The Economics of Integrity

From Dairy Farmers to Toyota, How Wealth Is Built on Trust and What That Means for Our Future

“Anyone interested in understanding what makes our economy work must have this on their bookshelf.” —Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody's

In The Economics of Integrity, acclaimed financial journalist Anna Bernasek presents a deceptively straightforward argument: that the attributes of trust and integrity, beyond being simply virtuous ideals, are actually the bedrocks of a successful economy and culture. Bernasek has written a big-idea book with the readability of Predictably Irrational, and presents a compelling hypothesis that most of the things we take for granted in our lives depend on integrity. In the words of Dan Gross (Senior Editor, Newsweek, and author of Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation), “in an era of structured finance, nano-technology, and complex business models, Anna Bernasek’s timely, valuable, and highly readable book reminds us that the economy runs on something much more simple: trust.”