They say that money makes the world go ’round—and frankly, it’s true. We all know that political campaigns succeed or fail, businesses rise and fall, and communities thrive or languish, all based on how much capital they have at their disposal.
But a lesser-known truth is that big money pulls strings that extend across oceans and international borders, shaping the globalized consumer experience in surprising ways we would never imagine. If you’d like to discover the real story of how big money rules the world, check out the five fascinating books below.
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The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources
By Javier Blas and Jack Farchy
Two acclaimed journalists take the reader into the back alleys of high-powered global trade, showing how capitalism really works, who really profits, and which traders acquire massive political influence.
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The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work
By Jan Eeckhout
Drawing on his own groundbreaking research and telling the stories of everyday workers, economist Jan Eeckhout demonstrates how market power has suffocated the world of work, and how, without better mechanisms to ensure competition, it could lead to disastrous market corrections and political turmoil.
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Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire
By Brad Stone
Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone presents a deeply reported, vividly drawn portrait of how a geeky technologist became an ambitious billionaire, and how a retail upstart became one of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy.
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Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives
By Michael Heller and James Salzman
A hidden set of rules governs who owns what, explaining everything from whether you can recline your airplane seat to why HBO lets you borrow a password illegally. And in this lively and entertaining guide, two acclaimed law professors reveal how things become “mine.”
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The Art of Business Wars: Battle-Tested Lessons for Leaders and Entrepreneurs from History’s Greatest Rivalries
By David Brown
Acclaimed Business Wars podcast host David Brown uses Chinese military genius Sun Tzu’s strategies as a guide to examine why some companies triumph while others crumble.
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