Economics Audiobooks | Business & Economics

A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future

"From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Digital Doctor comes a bold, insightful exploration of how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing healthcare-and why that matters. Healthcare has long resisted the forces of digital disruption that have transformed nearly every other industry. Until now. In A Giant Leap, physician and thought leader Robert Wachter chronicles medicine's AI awakening. Drawing on painstaking research and interviews with more than 100 pioneers at the intersection of medicine, technology, policy, and business, Wachter describes how AI can now match-and sometimes surpass-physicians in areas ranging from diagnosis to empathy. Even as AI enters hospitals and clinics to assist with documentation, recommend treatments, interpret images, and guide surgeries, challenges remain-including hallucinations, biases, and misinformation. Yet, Wachter argues, in a healthcare system buckling under the weight of medical errors, limited access, maddening paperwork, clinician burnout, and crushing costs, AI doesn't have to be flawless to be useful-it just needs to be better. And, if we make the right choices, it will be. Blending clinical insight, vivid storytelling, and journalistic precision, A Giant Leap is a timeless and engaging guide to how AI is changing what it means to heal and be healed in this age of astonishing technology."

Robert Wachter (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity

"Brought to you by Penguin. Today’s tech platforms are some of history's most advanced tools for extracting as much as possible – data, attention, profit-margins – from everyone else. As they become essential, we are at risk of building an economy that is perpetually unfair for much of humanity. Places and spaces where people can exchange information and goods have been at the heart of every economy and every civilization in history, but today’s global platforms - as provided by Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta and others - are different: instead of providing value they extract it, creating vast disparities in wealth and power between the haves and have-nots. For the first time in history, we have the ability to create sustainable prosperity for all, but currently that wealth is concentrated in a tiny number of hands. It isn't abundance that's the problem; it is distribution. In this brilliantly engaging, frequently surprising account, Tim Wu, one of the world’s foremost experts on anti-monopoly law, draws on fascinating case studies in the history of technology's explosive rise to demonstrate emphatically that breaking monopolies will ultimately unleash creativity and growth - and reduce the vast inequality that inevitably leads to social upheaval and political chaos. Wu also sets out an alternative blueprint that preserves the economic flourishing that platforms catalyze, allowing tech platforms to play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity not just for the few but for the many. © Tim Wu 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Tim Wu (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World

"Brought to you by Penguin. Global neoliberalism is on its last legs, as a new international economic order takes hold: trade blocs, tariff wars, economic sanctions, and national champions are in; nationalism, anti-immigration movements, and the far-right are on the rise. Liberalism is being rejected by the civic realm, as the status quo of the past fifty years crumbles. What remains in its wake? Drawing on original research, leading economist Branko Milanovic reveals the seismic shifts that are shaping our world. He details the facts: how the rising economic power of Asia is creating a new global ‘middle class’ – in the greatest reshuffle of incomes since the Industrial Revolution. He explores our fears: why are we becoming increasingly unhappy, when the world is becoming richer and more equal? And he shows us the fight ahead: as plutocracy returns, global war threatens, and a new system silently shapes our nations, driving malcontent to breaking point. In National Market Liberalism, Milanovic provides an invaluable guide to the new 21st century. © Branko Milanovic 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Branko Milanovic (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Say’s Law: An Historical Analysis

"Say’s Law―the idea that “supply creates its own demand”―has been a basic concept in economics for almost two centuries. Thomas Sowell traces its evolution as it emerged from successive controversies, particularly two of the most bitter and long lasting in the history of the discipline, the “general glut controversy” that reached a peak in the 1820s, and the Keynesian Revolution of the 1930s. These controversies not only involved almost every noted economist of the time but had repercussions on basic economic theory, methodology, and sociopolitical theory. This book, the first comprehensive coverage of the subject, is an indispensable addition to the history of economic thought. It is also relevant to all social sciences concerned with economic prosperity, with the nature of intellectual orthodoxy and insurgency, or with the complex relationships among ideology, concepts, and policies. Originally published in 1972."

