Book Description

Chile is frequently cited as a remarkable success story of neoliberal economic restructuring. In fact, countries around the world are encouraged to follow the Chilean model so that they can reap the extraordinary benefits of rapid growth and expanding export markets associated with the drastic economic reform in Chile. But the Chilean experience is extremely complicated and contradictory. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

A. W. Maldonado tells the story of Puerto Rico's extraordinary climb from poverty to economic success. Operation Bootstrap, a program conceived, promoted, and implemented by Teodoro Moscoso (1910-1992), succeeded in attracting worldwide capital investment that by the mid-1950s had transformed the island from an economic backwater into a bustling industrial society. Though much of the credit went to Puerto Rico's governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, Maldonado focuses on Moscoso to describe how and why the economic miracle took place.

Moscoso was deeply involved in all aspects of the Puerto Rican economy and culture, and Maldonado follows his relationships and battles on a number of fronts, from his initial differences with Rexford Tugwell, the last American governor of the island, to conflicts with Governor Muñoz, who was constantly concerned that Moscoso was pushing change too quickly. In the worlds of business and culture, Maldonado shows how Moscoso employed advertising guru David Ogilvy to propagate the image of a people engaged in a cultural renaissance. He also highlights Moscoso's decisive actions at critical junctures (such as his success in pushing tax exemptions and tourism in the late 1940s) and his personal persuasiveness, as with Pablo Casals, who at the age of eighty was persuaded to establish his Casals Festival at San Juan.

Maldonado shows that Moscoso was the architect of the "economic miracle" that economists and presidents believed could not happen in Puerto Rico. His account sheds new light on the man who provided U.S. administrations with a democratic success story to counter the allure of the Cuban revolution and who was called on by President John F. Kennedy to organize and head the Alliance for Progress. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The book every Puertorican should read
This book should be an official text book in our public schools.Most people in Puerto Rico take for granted the prosperity and the quality of life we know enjoy.Every body in the island should read this book in order to know about how it happened, and which were the circumstances and factors that shaped our economic development.The reader will realize the importance to focus our political discussions on economic development rather than status issues. The show how important factors as geographic location, scarce natural resources, big population, and political relation with the US played a mayor role in our development past.It helps to understand the present economic situation, and to develop strategies for our future growth.The leadership, and entrepreneur spirit, and passion of Teodoro Moscoso, has been inspiring.

Alex W. Maldonado is an excellent writer, and the book is written in very understandable English.It is unfortunate, that this book is not currently published in Spanish.

PReb.com comenta:
Luis Negrón Hernandez: El por muchos años periodista de El Mundo y The San Juan Star, Alex W. Maldonado, aporta a nuestra historiografía: Teodoro Moscoso and Puerto Rico's Operation Bootstrap. Moscoso, a cargo de lapromoción industrial de Puerto Rico a partir de la década del 1940, junto aotros extraordinarios tecnócratas, contribuyó como pocos al desarrollo yfuturo de Puerto Rico. Lea cómo lo hicieron.

An epic depiction of Moscoso's achievements and failures.
This political biography of Teodoro Moscoso, the brain behind Operation Bootstrap, straddles between epical and history.Moscoso is presented as a hero who singlehandedly transformed Puerto Rican history.Moscoso's failures as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and Director of the Alliance forProgress are presented as fatefull events out of his control.

Wellwritten but too bent on presenting Moscoso as a hero, rather than as anactor of history, the book becomes a one sided apology rather than abalanced political biography.

Great presentation of the history and evolution...
Maldonado opened with his book one of Puerto Rican history important moments, operation boostrap. To my generation Operation Bootstrap (Manos a la Obra) seems as something so far in time, but in reading Maldonados book I understand how this economic changes shape the lives of my family andtherefore in the longrun me. Maldonado achieve to expose all the differentaspect of the operation and all the problems it confroted. Maldonado provesis objectivity by recognizing the mistakes that were made and how they haveinfluenced outcome events.I really recommended this book. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A well researched publication, athough biased in argument.
Firstly, let me say the research Nicholas Lardy has conducted is commendable and a welcome addition to the existing literature. His data sources are vast and highly informative. The major limitation of this publication is that the central argument is biased. Lardy selects those data and pieces of existing literature which support his own view. As a result, major sections of the literature concerning financial reform in transitional economies are simply ignored or brushed over. Lardy's view is the typical Western, dare I say "American" argument. Primarily he uses financial criteria to evaluate the economic performance of China's state banks. This methodoloy is extremely poor - particularly in the context of China's trannsitional economy. Financial criteria are a horrible guide to both internal and allocative economic efficiency. If anyone would like elaboration on this point feel free to email me. In summary, Lardy's book is informative and makes for interesting reading. However as a piece of economic analysis, its usefulness is limited. The major reason for this is a total lack of economic theory(as indicated by the previous reviewer) which has resulted in a poor methodology.

