Ratings6
Average rating3.8
If we want to continue on our trends of growth, and the overwhelmingly positive outcomes for societies that come with it, every individual must become more concerned with the welfare of those around us - and in the world at large and most of all our descendants in the future. So, how do we proceed? Tyler Cowen, in a culmination of 20 years of thinking and research, provides a roadmap for moving forward. Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals argues that our reason and common sense can help free us of the faulty ideas that hold us back as people and as a society. Cowen's latest book, at its heart, makes the contemporary moral case for economic growth and in doing so engenders a great dose of inspiration and optimism about our future possibilities.
Reviews with the most likes.
An economist read a couple of philosophy books, deemed himself enlightened, and wrote this book. Throughout the book, he is gerrymandering philosophies, research papers, and statistics to support his world views and truisms. Such a pile of bullshit supporting his claim that growth is good for growth's sake, just because it has been good in the previous centuries. He is hand-waving about Wealth+, which is supposedly an improved GDP metric, taking well-being and the environment into account, but never really defining it clearly.
What he's trying to say the entire book is that we should more or less support and continue the current game of musical chairs. It was good for “the rich,” and because of that, it'll be good for the poor as well when it trickles down in the “long run.” There are so many instances of ridiculous thinking like that, completely dismissing life experiences of anyone but the upper classes.
I'm so angry right now, but I was furious reading this stupid book disagreeing with basically every single sentence. Do NOT recommend.