Alasdair S. Roberts

Talk to HKS Mason Fellows

alasdairroberts — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:22:53 +0000

I enjoyed talking with Mason Fellows at Harvard Kennedy School this evening. The discussion was mainly about my forthcoming book, America’s First Great Depression, although I also talked a bit about Logic of Discipline. Thanks to Professor Matt Andrews for the invitation.

Wall Street Journal discusses new book

alasdairroberts — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:10:30 +0000

The Wall Street Journal has used the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth to pick up on America’s First Great Depression. WSJ calls it “an outstanding new book.”

New reviews for new book

alasdairroberts — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:25:28 +0000

New comments now in about forthcoming book:

“America’s First Great Depression is astute, compelling, concise, original, relevant, transatlantic, well-written, and witty. No ellipses and no exaggerations.”—Robert E. Wright, Nef Family Chair of Political Economy, Augustana College, South Dakota, author of One Nation Under Debt and Fubarnomics

“Alasdair Roberts tells a wide-ranging story of the depression that began in 1837 with lucidity, emphasizing the role of global financial markets and finding plenty of analogies to the economic problems of today.”—Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848

February newsletter for Governance now posted

alasdairroberts — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:05:06 +0000

Sir John Gieve, formerly of Bank of England, speaks at Governance roundtable

The February newsletter for Governance is now posted. It features open access to more articles from our current special issue on the effect of the financial crisis on public governance. This includes an article by John Gieve (left) and Colin Provost of University College London on the role of ideas in triggering the crisis.

New LTN podcast about forthcoming book

alasdairroberts — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:52:06 +0000

There’s a brief podcast interview about my forthcoming book America’s First Great Depression on Legal Talk Network. Listen to the podcast.

Publishers Weekly posts review of new book

alasdairroberts — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:14:09 +0000

Publishers Weekly has just posted a review of America’s First Great Depression, which will be published in April. From the review: “Roberts reveals how this disaster led to epochal shifts in policy and culture, and his lively narrative and commitment to character ensure that the human cost is never out of sight.” Read the review.

Article on Bloomberg.com drawn from forthcoming book

alasdairroberts — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:52:05 +0000

I’ve just posted an article on the Echoes blog on Bloomberg.com. It’s drawn from my forthcoming book, America’s First Great Depression. Thanks to Professor Stephen Mihm of the University of Georgia, one of the blog’s editors, for the opportunity to publish this piece.

January newsletter for Governance now posted

alasdairroberts — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:50:35 +0000

The January e-newsletter for Governance is now available here. The current issue of Governance (25.1, January 2012) features a set of articles that examine the impact of the financial crisis on public governance, as well as a lead commentary by Charles Kenny, Does Governance Matter? With this issue, Governance begins its twenty-fifth year.

Speaking at IOI world conference

alasdairroberts — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:32:44 +0000

I’ll be one of the speakers at the 10th World Conference of the International Ombudsman Institute in Wellington, NZ in November. Working title for the talk: Transparency in Troubled Times.

A new age of uncertainty

alasdairroberts — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:26:23 +0000

“A new age of uncertainty,” coauthored with David Coen of University College London, is now available online. This is an introduction to a special issue of Governance that has just been published (January 2012). Excerpt: “After a period typified by delegation and technocratic decisionmaking, we are entering a new phase of governance that is distinguished by the reconcentration of authority, intensified conflict over the ends and means of governmental action, and volatility in policy outputs. The critical point today is not that one paradigm has been replaced by another. Rather, it is that — for the time being — there is no dominant paradigm at all.”