Timely, critical but not theoretical enough
This timely book by Lardy explains: 1) the intermingling of China's gradualist reform, the inefficiency of SOE and the evolving banking system; 2) the structure and practise of the banking system of China; 3) some of the implications of the looming financial crisis in China. It thus serves as a critical and timely piece for readers to gauge what has been wrong for China and why are the policy implications. There are a few points worth highlighting. First, the cost of the gradualist reform approach is the resulting inefficiency in SOE and the related banking crisis, a cost which is usually forgot in the debate on the pace of reform for emerging economy. Second, the relative size of SOE in China, despite all the measures to stimulate private sectors for the past two decades, is still large, particularly from the perspective of bank lending. This has been reducing the strength of the banks and limiting the availability of funds to private enterprises. Third, due to the lack of other forms of investment, Chinese banking system has absorbed most of the saving from the private sector. However, because of the fragile banking system, deposit rate has been politically controlled at a very low level. This is effective taxing the Chinese household and subsidising the borrowers, i.e. the inefficient SOE. Forth, related to the third point, liberalisation of capital market will post a serious threat to the banking system because it will take away the funding source from the banking system. Fifth, the Asian flu would post limited short term threat to the Chinese system primarily because it is still a closed system. However, long term implication is clear and the Chinese leaders are aware of the similarity of the Chinese symptoms to those of the Asian flu. The only problem from this reader perspective is the level of theoretical underpinning. The piece is full of details in most of the aspects it is addressing. The missing piece however is that it fails to put the banking crisis into a larger perspective of the transformation of socialist system. Although a full discussion in this aspect may perhaps require an entire book itself, a brief discussion seems appropriate given that Lardy commented on some of the more theoretical aspect of the study in Chapter 5. ... Read more

Book Description

Contests conventional wisdom on Japan's postwar economic success and its economic and political problems in the 1990s, providing a new account of these conditions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Must read for IPE and comparative politics
By far the best book on Japan.I'm not surprised.Would never expect anything less from Patterson. ... Read more

Book Description

More than ever before, local economic development issues are being shaped by market forces. Despite this, urban studies and public administration texts focusing on local economic development issues have glossed over or ignored this fundamental change. Now, in Local Economic Development, John P. Blair presents a comprehensive, accessible, and jargon-free text - one that offers both extensive coverage of economic concepts and the new market forces at work today. Topics addressed include regional growth and development, land use, metropolitan government and finance, housing, economic development strategies, and neighborhood development. Blending knowledge from a variety of disciplines (planning, political science, finance, sociology, and marketing) with a strong analytical approach, this is the ideal text for courses in local economic development as well as public finance, public administration, and policy studies and practitioners.

"I found that Local Economic Development well fills a need for a combined treatment of regional economic and planning issues at the undergraduate level. Its greater depth on topics in economics--its main strength--lends it more useful in survey courses in regional economics."

--Journal of Regional Science

"With its purpose being ''to present the economics of economic development in a manner accessible to both economists and noneconomists,'' this volume broadly describes regional development theories, economic development theories, economic development practices, and analytical techniques for assessing the performance of regional and local economies. . . . For those who have never been exposed to the field of economic development, this book is a user-friendly beginning."

--Choice

"This book represents an important progression and stands as another sign that as a field of study and work, local and regional economic development is a practice whose time has arrived."

--Journal of the American Planning Association

"Local Economic Development should be read by everyone seriously involved in the profession, for it embellishes one’s perspective of the subject in a refreshing way. Then, too, the book should be on the desk of everyone who believes economic development is little more than blue smoke and mirrors, especially if such individuals are politicals prone to change economic policy every time results are not immediate or administrations change. . . . If any single argument exists to dissuade impulsive action, perhaps those in such positions can find it here."

--Journal of Community Development Society

Reviews (1)

Undergraduate Economics Textbook
Blair's Local Economic Development is an undergraduate level text on regional economics.In this regard, it automatically fills a need left by the now out-of-print An Introduction to Regional Economics by Edgar M.Hoover and Frank Giarratani.(Frank Giarratani tells me that no futureeditions are in the offing.) The title difference from the Hoover andGiarratani volume lends a more contemporary flavor to Local EconomicDevelopment.Indeed, it adds brief treatments of the following topics:housing and neighborhood development, local public finance, and planningperspectives.

Having taught (and in all academic practicality weaned)from Hoover's book, I find Blair's approach to the same subject matterrefreshing.In the first chapter, he starts with a sketch of generaleconomic principles_assumptions behind the behavior of individuals andfirms; efficiency versus equity; market forces; and some causes of marketinefficiencies_and moves quickly through a discussion of the notion of"region." The second chapter briefly edifies some criticaleconomic principles in regional analysis: unemployment and low wages,externalities, and public choice.All of this is achieved in a mere 40pages.I find such brief introductions necessary for undergraduate urbanand regional studies courses, and wish that such a handy text would havebeen available when I first prepared my lectures. After this theoreticalbut pragmatic introductory material, Blair immediately hits core materialto local political economics_business development.Here he draws as muchfrom his own research experience in "industry targeting" as fromthe vast literature on industry location.Names like Weber and Hotellingfail to appear here but their main ideas do, however briefly.Most ofthechapter is appropriately devoted to explaining such notions as"quality of life," "political climate," "businessclimate," and other factors thought to influence business locationdecisions, as well as to explaining the nature of the business locationdecision process itself. Chapter 4 deals with market areas and centralplace theory.As he does throughout much of the book, Blair discusses thismaterial with the ultimate goal of providing a means of affecting localeconomic development through public policy.Hence, he focuses the chaptertoward strategies for expanding a center's hinterland. In Chapters 3 and 4,Blair covers (perhaps indirectly) material on inter- and intraregionalcompetition; in Chapter 5 "Understanding Economic Structure," heswitches to a discussion of intraregional cohesive forces_agglomerationeconomies_and their measurement.As in previous chapters Blair does a goodjob on the main principles first developed by the likes of Walter Isard andas well as Edgar M. Hoover.In this case, however, I found at least onechink in the book's armor-the subject of Marshallian industrial districts(industrial complexes) are not well handled. Why did Detroit develop as acenter for the world's auto industry?Why is it dispersing southwardtoward Birmingham, Alabama?Why are financial districts still relativelystrong in major national urban centers?In summary, Blair fails to discussthe dynamics of agglomeration, specifically localization economies.Hedoes not answer or bring up the subject of why some industries still benton localizing while other are dispersing in an age with decliningtransactions and shipping costs.

