Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy

Daniel Altman

Sep 2008 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

What if you could look behind the headlines of the global economy to see how it really worked? Instead of listening to pundits, politicians, and protestors, you could see firsthand how everyone from migrant workers to central bank governors lived their lives. Then you could decide for yourself where the big trends were heading.

Now you can. Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy isn't another polemic for or against globalization. Daniel Altman takes you on a whirlwind journey through more than a dozen cities, gathering points of view from moguls, ministers, and the men and women on the street. At each stop, you'll hear how the world's workers played their parts in the events of a single day. Starting with their stories, related in their own words, you'll take on pressing questions in new ways: Can poor countries become rich too quickly? Can corruption ever be a good thing? Do companies need crises in order to stay competitive? What determines the global economic pecking order? Most important, you'll learn how the billions of decisions made by individuals can and do change the future.

Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy is part travel guide, part owner's manual—an absorbing, accessible, and essential road map for every citizen of the global economy in the twenty-first century.

About the author

Daniel Altman received his PhD in economics from Harvard and went on to advise the British government on immigration, crime, and drug regulation. He has written for The Economist and The New York Times, where he was among the youngest-ever members of the editorial board, and is now a columnist for the International Herald Tribune. He splits his time between New York, Hong Kong, and Buenos Aires.