Thomas Sowell (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

Audiobook

Choose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-Making

"A leading psychologist and philosopher challenge the shortcomings of rational choice theory—and propose a new framework for understanding decision-making. For many decision scientists, their starting point—drawn from economics—is a quantitative formula called rational choice theory, allowing people to calculate and choose the best options. The problem is that this framework assumes an overly simplistic picture of the world where different types of values can be quantified and compared, leading to the one “most rational” choice. Behavioral economics acknowledges that irrationality is common but still accepts the underlying belief from economics of what a rational decision should look like. In this audiobook, the authors offer a different way to think about the choices we make every day. Drawing from economics, psychology, and philosophy—and both inspired by and challenging Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow—they show how the focus on rationality, narrowly understood, fails to fully describe how we think about our decisions, much less help us make better ones. Notably, it overlooks the positive contribution that framing—how we determine what aspects are most important to us—contributes to good decisions. Schwartz and Schuldenfrei argue that our choices should be informed by our individual “constellation of virtues,” allowing for a far richer understanding of the decisions we make and helping us to live more integrated and purposeful lives."

Barry Schwartz, Richard Schuldenfrei (Author), Grover Gardner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent

"The story of ancient Rome is predominantly one of great men with great fortunes. Surviving Rome unearths another history, one of ordinary Romans, who worked with their hands and survived through a combination of grit and grinding labor. Kim Bowes tells the stories of people like the tenant farmer Epimachus, Faustilla the moneylender, and the pimp Philokles. She reveals how the economic changes of the period created a set of bitter challenges and opportunistic hustles for everyone from farmers and craftspeople to day laborers and slaves. She finds working people producing a consumer revolution, making and buying all manner of goods from fine pottery to children's toys. Many of the poorest working people probably pieced together a living from multiple sources of income. And she suggests that Romans' most daunting challenge was the struggle to save. Like many modern people, saving enough to buy land or start a business was a slow, precarious slog. Bowes shows how these economies of survival were shared by a wide swath of the populace, blurring the lines between genders, ages, and legal status. Drawing on new archaeological and textual evidence, Surviving Rome presents a radical new perspective on the economy of ancient Rome while speaking to the challenges of today's laborers and gig workers surviving in an unforgiving global world."

Kim Bowes (Author), Teri Schnaubelt (Narrator)

Audiobook

On Classical Economics

"A reexamination of classical economic theory and methods, by a senior economist of international stature Thomas Sowell’s many writings on the history of economic thought have appeared in a number of scholarly journals and books, and these writings have been praised, reprinted, and translated in various countries around the world. The classical era in the history of economics is an important part of the history of ideas in general, and its implications reach beyond the bounds of the economics profession. On Classical Economics is a book from which students can learn both history and economics. It is not simply a Cook’s tour of colorful personalities of the past but a study of how certain economic concepts and tools of analysis arose, and how their implications were revealed during the controversies that followed. In addition to a general understanding of classical macroeconomics and microeconomics, this book offers special insight into the neglected pioneering work of Sismondi—and why it was neglected—and a detailed look at John Stuart Mill’s enigmatic role in the development of economics and the mysteries of Marxian economics. Clear and engaging, without being either cute or condescending, On Classical Economics can enable a course on the history of economic thought to make a contribution to students’ understanding of economics in general—whether in price theory, monetary theory, or international trade. In short, it is a book about analysis as well as history."

Thomas Sowell (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Winner's Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies Then and Now

"Brought to you by Penguin. Why do people cooperate with one another when they have no (selfish) motivation to do so? Why do we hold onto possessions of little value? And why is the winner of an auction so often disappointed? In the original 1992 version of The Winner’s Curse, Richard Thaler introduced readers to behavioral economics, challenging the notion of traditional economics that people are selfish, rational optimizers and behave accordingly every time. Three decades later, Thaler has teamed up with economist Alex Imas to provide fresh insights in this fully updated edition. They revisit Thaler's original columns on economic anomalies, some written with collaborators like Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, and explore how these anomalies hold up today. Many anomalies remain, whether in households saving for retirement (or not), professional golfers putting for millions of dollars, or shoppers at large retail chains. In this era of meme stocks and Dogecoin, it is hard to defend the view that financial markets are highly efficient. The good news, however, is that they have gotten funnier. With both readability and rigor, The Winner’s Curse is approachable for anyone with even a cursory understanding of economics, without oversimplifying so that experts cannot read it without cringing. In the final chapter, the authors reflect on the field’s progress and future. Thaler and Imas offer an updated classic even more relevant today to understand the true nature of decision-making in the current economy. © Richard H. Thaler and Alex O. Imas 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Alex O. Imas, Richard H. Thaler (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