In Chapters 6 and 7, Blair takes on thetopics of regional development and its measurement.In these chapters hetouches on export base theory, shift-share analysis, econometric modeling,andregional input-output analysis.He also discusses regionimportance-strength analysis, a critical component of industry targeting. Here I found that he may have missed a perfect opportunity to provide somestructure via Saaty's analytical hierarchy to a method void of academicrigor. The analytical hierarchy approach is also a good lead intosensitivity analysis for students.Sensitivity of business locationdecisions to changes in the importance of regional characteristics would bean ideal and pragmatic application of this tool.

After returning to tersetheoretical economic treatments of welfare economics and factor mobility,Local Economic Development turns to topics of land use, housing, andneighborhood development in Chapters 10 and 11.The section on housing isone of the best in the book, evenly covering all of the basic requirementsin a mere 25 pages. The organization and content of the section on land useis less well developed.For a book that is oriented to practitioners,Blair gets bogged down in defining economic theories of land rent. Consequently, sharp transitions are requiredto and from the sectionentitled "The Land Development Process," most of which deals withproject feasibility.In addition both the transition to and the discussionof government's potential role in development planning are leftwanting.

The chapter on government is almost strictly a lesson on publictaxation and the allocation of public goods, and less on ways in whichgovernment can induce local economic development.For this reason Chapter12 was the most disappointing of the lot, despite its quality discussion ofthe more theoretical aspects of government finance. The most pragmaticpiece in the chapter was a discussion of cost/benefit analyses.

Despitemy comments on the particular contents of some chapters, I found that LocalEconomic Development well fills a need for a combined treatment of regionaleconomic and planning issues at the undergraduate level.Its greater depthon topics in economics-its main strength-lends it more for use in surveycourses in regional economics.The book's weakest component is itscoverage of government policy and planning tools.Planners will find thebook particularly wanting at times, although unlike economists they aremore likely to be aware of readings that fill its main gaps. ... Read more

Book Description

Who controls markets and profits from them? Does competition or monopoly result in a more beneficial economy? How can the economic playing field become fairer or more biased in either direction? The study of industrial organization extends to the core of these most important questions of economics. Throughout the field's history, various clashing schools of thought have attempted to sort through these complex issues, examining both abstract theory and real-life cases. The Fifth Edition of this widely used, highly regarded text includes coverage of dramatic changes in the field. Shepherd & Shepherd provide broad, balanced coverage of topics without showing preference to any single point of view, encouraging students to think independently. This emphasis on independent judgment is evident throughout the book, with discussion of structure placed before performance to assist the reader in thinking about causation. Topics are organized for maximum flexibility, with distinct chapters covering case studies, antitrust and regulation policy, and capital markets. ... Read more

Book Description

Why have large-scale schemes to improve the human condition in the twentieth century so often gone awry? James C. Scott analyzes diverse failures in high-modernist, authoritarian state planning-collectivization in Russia, the building of Brasilia, compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, and others-and uncovers conditions common to all such planning disasters. What these failures teach us, he argues, is that any centrally managed social plan must recognize the importance of local customs and practical knowledge if it hopes to succeed. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Got the gist, gets lost in the details.
Scott's book gets off to a very good start, arguing that the roots of "high modernism" run deep in a particular world view that grew with scientific culture, but lacks its elements of ruthless self-criticism. What impressed me was his grasp of this ideology as a culture, albeit a culture of a few. Science too is a culture, and this phenomenon is the mentality of the technicians, the engineers, the planners...once they gain power. As one who works in this milieu, although not with the power elite, it rang very true.

He also does a wonderful job of skewering the cultural and aesthetic pretensions of people like Le Corbusier, although this has been done very well by others as well. But Scott does a very good job of showing how the aesthetic was the political, although nobody would admit it.

Unfortunately, after the first two chapters or so, Scott's writing loses its force and wonders about, making no very impressive points, and relating interesting annecdotes, providing intriguing descriptions of bad situations, but not advancing or deepening his argument.

Important Anthropology for Cross-Disciplinary Application
The above reviewer, Stirling S Newberry, writes, "The book is part of a useful discussion, but the context and knowledge to engage in it does not seem to be present at this time. Unfortunate."

Actually, what is most unfotunate is that Newberry failed to that Scott allows his assertions regarding social engineering at the behest of an individual state apply just as well to, for example, international aid regimes and foreign hegemons who strive to "remake" the world and its societies after a single vision (8).

