Want to know what books Timothy Noah recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Timothy Noah's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz | 3.81
This book provides a careful historical analysis of the co-evolution of educational attainment and the wage structure in the United States through the twentieth century. The authors propose that the twentieth century was not only the American Century but also the Human Capital Century. That is, the American educational system is what made America the richest nation in the world. Its educational system had always been less elite than that of most European nations. By 1900 the U.S. had begun to educate its masses at the secondary level, not just in the primary schools that had remarkable... more This book provides a careful historical analysis of the co-evolution of educational attainment and the wage structure in the United States through the twentieth century. The authors propose that the twentieth century was not only the American Century but also the Human Capital Century. That is, the American educational system is what made America the richest nation in the world. Its educational system had always been less elite than that of most European nations. By 1900 the U.S. had begun to educate its masses at the secondary level, not just in the primary schools that had remarkable success in the nineteenth century.
The book argues that technological change, education, and inequality have been involved in a kind of race. During the first eight decades of the twentieth century, the increase of educated workers was higher than the demand for them. This had the effect of boosting income for most people and lowering inequality. However, the reverse has been true since about 1980. This educational slow-down was accompanied by rising inequality. The authors discuss the complex reasons for this, and what might be done to ameliorate it. less 
Timothy NoahWhat I think is really ingenious about this book is that it squares the circle. In the 1990s Bill Clinton told us that computers had revolutionised what was required from the workforce and that all of a sudden you needed to get a college education to perform in this knowledge-based economy. Goldin and Katz actually point out that the technological changes at the beginning of the 20th century were... (Source)
Daron AcemogluThis is a really wonderful book. It gives a masterful outline of the standard economic model, where earnings are proportional to contribution, or to productivity. It highlights in a very clear manner what determines the productivities of different individuals and different groups. It takes its cue from a phrase that the famous Dutch economist, Jan Tinbergen coined. The key idea is that... (Source)
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2
Timothy NoahToday, when we look at the landscape in Washington, we observe that much legislation and much regulation is captive to corporations – that was not always the case. Business influence in Washington in the 1950s and 1960s was at a low point and the 1970s saw the rise of the consumer movement. This movement had so much momentum that not even a Republican like Richard Nixon in the White House could... (Source)
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3
Many Americans are enjoying the fruits of prosperity. Unemployment and inflation are low and it seems that everyone is driving a sport utility vehicle.
But is this a prosperity that's reserved for the upper middle class, the folks driving the Jeep Cherokees? Or is something more fundamental happening? The answers are crucial for anyone interested in how America is changing--from corporate executives to policy makers to the average person keeping up with current issues.
Bob Davis and David Wessel have spent thousands of hours in living rooms and workplaces around the... more Many Americans are enjoying the fruits of prosperity. Unemployment and inflation are low and it seems that everyone is driving a sport utility vehicle.
But is this a prosperity that's reserved for the upper middle class, the folks driving the Jeep Cherokees? Or is something more fundamental happening? The answers are crucial for anyone interested in how America is changing--from corporate executives to policy makers to the average person keeping up with current issues.
Bob Davis and David Wessel have spent thousands of hours in living rooms and workplaces around the country, and they show conclusively that the recent good economic news not only is here to stay but is the start of twenty years of broad-based prosperity.
Prosperity tells stories about how the lives of the middle class are changing for the better. These are the people who are still being wrongly consigned b y prophets of doom and gloom to the sidelines of the new high-tech economy. People like:
Randy Kohrs, whose training in respiratory therapy at a local community college has lifted him from dead-end, minimum-wage jobs into the ranks of the middle class
Teresa Wooten, a former worker in a low-wage South Carolina clothing factory, who is now a supervisor in a German-owned factory
The workers at the Allen-Bradley plant in Milwaukee, who are benefiting in wages and transferable job skills form the company's recent computer automation
These and many other remarkable stories bring together the three trends that will be the basis for a new, middle-class prosperity:
Our $2 trillion investment in computer and communications technology will finally pay off in faster productivity growth, a more rapidly growing economy, and rising living standards.
Community colleges are helping millions of Americans move from $7-an-hour jobs. This unheralded change in U.S. education will help reverse the forces that have widened the chasm between more-educated and less-educated workers.
Globalization--much maligned by pundits on the left and the right--will create new and better jobs by U.S. companies that export to developing countries and by foreign companies that build plants and offices in the United States.
Davis and Wessel's front-line account, combined with persuasive evidence of the tangible benefits reaching the middle class, proves that the American dream is not only alive and well, but will reach more people than ever before. less Timothy NoahThis book does have the disgrace of being called Prosperity on the eve of the bursting of the tech bubble. That’s the aspect of the book that isn’t so great. The aspect of the book that is great is the really detailed fine-grained reporting that Bob Davis and David Wessel do into the question of how living standards in the late 1990s compare to living standards a generation earlier. They compare... (Source)
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4
James Truslow Adams | 4.38
A beautifully written story of America's historical heritage, by one of the country's greatest historians. more A beautifully written story of America's historical heritage, by one of the country's greatest historians. less Timothy NoahThis book’s enduring contribution was the phrase “the American dream”. In fact, Adams wanted to call his book The American Dream but his publicist said no, the book will never sell if you call it that. Yet the only thing that anybody remembers of the book today is that phrase. The book is a history of the United States but what makes it worth reading today is finding out about the original... (Source)
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5
Willford Isbell King | 4.50
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has... more This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. less Timothy NoahThis book is actually not very well known, even by economic historians. Willford King was a very influential economist in his time but he is largely forgotten. Part of why he is forgotten is because he was eclipsed by his successor at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Simon Kuznets, a Nobel prize-winning economist, and another reason he’s forgotten is he ended his life as a bit of a... (Source)
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