Philip Coggan - More: A History of the World Economy from the Iron Age to the Information Age

More takes a vast 10,000-year sweep of economic history and melds it into a compelling story of countries and conflicts, civilisations and civic institutions, stagnations and transformations. All in little more than 300 pages of lucid prose. It is a majestic must-read.

Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England

More is an extraordinary achievement. How can it be possible to turn 10,000 years of human endeavour into a tale which is at once exciting, coherent and surprisingly optimistic? The Economists Philip Coggan has a very rare gift. Economics books usually overwhelm the reader with heavy analysis and too many statistics, or frustrate with oversimplification. Coggan distils a vast expanse of human historythe history of trade and economic advanceinto a beautifully light and elegantly written tale, full of surprises, and free of ideology. If you have never read any economics, I can think of no better place to start. If you are a seasoned economist, you will discover there is much to learn. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Eric Lonergan, author of Money: The Art of Living

Philip Coggan tells his epic story of humankinds economic development with both wisdom and wit. Brilliantly weaving together a sweeping historical narrative with a focus on the drivers of developmentenergy, transportation, government and so onCoggan has written a book that should be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how our modern day economy came into being.

Stephen D. King, author of Grave New World: The End of Globalization, the Return of History

An engaging and highly accessible narrative about the long historical development of global trade, commerce, and innovation. Philip Coggan writes clearly about how and why it all happened, and gives us cause for optimism in difficult times.

George Magnus, author of Red Flags: Why Xis China Is in Jeopardy

Philip Coggans More is a monumental work of scholarship that never feels like one while you are reading it. All of human economic history is here, with something you didnt know on every page, and todays apparently terrible economic problems put into a clear context. It should be recommended reading for students, economists, anyone who works in business, and anyone with an interest in how our world came to be the way it is.

John Authers, author of The Fearful Rise of Markets: A Short View of Global Bubbles and Synchronised Meltdowns

More is a glorious sweep through economic history. Open any page and Philip Coggan gives us new insights on the global economic system. His new book is an undiluted pleasure.

Elroy Dimson, chairman of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School

[An] illuminating account of the financial crisis convey[s] deep insights without a trace of jargon.

John Gray, New Statesman

A remarkable book from one of the most respected economics journalists on the planet. Every page brings a fresh insight or a new surprise. A delight.

Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist

By far the best analysis of the new normal.

David Stevenson, Financial Times

Bold and confident Coggan covers the terrain with characteristic calmness and objectivity, avoids over-simplification, and laces his arguments with his trademark erudition The alphabet soup of acronyms, from SIVs to CDO Squareds, is blissfully lacking Finally, the book is free from the shrieking ideology that afflicts virtually all contemporary debates over money. Indeed, it offers a clear explanation of the fresh ideological divisions that have arisen over how to deal with the crisis the book should be taken very seriously.

Financial Times

W hen we think about history, the temptation is to focus on revolutions, wars and kingswhat was once described as maps and chaps. And when we discuss economics, the focus is on the current measures of inflation and employment, and the complex equations and jargon that academics use to explain them.

It is easy to miss the big picture. Within the past 300 years, there has been an enormous change in human history, a change that has allowed the population to grow rapidly, and for many people to live longer and be taller and healthier than ever before. While there is still too much poverty, prosperity has extended even further in the last few decades, thanks in particular to the flourishing of the Chinese economy. This story is insufficiently told, and understood. Hence the motivation for this book.