Scott's concern in Seeing Like a State is to make a case against an "imperial or hegemonic planning mentality that excludes the necessary role of local knowledge and know-how. Scott goes on to argue, "The most tragic episodes of state-initiated social engineering originate in a pernicious combination of four elements." The first is a simplification and aggregation of facts. Scott argues that states manipulate otherwise complex, dynamic, discrete and often unique circumstances into simplified, static, aggregated, and standardized data, and that these form unrealistic "snapshots" which often miss the most vital aspects of the situation. The second is what Scott terms "high-modernist ideology." Scott defines this as "a strong, one might even say muscle-bound, version of the self-confidence about scientific and technical progress, the expansion of production, the growing satisfaction of human needs, the mastery of nature (including human nature), and above all, the rational design of social order commensurate with the scientific understanding of natural laws." The combination of these two elements can be devastating when the third element, an authoritarian state, is "willing and able to use the full weight of its coercive power to bring the high-modernist designs into being" over the fourth element, "a prostrate civil society that lacks the capacity to resist these plans."

Throughout his work, Scott provides evidence that centrally managed social plans inevitably go awry. The reason for this, he argues, is that state imposed development initiatives wreak havoc upon the complex social interdependencies of peoples who, in the first place, are not adequately understood. Scott argues that for development initiatives to be successful, they must have their starting point in, first, the recognition of, and then the incorporation of, local, practical knowledge. He states that such forms of knowledge are just as important as "formal, epistemic knowledge." He thus argues against the sorts of developmental theories and practices that disregard metis.

In detailing the general methodology in which states have gone about solving the problem of underdevelopment, Scott argues that states-usually represented by aloof bureaucrats sitting in offices-approach development from the proverbial "bird's eye view" without adequately accounting for, and incorporating, the proverbial "worm's eye view." Such social engineering, Scott asserts, requires the simplification and standardization of complex facts, and in the process, essential knowledge of the facts are lost. At its worst, the result is tragedy, disaster, and human suffering. At its best, unplanned outcomes result, usually at great human and state expense.

Scott contrasts state simplifications with metis, which he defines as, "a wide array of practical skills and acquired intelligence in responding to a constantly changing natural human environment." Examples of metis are farmers knowing when to plant by looking at when the leaves on certain local trees begin to sprout, or describing the size of a farm by the number of workers needed to tend it, rather than by acreage. One region may have highly labor-intensive land, while another may not be so intensive. Forcing land to be described in terms of acreage negates this useful information, which information is the key thing lost in return for the "standardization" of discourse and knowledge. As well, when states and development planners dictate that all collective farms must plant at the same time, local knowledge is again lost-along with, Scott shows with a multitude of case studies, productivity.

Scott develops his argument to show that when citizens, events, cultural characteristics of peoples, and the natural environment are not easily standardized and quantifiable, there is an incentive for the state to alter the population to fit the desired "measurements" and proper "standards." For example, states privatize collectively owned lands to tax them more easily. In order to track more easily "consolidated" people into a larger development vision, the state forces villagers with deep historical roots to adopt surnames. Even if this means altering the very fabric of their society, the "larger" goals must give way to "smaller" visions. Scott states that, "the builders of the modern nation-state do not merely describe, observe, and map; they strive to shape a people and landscape that will fit their techniques of observation." Scott is prolific in citing historical examples to support his claims.

Many among the Haitian peasantry would sum up Scott's arguments with a Haitian proverb: "The big branch at the top of the tree thinks it has the best view, but it fails to see the sights enjoyed by the little bud tossed about by the wind." Damage therefore is the result.

A very important book
The power of this book does not come from the originality of the ideas - but in their application to policy. It is a discourse on the "gaze" of policy, in how it categorizes and boxes complex phenomena to make them fit the dominant discoure, and the implications of this for human well-being. It thus provides a valuable bridging role between the worlds of anthropology and sociology, and the world of public action. It has become of the most influential books of the 1990s and deserves to be required reading in courses on development policy.

seeing like a state: starving like a person
How do states and empires control people and landscapes, and why do their attempts so often tragically fail? Agrarian theorist James Scott answers this question boldly and provocatively in Seeing like a State. States (and all of us) simplify a complicated world in order first to understand and then ultimately to change and control the world around us. Indeed, at the root of much of our modern daily activity and thinking is a great deal of simplification-we invent categories, we exclude variables, we limit diversity, we simplify.

For states, the problem with the world is that it is impossibly messy. It is, to use Scott's most brilliant metaphor, illegible. Within every state's territory-especially huge modern imperial states-there exist diverse ecologies, diverse peoples with myriad customs and linguistic dialects, and a variety of local customs. In order to control these areas (i.e. to prevent rebellion, social unrest, starvation) and in order to exploit them (i.e. to use natural resources, to make money, to raise armies) states first must be able to read them. They must make them legible. And herein begins the process of simplification that so profoundly shapes modern bureaucracy. States standardize landholdings, blotting out old inheritance and geographical patterns. States work to simplify ecologies, turning complex ecosystems into streamlined, productive, and micro-managed forests or monocrop fields. States standardize languages, substituting myriad local dialects with a uniform King's English. And they create huge lists, cadastral maps, registers, etc., which they use to describe their holdings and the people who live in them. With these documents, they reshape the world according to their own simplified categories, and according to their own top-down priorities.

