When More Is Not Better

Overcoming America's Obsession with Economic Efficiency

By: Roger L. Martin

Narrated by: Steve Menasche

For its first 200 years, the American economy exhibited truly impressive performance. The combination of democratically elected governments and a capitalist system worked, with ever-increasing levels of efficiency, spurred by division of labor, international trade, and scientific management of companies. But since then, outcomes have changed dramatically. Growth in the economic prosperity of the average American family has slowed to a crawl, while the wealth of the richest Americans has grown to a level never seen before. This imbalance threatens the American democratic capitalist system, which only works when the average family benefits enough to keep voting for it.

In this book, Roger Martin starkly outlines the fundamental problem: We have treated the economy as a machine for which the pursuit of ever-greater efficiency is considered an inherently good thing. But it has become too much of a good thing. Our obsession with efficiency has inadvertently shifted the shape of our economic outcomes: from a large middle class and smaller numbers of rich and poor to a greater share of benefits accruing to a thin tail of already rich Americans.

Filled with keen economic insight and advice for citizens, executives, policymakers, and educators, When More Is Not Better is the must-listen guide for saving democratic capitalism.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Roger L. Martin (P)2020 Gildan Media

Must read, right up there with Principals

I would suggest any fans of Dalio’s Principals or Schmidt’s Trillion Dollar Coach to pick this book. Fantastic points of view on how to make the economy, businesses and the world better for everyone.

Narrator Detracts from Excellent Book

A sharp, accessible exploration of our current economy and best future paths. Unfortunately, the narrator is overly performative, treating the book as if it were a novel. He also mispronounces words, including some that are key to the concepts discussed (for example, pronouncing “surrogation” as “serragation”). The overall effect significantly diminishes the impact of the author’s smart, important work.

Inaccurate Information

Some parts of the book have patently wrong information. His description of basic market terms is incorrect and it’s frustrating he would publish something that’s easily fact checked.

One that stood out was his Bid/Ask definition and how it proves market efficiency.

A few truths, stretched thin

I wanted to like it, I thought it might be something like From Good to Great. And I did enjoy the thoughtful criticism of the simple measures of success and imperfect, static models used by many economists. The advantages of competition in a shifting environment, the comparison of the economy to the Natural world, the value of slack in the system , the slide toward Pareto distributions of wealth -- all good.

He warns against data collected by others and encourages direct observation as a basis for belief. so when he fawns over a favorite restaurant, over a teacher he met, a particular university program, I suppose he's demonstrating that trust in anecdotes but it's a little embarrassing nonetheless. The narrator tries too hard to bring it all to life and as my interest in the author's personal views waned, the delivery became annoying. I got up to the last chapter then quit.