First published 2007
Exchange rates determine the fate of nations in this gripping economic thriller. The National Bureau of Economic Research assembles a team of elite economists who face mounting currency crises across the developing world. They must decode the complex relationships between commercial policies and exchange rates while racing against time to prevent economic collapse. The team splits into four specialized units: one handles stabilization programs and adjustment processes, another tackles liberalization reforms, a third investigates country-specific exchange rate disasters through detailed case studies, and the fourth struggles to define and measure the elusive real exchange rates that could save or doom entire economies. As they examine devaluations, capital flows, and terms of trade, each economist discovers that their models and theories will be tested against the harsh realities of economic crisis. The stakes couldn't be higher as their research becomes the foundation for all future work in the field, with millions of lives hanging in the balance of their policy recommendations.
Genres: business, economics, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: race-against-time
Setting: Africa, Asia, Developing World
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
458 pages · Kindle Edition · University of Chicago Press