After a series of books that explain the mysteries of free-market capitalism (if only someone had foreseen the credit crisis), here comes a novel — a novel, yes — that brings home, yet again, its virtues.
It revolves around two people — Ruth Lieber, an economics professor at Stanford, and Ramon Fernandez, a tennis champ who was brought from Cuba to the US as a child. By way of an interesting plot, Roberts drives home his viewpoints on everything from the “chaotic order” at the heart of the global trade to the beneficial social effects of free market economy.
As a novel, The Price of Everything is no great shakes. But as a vehicle to convey ideas that need renewed currency in today’s troubled times, it is a promising attempt.
THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING
Russell Roberts
Pinceton University Press
£14.95
216 pages
