In a world still disrupted by the global crisis of 2008, complex forces are triggering political revolts and economic slowdowns in every major region, turning turned the golden pre-crisis era into a faded memory. But how, in an impermanent world, can we predict which nations are most likely to rise, and which to fall? Ruchir Sharma’s answer is laid out in ten rules in his new book, which explain how to read the political headlines, the world billionaire rankings, the price of onions, the growing battles over trade deals, and popular magazine covers as signs of coming booms, busts, and protests.
Shaped by 25 years traveling the world, this proscription rethinks the dismal science of economics as a practical art, and arrives at a moment when the economics profession is under attack for failing to anticipate the cataclysm of 2008—and many previous crises. Sharma pushes economists to focus less on the past and more on what comes next, to incorporate live observation of social forces into its data-driven models, to dispense with vague predictions for the coming century and focus instead on the next five to ten years. The result provides a practical guide to spotting the rise and fall of nations in real time, which will appeal to anyone who cares about where their nations are headed, and how they stack up against competitors.