The problem here, Scott shows, is that state efforts at making the world legible result not only in a simplified worldview, but in an unrealistically OVERsimplified approach to statecraft, with tragic consequences. State efforts to control ecology, for example, often take no account of local conditions, local ecosystems, and the subsistence patterns that local inhabitants have developed for centures on the landscape. In the effort to scientifically manage forests, Scott shows, states often ignore the ways in which biodiversity is needed to protect soil fertility. After ten years as a state-managed forest, the landscape is barren. Likewise, in an effort to chop the landscape up into easily taxable units, the state will often destroy local landholding patterns developed to provide each inhabitant with a slice of land in each different local micro-climate. While the local solution was carefully planned to give each inhabitant access to a pond, let's say, the top-down state solution puts the pond on one single person's land, in the interest of simplified cadastral mapping. The result is disorder when a drought comes and everybody wants access to that pond.

The main theme of this book concerns the tension between local solutions, often brilliantly adapted to climate and ecosystem, and top-down state solutions, which are simplified and made with an eye towards state goals like taxation and social control. Scott shows that when the civil society is weak, the top-down approach of high-modernist state planners will usually win out over local adaptations and destroy them. The catastrophic results, as illustrated in several well-told chapters in this book, make the reader understand the limits of state planning, and the virtues of local control.

To a man with a hammer . . .
The picture on the jacket cover is interesting. It is a road in the midwest that switchesback to avoid converging towards the horizon as it follows a line of longitude, which constitutes a county boundary. The switchback is the consequence of a conflict between geometrical, geographical, and political 'spaces.' It is a compromise devised by a bureaucrat with a map, not by the locals on the ground. It is a case of what Scott calls 'seeing like a state.'

Scott apparently has a background as an anthropologist studying migrating peasants as they cross state boundaries. The state has a prejudice in favor of stationary and sedentary forms of life, and for a very simple reason: transients are tough to tax. But there are other reasons, which are not so simple. The state attempts to expand and increase revenues, of course, but how does it know who to tax, when, and for how much? It needs maps, records, reports, surveys, etc. And that is where the perversities of 'seeing like a state' come in. The maps, reports, and surveys have an inertia of their own. They shape the world to their own form, which is not the form of the world as lived by the subjects.

Scott draws an interesting analogy, at the very beginning of the book, from forest managaement. The German forest managers had to figure out a way to track and measure the forest stock, also known as 'boardfeed' for tax purposes. But how to measure a forest? The solution is to legislate that the only legal forest is the measurable forest: in neatly planted rows made of one variety. This isn't the healthiest forest, for obvious reasons, but it is the easiest to 'manage.' And in that way the forest begins to conform to the catagories measured by the forest managers.

As a cautionary tale, "Seeing Like a State" is a little late. It's not news that Brasilia is unlivable and communism was a disaster for the environment. Even so, Scott's brief is a powerful brief on behalf of the conservative principles of local control and 'muddling through' versus centrally-sponsored improvement schemes. The theme is univeral and always timely. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This book confronts the horrible ambivalence of his legacy.
A fascinating, but ambiguous book: Its central characters are the so-called "Chicago Boys", economists who served under the Pinochet regime. The author explores the roots of their ideas and their sense of mission, following their training at the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. These planners took advantage of the opportunity afforded them by the 1973 military coup to launch the first radical free market strategy implemented in a developing country.

Let us be clear here: Pinochet was, undoubtedly, the worst kind of tyrant. Even U.S. officers accused of conspiring with el jefe (Henry Kissinger, for example) do not dispute that his reign was horrible by U.S. and European standards. Thousands of opponents to the regime were tortured, jailed, and "lost".

The author does not deny this, nor does he make any attempt to candy-coat Pinochet or his regime. Quite the opposite.

Gabriel Valdes was, after all, a liberal who escaped Chile during the regime and joined the government that replaced Pinochet's. Yet he refuses to deny (as many have) the ambivalence of the Pinochet legacy. For even as the General practiced the worst kind of political oppression of dissent, he encouraged free-market economics... and Chile prospered as a result. Other states (Nicaragua, for example) which started out as darlings of the Left fell in to the worst kinds of economic decay, as Chile moved forward. (Skeptics may credit this precipitous collapse to the Contras, if they like, but the record is otherwise.)

According to this author, the ideological strength of the Chicago Boys' mission and the military authoritarianism of General Pinochet combined to transform an economy that is now seen as a model for Latin America. Gabriel Valdes makes the case that it was this economic growth itself which laid the groundwork for democracy. Ultimately, it was Pinochet's own economic platform that led to his ousting. Just as South Korea finally reached a critical mass of prosperity its government could not contain, so too did Chile's economic turn-around finally propel the collapse of the authoritarian state that had made this growth possible.

Human rights advocates too frequently overlook the vital importance of property rights. In pursuit of economic "justice," they frequently redistribute the economy to death. This author makes the case, in considerable detail, that the right to trade freely and prosper lays the groundwork for other freedoms (to be free of torture, to speak freely, to associate freely, etc.) And, because it creates jobs, free trade groweth can actually eases and obscure class tensions in the long run.

This book offers remarkable evidence for a model of nation building that too few Third World leaders endorse- one founded on the premise that economic growth precedes and permits political democracy.

P.S. I know this review is likely to get a slew of unhelpful votes. So be it. This is a great book that people should read carefully before criticizing. Leaders who refuse to consider these arguments will wind up with a less honest appraisal of history.

the american cultural myth of Augusto Pinochet and Chile
I was interested in the whole take on Chile. It seemed to be the perfect model of American foreign policy. It seemed hard to argue against Chile. It seemed that dictatorships and extreme poverty were necessary evils in building industrialized democracies.

