To get a mental picture of The New World Economy in 5 Trends, imagine an architectural folly, a structure that’s sturdy at its base but with turrets, parapets, gables, and gargoyles on top. Now, instead of a building, think about a book that has two authors but that is not co-authored in the usual way — instead, the two take turns writing chapters so that the book is a straight man/funnyman show, with the straight man providing mostly sound, conventional analysis and the funnyman interviewing dead economists and Fed chairmen not yet born.
You now have a pretty good idea of what Koen De Leus and Philippe Gijsels’ unconventional new book is like. 5 Trends is confusing, full of errors, and almost unreadable because of its wacky structure.
But it is not worthless. There are good ideas in it. The authors correctly identify five of today’s most important economic trends and discuss them at length. I do not recommend the book, but after unburdening myself with a list of complaints about it, I will comment on some of the valuable material hidden within.
And, to be fair to the funnyman, he is also a dreamer and futurist who provides some interesting insights, although occasionally they’re flat-out wrong. (“Chicago is on the rise.” No, it’s not.)
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