About this item
This pioneering work demystifies the drivers behind political, economic, and social change. Shaped by his twenty-five years traveling the world, and enlivened by encounters with villagers from Rio to Beijing, tycoons, and presidents, Ruchir Sharma's The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks the "dismal science" of economics as a practical art. Narrowing the thousands of factors that can shape a country's fortunes to ten clear rules, Sharma explains how to spot political, economic, and social changes in real time. He shows how to read political headlines, black markets, the price of onions, and billionaire rankings as signals of booms, busts, and protests. Set in a post-crisis age that has turned the world upside down, replacing fast growth with slow growth and political calm with revolt, Sharma's pioneering book is an entertaining field guide to understanding change in this era or any era.
About the Author
Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.With more than $20 billion of assets under management, Ruchir is one of the world's largest investors. He typically spends one week every month in a different emerging market where he meets leading politicians, top CEOs and other local characters.Ruchir has been a writer for even longer than he has been an investor. He started writing at the age of 17 for India's largest economic daily, The Economic Times and is now a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and The Times of India. His essays have also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Time, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Forbes and Bloomberg View. For much of the last decade he had been a contributing editor with Newsweek, where he wrote a regular column titled 'Global Investor'. Ruchir may be most well-known for his 2012 book, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles. Breakout Nations debuted as the number one bestseller in India, and earned Sharma the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for 2012. Breakout Nations also made the Wall Street Journal hardcover business bestseller list, and was chosen by Foreign Policy as one of its "21 Books to Read in 2012". Ruchir's next book, The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World will be released on June 7, 2016. Bloomberg named Ruchir one of the top 50 Most Influential people in the world in October 2015. In 2012, Sharma was selected as one of the top global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine and in June 2013, India's premier weekly magazine Outlook named Ruchir as one of The World's 25 Smartest Indians. The World Economic Forum in Davos selected Ruchir as one of the world's "Top Young Leaders" in 2007. Ruchir is especially passionate about politics and has formed an informal group of senior Indian editors with whom he travels extensively before every major state or national election; usually logging in over 1,000 miles over 4-5 days, meeting with the nation's top leaders and getting a first-hand feel of local politics. Ruchir arranged the first trip with three journalist friends in 1998 and has since nurtured it into a much sought-after ritual with 20 regular fellow travelers.Ruchir's other interests include athletics and a serious commitment to running. Despite his extensive travels, he tries not to miss a single day of training no matter where he is in the world. He regularly trains with his former Olympics coach and competes in sprinting events. In 2011, he represented India in the World Masters Athletic championship in Sacramento. Ruchir also has a keen interest in wildlife and in international cinema and makes it a point to attend major film festivals anytime he can find a moment from his investing, writing and running.
