Shaped by his 25 years travelling the world and enlivened by his encounters with presidents tycoons and villagers from Rio to Beijing The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks the dismal science of economics as a practical art based not just on crunching numbers but on live observation. He shows us how to read the political headlines the world billionaire rankings the price of onions and popular news magazine covers as signs of coming booms busts and protests. Parsing the complicated flood of data on debt trade and capital flows Sharma explains exactly which numbers are most telling for a nation's fortunes and when they signal a turn for the better or worse.In our post-crisis age that has turned the world on its head and ended a decade of supercharged growth replacing political calm with revolt Sharma's pioneering book serves as a highly readable field guide to understanding change not only in this new era but in any era.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'Entertaining, acute and disarmingly honest' Economist

'A vital guide to the new economic order' Rana Foroohar, Time

The crisis of 2008 ended the illusion of a golden era in which many people imagined that prosperity and political calm would continue to spread indefinitely. In a world now racked by slowing growth and mounting unrest, how can we discern which nations will thrive and which will fail?

Shaped by prize-winning author Ruchir Sharma's twenty-five years travelling the world, The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks economics as a practical art. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country's future, it spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy.

'The nub of the book is how to spot which countries are likely to succeed, and which to fail, in this impermanent world. Sharma offers a framework of 10 rules. The more of these rules countries achieve, the more they are likely to rise rather than fall ... it may just help you avoid picking losers' David Smith, Sunday Times

'Amazing ... fascinating insights ... quite simply the best guide to the global economy today' Fareed Zakaria

'Lively and informative' Martin Wolf, Financial Times

'As ambitious as it is well executed ... a mix of humble pragmatism and daring decisiveness' Reuters

Sharma Ruchir