The Economists' Hour cover art

The Economists' Hour

How the False Prophets of Free Markets Fractured Our Society

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Economists' Hour

By: Binyamin Appelbaum
Narrated by: Dan Bittner
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

The story of the economists who championed the rise of free markets and fundamentally reshaped the modern world.

As the post-World War II economic boom began to falter in the late 1960s, a new breed of economists gained in influence and power. Over time, their ideas curbed governments, unleashed corporations and hastened globalization.

Their fundamental belief? That governments should stop trying to manage the economy.

Their guiding principle? That markets would deliver steady growth and broad prosperity.

But the economists’ hour failed to deliver on its premise. The single-minded embrace of markets has come at the expense of economic equality, of the health of liberal democracy, and of future generations. Across the world, from both right and left, the assumptions of the once-dominant school of free-market economic thought are being challenged, as we count the costs as well as the gains of its influence.

Both accessible and authoritative, exploring the impact of both ideas and individuals, in The Economists’ Hour acclaimed New York Times journalist Binyamin Appelbaum provides both a reckoning with the past and a call for a different future.

Economic History Economics International Politics & Government Taxation Capitalism Socialism Government Economic Inequality Economic disparity US Economy Export Imperialism Banking American History Tariff Great Recession China

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Occupy Handbook cover art
The Chile Project cover art
Samuelson Friedman cover art
Capital in the Twenty-First Century cover art
Trumponomics cover art
Pyramid of Lies cover art
Influence Empire cover art
Rollback cover art
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal cover art
A Brief History of Equality cover art
American Amnesia cover art
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Economics cover art
The Price of Peace cover art
The Hidden History of Neoliberalism cover art
Putinomics cover art
Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? cover art

Critic reviews

Lively and entertaining . . . The Economists' Hour is a reminder of the power of ideas to shape the course of history. (Liaquat Ahamed)
The New York Times financial writer maps the advance of economists-from the Kennedy administration onward-out of the academy and into government, elevating free markets in the sausage-making of public policy and sparking the inequity that plagues us today.
An entertaining and well-written look at how market-oriented ideas rose from the academy and transformed nations. (Tyler Cowen)
Writing in accessible language of thorny fiscal matters, the author ventures into oddly fascinating corners of recent economic history . . . Anyone who wonders why government officials still take the Laffer curve seriously need go no further than this lucid book.
Binyamin Appelbaum has written a powerful must-read for all those interested in reinvigorating the credibility of economics, especially in policymaking circles. (Mohamed A. El-Erian)
The wider story of the market-centric worldview provides the meat of Appelbaum’s narrative . . . The fact that such sophisticated people presided over a dangerous build-up in financial risk suggests that something larger was at work than a naive faith in markets. Appelbaum’s strength is that he generally acknowledges these complexities.
This thoroughly researched, comprehensive, and critical account of the economic philosophies that have reigned for the past half century powerfully indicts them.
No reviews yet