. This entertaining and provocative work pits audacious MGA against behemoth Mattel, shows how an idea turns into a product, and explores the two different versions of womanhood, represented by traditional all-American Barbie and her defiant, anti-establishment rival–the only doll to come close to outselling her. (publ.)

Reviewed: LJ 15 Nov. 2017 p. 88
Description: CPA and financial advisor offers recommendations for personal finance planning. The author of a popular online planning site and app (“YNAB-bers”) offers rules and an expansion of the existing guide.

Reviewed: PW 28 Aug. 2017 p. 114
Description: Very few people actually understand how their credit score is determined. Worse yet, most don’t know how their score is used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. When consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. Founder and CEO of Regal Financial, a credit management firm, Anthony Davenport provides an accessible but detailed manual that lets readers take control of their credit score, and gain an insider’s knowledge of how to better navigate the most important financial decisions of their lives. (publ.)