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The Volatility MachineBook

by Michael Pettis

Who uses, recommends or left The Volatility Machine, in their own words: each a verbatim quote with a link to where it was said.

1 person

Brad Setser
Brad Setser is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.He served in top trade and economic roles in the Biden and Obama administrations.
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Um uh it's called The Volatility Machine by Michael Pettis. It is It is a thin book. It is not an easy read. Uh it is actually not even about China, even though Pettis is now very well known for his work on China. It's about how to think about financial vulnerabilities in the global economy and in emerging economies in particular. I think [snorts] it's a modern classic.

Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “The China Shock 2.0” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-brad-setser.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.

2026-08-21·youtube.com ↗

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

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