The Third Pillar

The Third Pillar (2019) traces the evolving relationship between the three “pillars” of human life – the state, markets and communities – from the medieval period to our own age. Economist Raghuram Rajan argues that, throughout history, societies have struggled to find a sustainable balance between these pillars. Today is no different: caught between uncontrolled markets and a discredited state, communities everywhere are in decline. That, Rajan concludes, is jet fuel for populist movements. But a more balanced kind of social order is possible.

Raghuram Rajan is an economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund between 2003 and 2006 and the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India between 2013 and 2016. His previous book, Fault Lines: How Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (2010), won the 2010 Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.