"Each of Chang's 23 propositions may seem counterintuitive, even contrarian. But every one of them has a basis in fact and logic, and taken together they present a new view of capitalism. Chang may be our best critic of capitalism, but he is far from being any kind of anti-capitalist. He recognises the failings of centrally planned economies, and rightly describes capitalism as "the worst economic system except for all the others". At the same time he is confident that capitalism can be reformed to prevent crises like the one we have just experienced recurring. Making markets more transparent is not enough. [...] Rather than reforming itself, free-market capitalism looks set simply to decline. But if Chang's reforms are unrealistic, his account of where we find ourselves today is arrestingly accurate. For anyone who wants to understand capitalism not as economists or politicians have pictured it but as it actually operates, this book will be invaluable."

"One point of criticism is that it is in his commenting on the actual existence or otherwise of a free-market that the author creates doubt over the strength of his assertions that this system can be held responsible for today’s global problems. In reality, as Chang notes, a free-market does not exist because government regulations are present throughout society, such that the conditions and boundaries of a ‘free-market’ are not clear. [...] It’s not hard to see why Chang’s book is an international bestseller: each of one his 23 propositions provides a truly fascinating insight into the pitfalls of free-market capitalism. The book draws on many of our other present-day economic problems – such as inequality, extremes of poverty and wealth and the financial crisis in the Western world – and how these relate directly to the policies and mixed incentives of free-market economics. The ease with which the text flows, the succinctness of each chapter, and the fact that the author makes no assumptions about the reader’s depth of knowledge on this system of capitalism broadens the appeal of the book beyond those involved in academic study of economics. At the same time, the book would benefit from greater clarity on the exact original principles of a free-market system and the foundations of their formation in economic thinking, given the emphasis the author places throughout on economic problems stemming from free-market policies."

"Taken together, his answers take on those who zealously advocated deregulated markets and open trade before the economic crisis. Some of the analysis smacks of bayonetting already fallen enemies: a chapter on the follies of the post-crash Icelandic economy, for instance, attacks folly already much lambasted elsewhere. But behind the sometimes disconnected structure lie two important arguments about how economic theory needs to be rethought. The first involves growth, and the particular importance of manufacturing. [...] the book’s second big argument: countries should be encouraged to protect and promote their own industries. Mr Chang is a “heterodox” economist, who has spent much of his academic career (and two previous books) arguing this with more orthodox colleagues. He has shown in particular that western countries who preach free trade and competitive markets commonly protected their own industries during earlier periods of growth."

"This is one of the toughest assaults on what passes for capitalism in the U.S. these days to come out in decades — but it is not especially a liberal or leftist book, and thus supplies the profound need America has for economic criticism that is both radical and bipartisan. [...] This is a theoretically profound book, but emphatically not a book for theorists. It is thus a book for anyone who has grasped that America is being strangled by a set of myths about what capitalism is and how it works. Debunking these myths is thus job one."