Values: The bestselling book from Canada’s next prime minister on how to fix our politics, economics and values

Outstanding review of macroeconomics. Insightful view of difficulties of evaluating risks such as COVID, the climate issue, and of what could be a fairer world.

This is an ambitious book, with a very broad scope. The common thread throughout is the notion that we can only harvest the unparalleled creative strength of markets when these rest upon shared social values. This has ceased to be the case, Carney says, as we became a market society where market price equates value, and everything has, or will, become a commodity. The book’s first part feels like an intro to macroeconomics, as it covers the history of value theory, through Smith, Ricardo, and Marx, to neoclassicism; of money, up to cryptocurrencies; and, of institutions from as far back as Magna Carta. The second part is devoted to the three great contemporary crises, financial, COVID, and climate, analysing them in depth and showcasing the role of value, and values, in creating and solving them. The third and final part is the more prescriptive, focusing on the transformative potential of leadership, companies, and investment, and concluding with a chapter on Canada, shaping the future of the country through the values championed in the book. The latter is what we could call the Carney liberal manifesto. Lots to think about, plentiful ideas, most of which sound well anchored and pragmatically feasible, and none to be discarded, since after all, his is as authoritative a voice as one can find.

This book is erudite in places and tedious in others. It contains excellent background history on the evolution of the concept of value in economic matters and broadens this theme, as the title indicates, to a "world view" of social matters. His material on energy and climate change are less illuminating although well intended. Throughout the book, there is much repetition of phrases and moral points, which can take on a dulling effect. There are numerous places where the text extends beyond rational argument to sanctimonious points of view, giving this otherwise excellent work a sense of a sermon to the next generation.

History of money,bank and economics! Rather a hard stuff for general reading.

In excess of 500 pages this book has some great suggestions for individuals, companies, investors and world leaders and suggestions on how we can manage, control and regulate investments in net zero portfolios. So worth definately a read !The book got me thinking e.g. Mark mentions the value of Amazon (the company) in comparison to the Amazon Region in that Amazon has a $1.5 trillion equity valuation whilst the Amazon Region does not appear on any ledger - but the costs to the climate and biodiversity of destroying the Amazon rainforest has greater value to the planet .Here are some great bits from the book, however you need to read the book for the context.1. “More equal societies are more resilient, they are more likely to invest for the many not for the few, and to have robust political institutions and consistent policies’” p1252. “We put a value on pain when, through the market, we set the price for ibuprofen and a value on pleasure when we set the price for a Pepsi” p2313. “Society’s response to Covid has revealed much about people’s relationship to the state and the values of society” p2354. “We are all in the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat” p 3875. “When a social need can be tackled with a profitable business model, the magic of capitalism is unleashed.” p453