This pioneering work demystifies the drivers behind political, economic, and social change.
Shaped by his twenty-five years traveling the world and enlivened by encounters with tycoons, presidents, and villagers from Rio to Beijing, Ruchir Sharma’s The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks the “dismal science” of economics as a practical art.
Narrowing the thousands of factors that can shape a country’s fortunes to ten clear rules, Sharma explains how to spot political, economic, and social changes in real time. He shows how to read political headlines, black markets, the price of onions, and billionaire rankings as signals of booms, busts, and protests.
Set in a post-crisis age that has turned the world upside down replacing fast growth with low growth and political calm with revolt, Sharma’s pioneering book is an entertaining field guide to understanding change in this era or any era.
Ruchir Sharma is the head of emerging markets and global macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and the author of the international bestseller Breakout Nations. He writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs.
William Hughes is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. A professor of political science at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, he received his doctorate in American politics from the University of California at Davis. He has done voice-over work for radio and film and is also an accomplished jazz guitarist.