An old proverb says: “a picture paints a thousand words” and in this book, the pictures are the charts. Our World in Charts has over 150 charts that depict a range of economic, market and social issues. There is a lot of information in each chart and each tells a story which authors Alan Kohler and Stephen Koukoulas explain.
Charts give context. An annual budget deficit of $30 billion sounds a lot, but relative to the size of the economy in 2017 it’s about the average of the last 40 years. A chart can show this. Ask a good economist, “how are you today?” and they should answer, “relative to what?” Charts show how the economy or markets are today relative to the past.
