This book owes its existence to my extraordinary fortune in working for the New York Times. Not many newsrooms are so devoted to deep and immersive field reporting that they encourage writers to follow their stories to every corner of planet Earth. In urging me to think globally about widening economic inequality and its social consequences, my editors supplied the time and resources to do just that.
One uniquely gifted editor was instrumental in this undertaking: Adrienne Carter, a masterful framer of stories and an all-around wonderful person, guided much of the early reporting that eventually led to this book.
Supreme gratitude to Dean Baquet and Joe Kahn for updating the Times for the digital era while advancing its vital mission, and for bringing me back to the fold after several years in self-imposed exile. Many thanks to publisher A. G. Sulzberger and his unwavering faith in journalism as a core element of democracy—something we used to take for granted; not anymore.
The business section has long been my home at the Times. Much appreciation to Dean Murphy for welcoming me back while dispatching me to London, where I was lucky to be based during the reporting and writing of this book. Huge thanks to current business editor Ellen Pollock, whose irreverence, skill, and knack for finding journalistic buried treasure keeps life interesting. Rich Barbieri, my editor during the pandemic years, brings sharp eyes, wisdom, and grace to everything. Thanks to then–business editor Larry Ingrassia for bringing me aboard more than a dozen years ago, and for looking out for me ever since.
Thanks to my colleagues on the Europe-based international business team, led by the unflappable Kevin Granville, among them Adam Satariano, Eshe Nelson, Geneva Abdul, Jack Ewing, and Stanley Reed. I’m grateful for collaborations with talented and dedicated business correspondents and editors around the world: Carlos Tejada, Ashwin Seshagiri, David Enrich, Phyllis Messinger, Kevin McKenna, Patricia Cohen, Keith Bradsher, Alexandra Stevenson, Vikas Bajaj, Pui-Wing Tam, Renee Melides, Roe D’Angelo, Justin Swanson, and David Schmidt.
The international desk has been my second home during my London years, guided by the infectiously enthusiastic Michael Slackman. I’m thankful for the friendship and wise counsel of Jim Yardley, who runs our London operation with aplomb and who included me in projects that eventually provoked this book. I learned firsthand why Kyle Crichton is celebrated as a legendary editor. Many thanks to the stellar team of editors on the foreign desk in London and New York, among them Greg Winter, Kim Fararo, Suzanne Spector, Kirk Kraeutler, Laurie Goodstein, Marc Santora, and Richard Pérez-Peña. And thanks for the ambitious thinking and healthy skepticism of senior editors in the mothership: Matt Purdy, Alison Mitchell, Philip Pan, and Rebecca Blumenstein. Susan Chira exited the building, but my appreciation carries on.
David Segal, a terrific friend and virtuoso storyteller, graciously read and improved an early draft. I am much obliged for the incisive critiques of other friends and colleagues who read pieces of the book at various stages: Jesse Eisinger, Mark Leibovich, David Sirota, Liz Alderman, Emma Bubola, and Jesse Drucker.
This book reflects indispensable contributions from stringers and researchers in myriad countries: Andrew Perez in the United States; Eloïse Stark in France; Christina Anderson and Erik Augustin Palm in Sweden; Giulia Alagna, Riccardo Liberatore, and Aaron Maines in Italy; Claudia Witte in Switzerland; Daniel Politi in Argentina; Rachel Chaundler in Spain; and Mari-Leena Kuosa in Finland.
A great joy of working at the Times is appearing on The Daily podcast, where some of the concepts in this book were sharpened by resident geniuses Lisa Tobin and Michael Barbaro.
I have shamelessly appropriated insights, mined contacts, and exploited the local savvy of Times correspondents around the globe, among them Hannah Beech, Jason Horowitz, Steven Erlanger, Matt Apuzzo, Jeffrey Gettleman, Dan Bilefsky, Danny Hakim, Stephen Castle, Hari Kumar, Choe Sang-Hun, Joanna Berendt, Jason Gutierrez, Karan Deep Singh, Sui-Lee Wee, Katrin Bennhold, Patrick Kingsley, Alissa Rubin, Declan Walsh, Abdi Latif Dahir, Gaia Pianigiani, Andrew Higgins, Ellen Barry, Elizabeth Paton, Raphael Minder, and Carlotta Gall.
Thanks to Katie Thomas, Apoorva Mandavili, Rebecca Robbins, and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, for fruitful collaborations on vaccine nationalism.
My Davos fondue gang—Rana Foroohar, Adi Ignatius, Anya Schiffrin, and John Gapper—helped maintain my tether to reality during a decade of Forums.
Writing a book about the global economy entails constantly diving into subjects about which many people know far more than you. I am grateful for the wisdom and patience of the economists, political analysts, lawyers, historians, bankers, activists, and other experts whose work (and even play) I have shamelessly interrupted to pose questions ranging from simplistic to naive.
On globalization and international trade, I have benefited greatly from conversations with Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University, Adam Posen and Chad Bown at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Ian Goldin at Oxford University, Pietra Rivoli at Georgetown University, Brad Setser at the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Kozul-Wright at the United Nations Development Program, Meredith Crowley at the University of Cambridge, Swati Dhingra at the London School of Economics, Ben May at Oxford Economics, and Willy Shih at Harvard Business School. Thanks to the wise and generous Keith Rockwell at the World Trade Organization. And thanks to Gady Epstein for provocative discussions about China in the world.
