Good Economics for Hard Times

Good Economics for Hard Times

Author: Abhijit V. Banerjee

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2019-11-12

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1541762878

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The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day. Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it. Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate change--these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to Paris and Washington, DC. The resources to address these challenges are there--what we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. If we succeed, history will remember our era with gratitude; if we fail, the potential losses are incalculable. In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world.


Rural by Design

Rural by Design

Author: Randall Arendt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 1351178423

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For America’s rural and suburban areas, new challenges demand new solutions. Author Randall Arendt meets them in an entirely new edition of Rural by Design. When this planning classic first appeared 20 years ago, it showed how creative, practical land-use planning can preserve open space and keep community character intact. The second edition shifts the focus toward infilling neighborhoods, strengthening town centers, and moving development closer to schools, shops, and jobs. New chapters cover form-based codes, visioning, sustainability, low-impact development, green infrastructure, and more, while 70 case studies show how these ideas play out in the real world. Readers —rural or not—will find practical advice about planning for the way we live now.


A Narc's Tale

A Narc's Tale

Author: Keith P Grounsell

Publisher:

Published: 2020-09-04

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13:

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A Narc's Tale is a 4 book series that is a first-hand account of stories, written like a memoir or personal diary, which gives you an inside glimpse of what it is like working 6 years deep undercover in the dangerous drug world as a city cop (Vol. 1), county vice & narcotics investigator (Vol. 2 & 3), and Special Agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (Vol. 4). Most undercover books only show this from one perspective, but you will get all three here (i.e. city, county & federal) and realize the difference in each. This book series will tell you about incidents that almost cost me my career in law enforcement before it began, what led me to focus in drug enforcement and how I blended in and dealt with dangerous and, often, violent criminals in an array of different environments working undercover. You will also learn about the emotional and mental effects of long-term undercover work on me and my family, as well as learn about the dangerous effects of drugs. I will show you how an undercover agent avoids using drugs, literally being shoved in their face, escaping having guns pointed at them, posing as a hit man, infiltrating gangs, acting like a drug addict, avoiding plots to be killed, all while protecting loved ones, and dealing with some of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world. Not only does this book series expose secrets of the rare undercover world, but it provides an inside look at the ruthlessness of drug traffickers along with an array of other crimes that I unexpectedly got involved with during my investigations (i.e. human trafficking, sex slaves, murder for hire, corrupt officials/politicians, killing witnesses, etc.). The extensive efforts taken to authenticate and corroborate these real-life stories, through supporting documentation found in each book (i.e. over 340 still images from covert body cameras & surveillance platforms, other photographs, scanned documents and newspaper articles within the series), is what separates this series of books from others in the genre. After explaining my upbringing and life-changing experiences that made me want to become a cop, which is covered in Volume 1; I am thrust into a full-time undercover assignment unexpectedly as a city cop with zero undercover training. You will read how I learned about drugs, dealers, and undercover work by trial and error. After a year undercover and successfully taking out over one-hundred-thirty drug dealers, I was recruited to go work for a large Sheriff's Office in the Vice & Narcotics Unit. Once in this unit, which is the start of Volume 2 in this series, I learn so much more and have a much larger jurisdiction in which to work. I finally get the proper training and my cases began to grow over the course of the next two books, Volumes 2 & 3, to the point of making multi-kilogram purchases of drugs, posing as a hit man in a murder for hire, buying automatic weapons, etc. I start doing undercover work for the state and feds in books 2 and 3 and run into police corruption issues. This is around the time I get married and started a family, all while being neck-deep in undercover work and the accompanying stresses. You will learn the mental effects this line of work takes on a spouse and how we overcame those things. After 4 years into my undercover career, I was hired on with the feds as a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Volume 4 covers my experiences of going through the federal hiring and training processes before I launch my undercover experience at the federal level. With the feds I worked undercover on an unprecedented scale dealing with multi-billion-dollar international drug cartels. The violence, death, and unsurmountable quantities of drugs and money were nothing like I had seen as a local police officer. The investigations and organizations got much more complex, so I had to tighten up my undercover skills and technology usage to become more innovative (i.e. federal wiretaps).