REVIEW: “In This Economy?” by Kyla Scanlon

Kyla Scanlon’s book, In This Economy: How Money & Markets Really Work, has joined the rarified ranks of “useful model to think about the world and history” books.

Peter Zeihan’s high on that list. So is James Hollis. I’m adding Scanlon to the list.

Here are MY BIG 3 TAKEAWAYS, who I’ll likely be gifting this book to, and if you want this review in audio/video form, make sure you check out the Cultish Creative YouTube channel (or find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram).

BIG IDEA #1: The Uncertainty Cake

As Scanlon puts it, “When we’re worried about the economy, we’re really worried about our own money.” I’ll add that money = ourselves and how we make anything and everything happen. If it has a dollar sign next to it, and just about everything in life does, those “worries” are really all about our experience with a $ in our own life.

She explains it in food terms, which I always appreciate.

The Uncertainty Cake has three layers:

EXPECTATIONS: how we expect it to go

THEORY: How it’s supposed to go

REALITY: how it’s actually going 

Zeihan has a map, Scanlon has a cake. If you you learn nothing else from this book (or even this post), learn this metaphor. In everything you can worry OR wonder about, there is an uncertainty cake.

BIG IDEA #2: The Expectations vs. Reality Gap

People love an explanation. And, they tend to feel more confident when the explanation is put forth in some scientific sounding and confident way. We love a good “theory.” Which is exactly why theory exists between expectations and reality in the uncertainty cake. Who doesn’t love the middle of a treat?!

In this case, what’s in the gap tells us what we need to know about what’s on the top and bottom layer. In many cases, it tells us more than the top or bottom layer alone can tell us. The expectation vs. reality gap is the key to understanding not just where we are, but where we’re going.

While the gap can be explained with fancy sounding theories, it can also be explained with VIBES.

And, wouldn’t you know, in a world of so much content everywhere all at once, the vibrations we’re all picking up on matter more than just about anything else. Scanlon explains vibes as they relate to theories early in the book. Then she looks backwards and forwards with…

BIG IDEA #3: Vibes Across the Ages

The gap, the vibes, and the written theories. From the old times, and into the future times. The explanation works well backwards. It’s hard to argue with why it won’t be helpful going forward.

Did Fed policy work because of fancy econometric terms, or because of the vibes of the times (or both)?

What about the housing markets?

What about stocks/stonks/things people trade?

It’s more than theories people. And the cake is the key to the takes. Scanlon’s breaking it down. She’s mapping it forward and backward. You will learn something.

Who Should Read “In This Economy” and Why?

If you want to understand an increasingly modernizing modern world,

this book can help.

You know how life keeps moving faster and faster and things feel more and more out of control?

This book can help.

Let’s break it down by age.

Young(er) people! Read parts I and II at a minimum. They’re a baseline way to see the world. And since you have a lot of life to go, and especially since other (re: older) people will offer you LOTS of opinions, you want this in your pocket.

Old(er) people! Read part V on at a minimum. This is how a younger, smart(er) person thinks about the world and policy. You want to build and get people on board? Here you go.

Middle people! I’m one of you too. Just read the whole book.

Go check out In This Economy: How Money and Markets Really Work by Kyla Scanlon.