Then I read Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He brings to light something that economists cannot ignore. Even though most industries were privatized, one industry was regulated stricter than democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende ever meant to. The copper industry, Chile's leading industry was that industry. Those other industries that were privatized that are noted even by pro-Pinochet economists for causing poverty and social decadence all round.

If you care to look into the Chicago boys, just take a look at Milton Friedman's work with a critical eye. Rather than seeing to promote libertarian thought, he seemingly hurts it more. The Chicago boys built the same economy paradigm that was followed by the Russian Communist Party (yes, the Communists; 60% of the population opposed free market economics) that led to further economic chaos and social decay in post-communist Russia.

I've met many libertarians that have nothing nice to say about the Chicago boys and the Friedman line of thought. Nice way of defending Pinochet's rule. Too bad it's far from the truth.

Upside down
This book focus on a fascinating subject: the story of how a bunch of Chilean free market economists transformed a dictatorship into a model democracy and a prosperous economy. Valdes describes the team and its origin with skill and knowledge. But then his partisan socialist background betrays him and he begins to see conspiracies and imperialist designs. A wasted opportunity.

Understanding the past 20 years Chile's history
This book is an explanation about the "work" of the Chicago School in Chile. You can read about the origin the Chicago School into the Departement of Economics of the U. of Chicago (USA), the transfer of knowledge to the chilean students during the 60' s and 70's and how this school and the "Chicago Boys" supported General Augusto Pinochet ... Read more

Book Description

This is an introductory survey of the history and recent development of Latin American economy and society from colonial times to the establishment of the military regime in Chile. In the second edition the historical perspective has been enlarged and important events since the Cuban Revolution, such as the agrarian reforms of Peru and Chile, the difficulties of the Central America Common Market and LAFTA, the acceleration of industrialisation in Brazil and the consolidation of the Cuban economy, are discussed. The statistical information has been extended to the early 1970s and the demographic data to 1975. ... Read more

Book Description

The transition from a planned to a market economy thatbegan inChina in the late 1970s unleashed an extraordinary series of changes,includingincreases in private enterprise, foreign investment, the standard ofliving, andcorruption. Another result of economic reform has been the creation of anewclassChina's new business elite. Margaret M. Pearson considers theimpact thatthis new class is having on China's politics. She concludes that,contrary tothe assumptions of Westerners, these groups are not at the forefront oftheemergence of a civil society; rather, they are part of a system shapeddeliberately by the Chinese state to ensure that economic developmentwill notlead to democratization. ... Read more

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Always something of an enigma to Westerners, Russia has become a veritable paradox in the decade following its transformation from communism to capitalism. In Sale of the Century, journalist Chrystia Freeland offers a riveting bird's-eye view of this conversion that should prove fascinating to everyone still hoping to do business there, and to anyone intrigued by the erstwhile superpower. Be forewarned, though: Freeland, who began reporting on the country in 1995 as Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, describes a nation of troubling extremes. The nation has evolved into a giddy utopia for some of its citizens, but one unable so far to handle its sudden affluence. The author portrays trendy Versace boutiques and bustling Mercedes-Benz dealerships lining Moscow's fashionable streets, whose sidewalks are patrolled by machine-gun-toting policemen trudging through the corrosive chemical waste used for melting the snow.

In well-written first-person accounts, Freeland goes on to describe how scrappy entrepreneurs made overnight fortunes and then lost them just as quickly to widespread corruption and the 1998 Russian stock market crash.By the end of the 1990s, the economy was half what it had been at the start of the decade, producing less than Belgium and only 25 percent more than Poland. Meanwhile, power blackouts, wildcat strikes, and water shortages had become commonplace. Additionally, the ordinary citizen often grew worse off than before the fall of communism, while a powerful few came to own nearly everything. This cautionary tale ends with a more "workaday economy" emerging from the wreckage, and the author's hope that Russia's economic leaders can stay this new, more-balanced course. All signs to date, however, leave her decidedly pessimistic. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (12)

A Thorough History of Capitalist Russia
The failure of Russia's transition to a market economy easily ranks as one of the most important stories of the 1990s. Unfortunately, while this story is important, it is not well known. In part, this must be blamed on the nature of Russia's market transition: much of it was done behind closed doors in the proverbial "smoke filled room."

This fact makes Crystia Freeland's book all the more valuable, for she, through in-depth interviews with nearly all the important players, has penetrated beyond this haze to give us the real story of the capitalist transition in Russia.

Freeland spent several years in Russia writing for the Financial Times and it shows, as her book echoes with every nuance and detail of this story. Through direct quotes, a myriad of background details, and anecdotes, the leaders of Russia's marketization are transformed from names to living, breathing entities. Furthermore, where other accounts might be satisfied to present only the most oblique facts, Freeland's book digs deep to provide the real story of what happened behind the scenes.

Although the depth of this book is certainly a strong selling point, Freeland's prose is also notable. Often gripping, never cumbersome, her prose exceptionally conveys the details of this story from her notebook to our eyes. Freeland's own analysis and insight gives us a valuable insiders' interpretation of events and adds a personal touch. Where appropriate, irreverent details are sprinkled in providing color to the story as well as quite a few shocks.

Overall, you'd be hard pressed to find a better account of Russia's market transition than the one Crystia Freeland presents in Sale of the Century.

A classic
Wow, what a great book! Not just one of the best books on post-Communist Russia, but one of the best books on anything.

