The World's Best Book Summaries
Do poor countries have access to healthcare? What obstacles do the poor face in accessing healthcare? Many affordable and effective healthcare resources are available to the poor, yet they don’t use them as much as they should. According to Duflo and Banerjee, the authors of Poor Economics, there are four factors affecting the poor’s approach to their healthcare. Here’s a look at poverty and healthcare access.
Is economic growth destroying the planet? Can long-term economic growth be sustainable? According to Kate Raworth, we have pushed economic growth so far that some bad environmental outcomes may now be unavoidable. If we don’t act now, grave consequences are in order. Here’s how the overwhelming focus on growth endangers the health of our economy and the planet.
What are loonshots? How can organizations cultivate a culture where innovative ideas thrive? Loonshots are innovative ideas that change the world (e.g., insulin, radar, computer animation). Initially, loonshots are dismissed as crazy and overly ambitious. For this reason, loonshots almost don’t make it. In his book Loonshots, Safi Bahcall argues that organizations can deliberately cultivate these kinds of ideas. He presents four rules for nurturing loonshots and explains how organizations can keep innovating no matter how big they grow. Let’s explore Bahcall’s four rules for generating loonshots.
Why do poor people stay poor? How does the financial industry trap people in poverty? There are several factors that keep people in the poverty trap. One of them is the poor’s inability to access financial services. Wealthy people benefit from financial services, such as comprehensive insurance and easy-to-access credit. Despite the fact that the poor also need these services, businesses rarely provide them. Here’s why the poor have difficulty making use of financial services and how it perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Why do large organizations struggle to innovate? How can you sustain innovation in your organization as it grows? Maintaining innovation is a major concern for organizations as they grow. According to Safi Bahcall, the author of Loonshots, it’s possible to balance growth with continued innovation. The key, he says, is to balance stake with rank. Here’s how organizations can keep innovating no matter how big they grow, according to Safi Bahcall.
What is Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s Poor Economics about? What are the key takeaways to draw from the book? Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo sets out to examine the lives of the poor as they actually are. The authors see several key lessons emerging from their analysis of poverty. Here are four lessons Banerjee and Duflo draw from their analysis.
Does automation contribute to unemployment? How can we adapt to the world where most jobs are performed by technology? The age of automation is upon us. Already, many jobs that used to be performed by humans can be completed by robots, and this is only the beginning. To address the looming challenges of automation, we must build a people-centered economy. Keep reading to learn about the looming challenges increasing automation brings.
What is “homo economicus”? Does the assumption of homo economicus reflect an average economic agent? Economics, once focused on the study of the production of goods and services, has branched into psychology and now purports to explain the motivations and beliefs of the human beings who produce those goods and services. At the heart of the current economic theory is “homo economicus”—the idea that humans are rational beings making optimal economic choices in the light of perfect access to information. Here’s why the homo economicus model is ultimately flawed, according to Kate Raworth.
How does the social environment affect human behavior? Do you behave differently around the higher-ups? Social environment has a tremendous influence on human behavior. People tend to act differently than their normal self around higher-ups and people from out-groups. Also, men tend to take greater risks in the company of women. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of social interaction.
What are the major obstacles to innovation in organizations? Why do innovative ideas get shot down? According to Safi Bahcall, the major obstacle to innovation is disbelief: Groundbreaking innovative ideas are often dismissed as crazy and overly ambitious. He calls such ideas “loonshots” (loonshot = loony + moonshot). In addition, innovation-focused companies may fall into traps that keep them from innovating successfully. Here are three traps that kill innovation.