On the operations of the European Union and the eurozone, I am indebted to Jacob Funk Kirkegaard and Nicolas Veron at PIIE, Christian Odendahl at the Centre for European Reform, Angel Talavera at Oxford Economics, Maria Demertzis at Bruegel, Kjersti Haugland at DNB Markets, Peter Dixon at Commerzbank, and the data wizards at Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
On the story of the Italian economy, many thanks to Nicola Borri at Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, Nadia Urbinati at Columbia University, and Servaas Storm at Delft University of Technology.
In decoding the inscrutable absurdities of Brexit, I owe a debt to William Wright at New Financial, Mujtaba Rahman at Eurasia Group, and Sam Lowe at the Centre for European Reform. On the lasting consequences of British austerity, many thanks to Barry Kushner, for opening up the wonderful city of Liverpool, and Matthew Brown, for helping me navigate Preston. Thanks to Jonathan Davies at De Montfort University, Mary-Ann Stephenson at the Women’s Budget Group, and Paul Johnson at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
On the rise of inequality in France, I’m grateful for my conversations with Agnès Bénassy-Quéré at the Economic Analysis Council in Paris, Amandine Crespy at the Free University of Brussels, Philippe Askenazy at the French National Center for Scientific Research, and Louis Maurin at French Inequality Watch.
On the diminution of the Swedish social safety net, much appreciation for Marten Blix at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, Carl Melin at Futurion, Annika Wallenskog at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and Andreas Johansson Heino at Timbro. On all matters Nordic (and on other vital subjects, including the locations of ice cream parlors from Helsinki to Santa Monica), I’m grateful for the counsel and connections of Ambassador Derek Shearer.
On the consequences of privatization and financialization in health care, many thanks to Simon Bowers in Liverpool; Michele Usuelli and Chiara Lepora in Milan; and Joacim Rocklöv, Torbjörn Dalin, and Michael Broomé in Sweden. I’m especially indebted to the scholarship of Eileen Appelbaum at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington and Zack Cooper at Yale University.
On the subject of international support for poor countries during the pandemic, many thanks to Adnan Mazarei at PIIE, Scott Morris at the Center for Global Development, Lidy Nacpil at the Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development, Jayati Ghosh at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Tim Jones at the Jubilee Debt Campaign.
In digging into the pharmaceutical industry and vaccine distribution, I’m grateful for conversations with Selva Demiralp at Koc University in Istanbul, Clare Wenham and Ken Shadlen at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Simon Evenett at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, and Mark Eccleston-Turner at Keele University.
Thanks to Chuck Reid in Holland, Michigan, for keeping me in touch with the realities of manufacturing. Ted Howard schooled me in the ways of cooperatives and community wealth building. Many thanks to Mustafa Qadri, for opening up the world of migrant laborers.
On the subject of universal basic income, I’m indebted to Guy Standing at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Olli Rehn in Helsinki, Olli Kangas at the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Heikki Hiilamo at Helsinki University, Mikko Annala at Demos Helsinki, Natalie Foster at the Economic Security Project, and former Stockton, California, mayor Michael Tubbs.
On questions around taxation, I’m grateful for the help of Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley. Thanks to Matt Stoller for his clarifying book on the history of American monopoly power. And thanks to Brad Stone for his seminal work on Amazon, and to Aaron Glantz for his important book on the foreclosure crisis. Thanks to Rob Johnson at INET for his highly useful podcast.
Every writer deserves an agent like Gail Ross, whose ferocious smarts, encouragement, and agility were vital to this project from inception. Thanks to Shannon O’Neil, for elevating the proposal.
At Custom House, the superb Peter Hubbard immediately grasped the central point, and then skillfully guided the manuscript toward what it was meant to be. Many thanks to Molly Gendell for calmly and patiently turning the manuscript into a book.
My father, Arnold Goodman, left us as I was beginning to conceptualize this book. My wanderings were first inspired by his love of maps, his immaculately penned postcards, and his stories from his travels with my mother, Elise Simon Goodman—still intrepid after all these years.
This book was conceived and written during the worst days of the pandemic. Our bigger kids, Leo and Mila, were locked down at home for months while struggling with distance learning, yet their irrepressible curiosity, focus on social justice, and demands for diversion sustained us all in a bleak time. Our baby boy, Luca, was born in the middle of the madness and immediately lived up to his name: bringer of the light. My oldest daughter, Leah, who completed her college studies in London during the pandemic, reminded me why stories matter. Emma Small and Nicol Koderova were there for us in the thick of things, lifelong honorary members of the family.
My partner, Deanna Fei, sacrificed too much for this book, contending with my absences, setting aside her own writing, and heroically attending to a household awash in every conceivable form of need, while still administering a rigorous and crucial edit. There are no words to acknowledge her contributions. I can only say thank you, and I owe you—for this, for our family, and for the brilliance you shine on everything.
Can you thank a city park in acknowledgments? The Hampstead Heath was my refuge during lockdown, a portal to a better place.