Ms Freeland brings to life the key characters in what is undoubtedly one of the most gripping stories of our time. It is a real page-turner. She writes beautifully, colouring her text with engaging personal anecdotes which bring the realities of modern Russia to life.

The book is a work of journalism (based on personal interviews) rather than history or economics. All the same, Ms Freeland also has an excellent understanding of the theory and practice of economic reform. A first-class journalist, she can break a complicated issue down to its essential core, in terms anyone can understand.

Her analysis and judgements are very level-headed and fair. From the perspective of 2001 she is probably too pessimistic about Russia's economic transition. Still, Ms Freeland is a lot more balanced than so many other commentators (notably hysterical Americans of the "who lost Russia?" school). For example, she draws a necessary distinction between the early phase of Russian privatisation, and the sordid "loans-for-shares" scheme of the mid-1990s, which is the centrepiece of the book.

The book probably overstates the centrality of the loans-for-shares scheme. But it isn't really a comprehensive survey of Russian economic transition. Rather it concentrates on the rise (and ultimate falling out) of the oligarchs, whose corrupt and scheming ways culminated in the 1998 crash. As the Financial Times correspondent in Moscow, Ms Freeman knew all these remarkable characters intimately.

At the same time, though, the book shows the complexity of post-communist Russia, with a colourful cast that goes beyond the oligarchs and their cronies. Here are the "young reformers", whose story of hubris followed by nemesis gives the tale elements of classical tragedy (Ms Freeland draws apt parallels with the stories of Dr Faustus and Dr Frankenstein). Here are the New Russians and Red Directors. The shifting alliances and conflicts between them are expertly described, with telling personal detail. Ms Freeman shows how these conflicts are as much social and generational as economic - which is essential to understand what post-communist Russia is really all about.

I think that this book will become a classic, which people will read in decades to come to get a first-hand understanding of Russia during the turbulent 1990s.

well-written
Chrystia Freeland, Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, chronicles Russia's roller-coaster ride from communism to crony capitalism. She writes poetically, with creative metaphors, colorful word pictures, and a keen insight into Russian history. The copious adverbs, adjectives, and details--sometimes superfluous-may, however, irritate those reading her book for the "bottom line." The book also omits analysis of organized crime in general. On the other hand, a key strength of Sale of the Century is Freeland's ability to bring to life the key players in Russian politics: Yeltsin, Gaidar, Chubais, and the handful of wealthy oligarchs. As a journalist, she was able to meet most of them often. The book enables the reader to develop a more refined and differentiated understanding of the oligarchs.
Among these are Mikhail Friedman ("the outsider") who heads the Alfa Group, an oil, industrial, trading, and financial conglomerate. As a Jewish Ukrainian barred from prestigious educational establishments, Friedman began his entrepreneurial ventures early, starting with illegal bartering of theater tickets and later obtaining Western consumer goods for top officials (p. 115).
Mikhail Khordokovsky ("the apparatchik") is also Jewish and leads Menatep, the bank and financial-industrial conglomerate. Outwardly docile with a soft voice and slight stutter, Khordokovsky is adept at winning the trust of the government officials, having pursued a parallel career in the Komsomol. Beneath the subordinate exterior, however, lies a ruthless person who installs hidden video cameras in his buildings and does not hesitate to fire slackers (p. 121).
Unlike Friedman and Khordokovsky, Vladimir Potanin ("the blueblood") was the son of a senior Soviet trade official and already had a promising Soviet career. He realized in the nick of time that, as the Soviet Union's collapse accelerated, "the advantages that had ensured Potanin's advancement suddenly threatened to become golden handcuffs" (p. 129). He started his own business, which eventually became Oneximbank, which now handles the "juiciest" government accounts, including the State Customs Agency .., and the state arms-trading company "Rosvooruzheniye," which keeps "a few tens of millions" on Potanin's books (p. 131).
Vladimir Gusinsky ("the impresario") dabbled in many entrepreneurial activities (driving a gypsy cab, peddling blue jeans, and "medicinal" copper bracelets) and also worked as a theater director before founding the consortium of banks (the Most group) and persuading his patron Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow, to transfer money to them from Soviet-era banks. He founded inter alia the newspaper Segodnya and the first independent television channel (NTV).
His main rival is Boris Berezovsky ("the nomad"), although the two oligarchs have functioned temporarily as allies. Perhaps the most unsavory of all the oligarchs, Berezovsky, also Jewish, has been particularly good at winning the favour of members of Yeltsin's entourage (especially the latter's youngest daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko) and directly influencing the presidential elections of 1996 and 2000.---Johanna Granville, Ph.D.

Memorable, comprehensive and readable!
Freeland's book presents the events that took place in a Russia recovering from a disastrous, failed experiment with communism and its first attempts at capitalism and the free-market economy in a detailed and highly-readable format. One of the most important chapters in the history of modern Russia is beautifully embossed in Freeland's elegant language. She captures the key players well with memorable phrases and interviews and life in Russia during that period with personal anecdotes. Sale of the Century definitely takes readers on a wild ride to the Russia in transition!

