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Branko Milanovic's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Branko Milanovic recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Branko Milanovic's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
This book consists of two parts: "The Law of Peoples," a major reworking of a much shorter article by the same name published in 1993, and the essay "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited," first published in 1997. Taken together, they are the culmination of more than fifty years of reflection on liberalism and on some of the most pressing problems of our times by John Rawls.

"The Law of Peoples" extends the idea of a social contract to the Society of Peoples and lays out the general principles that can and should be accepted by both liberal and non-liberal societies as the standard...
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Recommended by John Tasioulas, Branko Milanovic, and 2 others.

John TasioulasRawls’s influence is so widespread and profound that as soon as he embarked upon this topic it suddenly legitimised humans rights as a subject of philosophical concern. (Source)

Branko MilanovicRawls is the first contemporary political philosopher (probably since Kant) that tried to answer the question of how just relations between nations and individuals should interact. (Source)

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2

Imperialism

A Study

In his Preface to the 1902 first edition of Imperialism: A Study, imperial critic J.A. Hobson demonstrates his prophetic talents by noting, just as the Victorian age was ending and World War I was brewing, that "Imperialism has been adopted as a more or less conscious policy by several European States and threatens to break down the political isolation of the United States." Though the book speaks mostly of British imperialism of the period, Hobson inevitably explores the general principals-and hidden motives-of imperialist policy. Hobson covers: . the commercial value of imperialism .... more
Recommended by Branko Milanovic, and 1 others.

Branko MilanovicA classic on imperialism, published a hundred years ago. It shows how unequal distribution of income in the metropole implied a high concentration of free (investable) financial capital in the hands of few people. (Source)

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3

The End of the Past

Ancient Rome and the Modern West

This searching interpretation of past and present addresses fundamental questions about the fall of the Roman Empire. Why did ancient culture, once so strong and rich, come to an end? Was it destroyed by weaknesses inherent in its nature? Or were mistakes made that could have been avoided--was there a point at which Greco-Roman society took a wrong turn? And in what ways is modern society different? Western history is split into two discontinuous eras, Aldo Schiavone tells us: the ancient world was fundamentally different from the modern one. He locates the essential difference in a... more
Recommended by Branko Milanovic, and 1 others.

Branko MilanovicSchiavone is intrigued by the question: why did Roman civilisation, which contained many elements of modern capitalist and market economy, not develop straight into commercial capitalism. (Source)

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4
This book seeks to identify the forces which explain how and why some parts of the world have grown rich and others have lagged behind. Encompassing 2000 years of history, Part 1 begins with the Roman Empire and explores the key factors that have influenced economic development in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Part 2 covers the development of macroeconomic tools of analysis from the 17th century to the present. Part 3 looks to the future and considers what the shape of the world economy might be in 2030. Combining both the close quantitative analysis with a more qualitative approach... more
Recommended by Branko Milanovic, and 1 others.

Branko MilanovicThis is the last work by perhaps the world’s foremost qualitative economic historian. (Source)

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5
Fruit de plus de vingt ans de recherche et d'enseignement à l'Université de Genève, cette histoire économique et sociale restitue, dans la diversité du temps et de l'espace, l'internationalisation du monde.
Le tome premier, après un prologue consacré à l'entre-deux Révolutions (de la révolution néolithique de l'agriculture et de la ville aux prémices de la révolution industrielle), traite des sociétés industrielles occidentales et de la révolution industrielle (1500-1850).
Le tome deuxième est consacré aux pays développés au XIXe siècle (1815-1914) et aux Tiers-Mondes face aux pays...
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Recommended by Branko Milanovic, and 1 others.

Branko MilanovicThis is a magisterial three-volume economic history of the world from Columbus to Gorbachev. (Source)

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