Basic Books signs BBC journalist Ben Chu's 'essential' book

Basic Books UK has landed BBC journalist and economist Ben Chu’s "provocative warning about the risks of abandoning globalisation", titled Exile Economics. 

Publishing director at Basic Books and John Murray Press Joe Zigmond acquired world rights from Elly James at HHB Agency for publication in June 2025. 

In Exile Economics, Chu argues that isolationism weakens the global economy and explores how exile economics "entails a rejection of interdependence, a downgrading of multilateral collaboration and a striving for greater national self-sufficiency". By examining globally traded commodities, from silicon to soy beans, Chu "illustrates the unfathomably intricate web of interdependence that has come to bind nations together – and underlines the dangers of this new push to isolationism". The publisher called the book an "essential guide to this new world in all its promise and peril". 

Chu said: "For the past eight years, all the momentum has been behind the forces of exile economics. And today, with the world bracing for yet another historic economic shock from Chinese overproduction and with ’Tariff Man’ Donald Trump returning to the White House, this feels like a moment when globalisation really could break apart entirely. This book will explain how we got to this point – and what it means for all of us if we make the wrong choices in the months ahead."

Zigmond added: "As nations turn inward, trade wars loom and real wars rumble on, Ben Chu has written the perfect book arguing for clear-eyed decision-making in this critical moment. Exile Economics is a myth-busting call for reason in a world on the edge."