Tyler Cowen has read Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, and he is not impressed.

Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (Metropolitan Books, 446 pages, $28), the latest anti-capitalist best seller, tries in vain to discredit the economic system that brought about modern America, the Industrial Revolution, and high standards of living around the world.

The energy of the book is real and there is no doubt it will mobilize most of its readers to higher levels of outrage and action. It's probably the most effective brand of emotional nonfiction to be published this year. But when it comes to the underlying message, and the standards of evidence used to support it, "The Shock Doctrine" is a true economics disaster.

[Link via Cato@Liberty]

Tyler Cowen reviews Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal on Marginal Revolution. He finds it less shrill than he thought and, as a consequence, expects it to sell less than Naomi Klein's latest.