"When the experts are agreed," noted Bertrand Russell, "the opposite opinion cannot be regarded as certain." In economics, alas, false certainties rule and partisans define expertise as the state of agreement with themselves. The Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang is no different - he even gives the word "experts" scare-quotes at certain points in his new book - but it is an effective polemic nonetheless.
Chang's target isn't capitalism itself but rather "free-market ideologues", and the Things They Don't Tell You include the propositions that free markets don't exist (there is always a framework of law restricting commerce), that people in the rich world really are overpaid, and that capital's loyalties tend to be remarkably nationalistic. Chang makes some good points on the way; his observation that the standard theory of self-interested agents overlooks the productive significance of morality is particularly well taken. Meanwhile his opening promise to the reader, that "once you know the key principles and basic facts, you can make some robust judgements without knowing the technical details", is an empowering one in this age of managerial technocracy. Indeed, it's something we aren't told often enough.
