Raghuram Rajan: The Economic Consequences of Globalization

Raghuram Rajan has an unparalleled view into the social and economic consequences of globalization and their ultimate effect on our politics. 

Rajan’s background is extraordinary: He has served as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and Head of India’s Central Bank. He’s written several books, including one that won the Financial Times-Goldman Sachs prize for best business book in 2010. Today he is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

Rajan’s new book is an important must read that explains the dangerous connections among inequality, globalization and populism – and will change the way you think about the markets, government and local communities. It’s titled: The Third Pillar: How the State and Markets are leaving Communities Behind.

What made this conversation so good is not just what he says, but how he tells the story. As Rajan puts it: “All economics is actually socioeconomics – all markets are embedded in a web of human relations, values and norms… Throughout history, technological phase shifts have ripped the market out of those old webs and led to violent backlashes, and to what we now call populism. Eventually, a new equilibrium is reached, but it can be ugly and messy, especially if done wrong.”