Create your own economy

In times of economic crisis, instead of giving up, what can we do to become stronger and live better? What technologies can help us? Who should we elect as new role models and heroes? How can we understand and improve who we are and how we organize our inner world? Renowned economist and behavioral analyst Tyler Cowen reflects on these and other important questions in Create Your Own Economy .

"This book is about the power of the individual to make a difference and also to change an entire world, regardless of whether the supposed economic forces are on your side or not. That's what I mean by 'creating your own economy,'" explains the author.

Cowen shows that today's world—superconnected and saturated with information—is changing the way we think. Not since the Industrial Revolution have we seen a human invention—in this case, the World Wide Web—so definitively influence the way our minds work and our potential. With the enormous range of possibilities we have for accessing and organizing the content we consider valuable, we break information down into ever smaller chunks, ordering and reordering it in our minds to meet specific needs.

The author analyzes behaviors and concepts that emerged with the internet and counter the widespread apocalyptic thinking about our changing world, and proposes that this new way of connecting has the potential to improve education, politics, literature, and philosophy. Highlighting the power each individual has to plan and control their own lives, regardless of whether economic forces are on their side or not, the book shows that we can create our own economy and live a more interesting, fulfilling, and happy life.

Just as Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations transformed the way we think about modern economics, Build Your Own Economy is the manifesto of this century's industrial revolution - the information age.