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LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

‘A great book … a wonderful way of talking about our current world’ Rory Stewart

‘Entertaining, insightful … compelling’ Financial Times

‘The kind of book from which you look up to find the world suddenly more comprehensible. Also, it’s about ten times funnier than any book about management has the right to be’ Guardian

When we avoid taking a decision, what happens to it? In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies examines why markets, institutions and even governments systematically generate outcomes that everyone involved claims not to want. He casts new light on the writing of Stafford Beer, a legendary economist who argued in the 1950s that we should regard organisations as artificial intelligences, capable of taking decisions that are distinct from the intentions of their members.

Management cybernetics was Beer’s science of applying self-regulation in organisational settings, but it was largely ignored – with the result being the political and economic crises that that we see today. With his signature blend of cynicism and journalistic rigour, Davies looks at what’s gone wrong, and what might have been, had the world listened to Stafford Beer when it had the chance.

Publisher Review

A clear and compelling account of how decision-making works, or rather doesn’t, in the twenty-first century. It will make you look at the world differently — Stephen Bush Funny, fascinating and compelling – this is a book to make you chuckle, to make you angry, and above all to make you think — Tim Harford, author * The Undercover Economist * An extraordinary book … we all blame ‘The System’ for numerous woes, but what is The System? Dan Davies’ immensely readable book tells us how there actually isn’t one – it’s far far weirder than that. I have come away a wiser man — Patrick Alley, author * Very Bad People * It is always rewarding to learn how things work, and The Unaccountability Machine lucidly shows the inner workings of corporate life and its systematic — Laleh Khalili, author * Sinews of War and Trade * Not just a glorious tour of a neglected piece of intellectual history, though it is that, in passing. Really, a demonstration with unexpected tools that the world since the 1970s, far from being governed by steely economic rationality, has actually been in the grip of an ideologised greed that has systematically undermined our ability to manage and organise — Francis Spufford, author * Cahokia Jazz * Everybody wonders why nobody is ever to blame for a crisis. Diving into cybernetics, economics and management, Dan Davies explains why it’s always the fault of the system not the people, how this lack of accountability has come about – and even what to do about it — Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge Praise for Lying for Money:
Dan Davies tells all these stories with verve and wit … Much of the book is a romp through the crimes of scoundrels – Ponzi, Madoff, Keating, the Krays … Yet what takes it from absorbing to excellent is the author’s insight. Read Lying for Money and you will look at fraud in a whole new way. Actually, you will look at every market transaction you take part in in a whole new way * The Times * Highly entertaining, historically fascinating but also intellectually rigorous — Ann Pettifor * TLS * If you want to learn to fend fraud, read this — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author * The Incognito * An engaging and indispensable guide for novice fraudsters – and for those who want to keep out of their clutches — John Kay, author * Other People’s Money * A vivid, historical account of scams and the con artists behind them. Beyond the individual stories, Davies makes a deep and important point about market societies … This delightful book is as instructive as it is entertaining — Dani Rodrik, author of Economics Rules and The Globalisation Paradox I haven’t had this much fun and learned this much reading a finance book since The Money Game — J. Bradford DeLong, author of The End of Influence Davies is one of these people who’s automatically the smartest person in any conversation that he joins — Joe Weisenthal, presenter of Bloomberg’s What’d You Miss? Fascinating, gripping – and true … This is a terrific read — Diane Coyle, author of Sex Drugs and Economics