1929: The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History

"Brought to you by Penguin. In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a devastating freefall, wiping out fortunes overnight and igniting a crisis that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded—one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin. With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivety in an endless boom led to wreckage. The dizzying highs and brutal lows of this era eerily mirror today’s world—where markets soar, political tensions mount, and the fight over financial influence plays out once again. This is not just a story about money. 1929 is a tale of power, psychology, and the seductive illusion that “this time is different.” It’s about disregarded alarm bells, financiers who fell from grace, and skeptics who saw the crash coming—only to be dismissed until it was too late. Hailed as a landmark book, Too Big to Fail reimagined how financial crises are told. Now, with 1929, Sorkin delivers an immersive, electrifying account of the most pivotal market collapse of all time—with lessons that remain as urgent as ever. More than just a history, 1929 is a crucial blueprint for understanding the cycles of speculation, the forces that drive financial upheaval, and the warning signs we ignore at our peril. © Andrew Ross Sorkin 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Andrew Ross Sorkin (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Gimme a Crisis: In the Room with Global Banker Rick Waugh

"Bestselling author Howard Green profiles former Scotiabank CEO Rick Waugh and sketches an unprecedented and up-close picture of what it is like to run a global bank, often during financial chaos, while leading more than 80,000 employees in more than fifty countries. From navigating a violent economic default and loss in Argentina and a bail-out of the Dominican Republic to surviving the global financial crisis, actively promoting women in banking, and helping secure the NBA's Raptors for Toronto, Rick Waugh was in the room. Green captures the riveting stories, intense conflicts, and pivotal moments that occurred at one of Canada's biggest banks, a significant player in international finance. Waugh's clear-eyed approach to managing risk offers lessons for steering through economic uncertainty, lessons that will be increasingly relevant as we enter a new era of global insecurity. His simple formula: when assessing deals, investments, or major decisions, know your downside, never calculate the upside. Let risk guide decision-making, and the upside will take care of itself. Interweaving extensive interviews with Waugh over the course of a more than twenty-year relationship with the author and scores of interviews with others who worked closely with Waugh or intersected with him, Gimme a Crisis takes readers into the executive suite, revealing the rapid-fire, pressurized decision-making that took place during the most volatile-and harrowing-period in Canada's financial system since the Great Depression."

Howard Green (Author), Howard Green (Narrator)

Audiobook

Burnt: Fighting for Climate Justice

"Time is up. The climate crisis is no longer a future to be feared, but a devastating reality. We see it in the wildfires in California and floods across Britain—the 'once in a generation' extreme weather events that now happen every year. In a world where those in charge are constantly letting us down, real change in our lifetime means taking power into our own hands. The task ahead of us is daunting, but the emergence of a new wave of movements focused on climate justice, equality, and solidarity also brings hope. Asking how we have arrived at this moment, Chris Saltmarsh argues that the profoundly political nature of the environmental crisis has been relentlessly downplayed. After all, how can solar panels save us while capitalism places profit over the future of the planet? Analyzing the failures of NGOs, the limitations of Extinction Rebellion and Youth Strikes, the role of trade unions, and the possibilities of a Green New Deal, Burnt issues a powerful call for a radical collective movement: saving the world is not enough; we must build a better one in the process."

Chris Saltmarsh (Author), Jonathan Johns (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want

"Wharton economist and market designer Judd Kessler pulls back the curtain on hidden markets that determine who gets what in everyday life--and how to tip the scales in our favor. What's the secret to scoring a reservation at a hot new restaurant? When should you enter a lottery to increase your odds of winning? Why did your neighbor's kid get into a nearby preschool while yours didn't? Who gets priority for a life-saving organ donation? These outcomes are not a matter of luck. Instead, they depend on how we navigate hidden markets that arise to decide who gets what when many of us want something and there isn't enough to go around. Every day we play in these markets, yet few of us fully understand how they work. In familiar markets, what we get depends on how much we're willing to pay. Hidden markets do not rely on prices: you can't buy your way in to a better position. Instead, what you receive hinges on the rules by which the market operates, and the choices you make in them. Judd Kessler has spent a career studying and designing these very markets. Now, he reveals the secrets of how they work, and how to maneuver in them. Whether you want to snag a coveted ticket, secure a spot in an oversubscribed college course, get better matches in the dating and job markets, do your fair share of the household chores (but no more), or more efficiently allocate your time and attention, this must-read guide will show you how to get Lucky by Design."

Judd Kessler (Author), Judd Kessler (Narrator)

Audiobook

Economics Audiobooks in Business & Economics