A Indispensable Account of the Human Side of the Story
As other reviewers and readers have noted, Freeland's book _The Sale of the Century_ offers a vivid account of the human side of the story that is so essential to grasping the magnitude of what really happened in the Russian Nineties. The narrative clearly reveals the author's exceptional competence in the area of Russian current affairs. Her familiarity with the turns of history so central to Russia's shaky experiment in marketization makes this work indispensable for the student of contemporary Russia. While the myriad anecdotes, names, and intricate descriptions of events can definitely require slogging through, a careful reading will be an excellent education in the political and economic history of contemporary Russia. Also included, scattered amidst the detailed journalistic narrative, are intense historical insights on the nature of Russia's destiny and self-image in civilizational history. Overall, highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

"Political economy" has been the term used for the past 300 years to express the interrelationship between the political and economic affairs of the state.In Theories of Political Economy, James A. Caporaso and David P. Levine explore some of the more important frameworks for understanding the relation between politics and economics, including the classical, Marxian, Keynesian, neoclassical, state-centered, power-centered, and justice-centered.The book emphasizes understanding both the differences among the overall frameworks of the theories and the issues common to them. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Summary of Political Economy
This is a very good introduction into the theories of political economy. It covers classical and neo-classical theories, as well as Marxian and Keynesian critiques. Notably missing is Polanyi. Sometimes a bit difficult to read, but then again, this is political economics... ... Read more

Book Description

Latin America in the World Economy considers the dual aspect of Latin American development: how external factors (phases of world capitalism since Columbus) interweave with internal factors (Latin American culture, politics, and social groups). Within his skillful approach, Weaver demonstrates how domestic social conflicts and power relations have consistently capitalized on changes in the international economy, while, conversely, engagement with the international economy has consistently constrained local struggles and patterns of change. With over half of the book dedicated to the "short" twentieth century (after 1930), Latin America in the World Economy is appropriate for courses in Latin American economic history, political economy, and development. ... Read more

Book Description

Covers all Latin American countries and provides a superb introduction to the area as a whole.

Latin American Politics and Development is the leading textbook in its field over the past 20 years. The only text organized on a country-by-country basis that represents all Latin American countries, it thus offers instructors maximum flexibility in organizing courses. Furthermore, each of its chapters is written by a well-known specialist. The Fifth Edition is thoroughly revised and updated for enhanced coverage of topical issues, including women's and indigenous social movements, the consolidation of democracy, and the political consequences of economic regionalism (such as NAFTA and MERCOSUR).

The Fifth Edition of this highly regarded text has been thoroughly updated and revised to reflect the complex political and economic developments that have occured in Latin America over the past five years. The revision includes new introductory and concluding chapters, several chapters by authors new to the volume, and updated chapters on each country in the region.

Wiarda and Kline emphasize the trend toward democratization, and democracy's problems, as the organizing theme of the book, covering pressing issues such as economic reform, globalization, political unrest, and the international drug trade. Wiarda and Kline organize their analysis around Latin America's distinct background and position in world politics and the world economy. They also describe patterns of political development, the dynamics of political behavior, institutions and public policy, and the constant tension between those who favor a political regime in keeping with the authoritarian past, and those who prefer a Latin American version of democracy. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Something to bear in mind:
Despite his considerable knowledge on the subject of latin american affairs, one must remember that Mr. Wiarda himself has been involved as a D.C. insider, advising multiple administrations and normally favoring the right-wing, "top-down" style of democracy (read, sub-fascism) that is friendly to U.S. business interests. Consider also how he justifies this approach: while U.S. citizens normally favor a kind of Lockean form of government, by their very culture latin americans are more Rousseau-esque, in that they require a strong Leader to look up to. (Somehow it never occurs to people who are backing fascists that it might be that the Lack of a more open, "lockean" government is what contributes to the instability and insurection that they are trying to crush.) Considering that this is the kind of ideology that has infected U.S. foreign policy towards our southern neighbors for more than one hundred years (see Hunt, "Ideology and US Foreign Policy"), it might actually be a good read, if only to get a better understanding of how such supposedly intelligent and well-meaning people can make and justify such terrible decisions; however, if you want the truth about latin america, look else-where.

Captures Latin America in a nutshell
Wiarda and Kline have done an outstanding job of drawing together comprehensive, compact histories of Latin American countries. Moreover, in their introduction they have encapsulated and explained most of the historical forces that still affect and shape Latin America up to the present day. This book is for anyone, whether casual reader or serious student, who wants to understand Latin America as a whole, or any country in Latin America in particular. ... Read more

Book Description

Ireland appears to be in the throes of a remarkable process of social change. The purpose of this book is to systematically scrutinize the interpretations and prescriptions that inform the deceptively simple metaphor of the "Celtic Tiger."The standpoint of the book is that a more critical approach to the course of development being followed by the Republic is urgently required. The essays collected here set out to expose the fallacies that drive the fashionable rhetoric of Tigerhood. Four of these fallacies--that Ireland has cast off the chains of economic dependency, that everyone is benefiting from the economic recovery, that personal freedom and liberty are at an unprecedented level for all citizens, and that Ireland is also experiencing a period of strong cultural renaissance--are vigorously challenged.
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Book Description

Reviews (1)

I learned a lot from this book.
I encountered with this page while trying to order English version of The future of industrial man, which Japanese version I just finished.

This book is one of the most exciting writing by P.Drucker.

I achieved or rather confirmed, the basic platform of the socio-econmy we live in. I have learned that the value or discipline of the economy and society of developed nations is not based on the surrealistic ideas but on the accountable prosess of the hsitory.

That being said, the progress of present economy of each nation should have its reference in the world history as well as in its own.

Peter F. Drucker would not want to be an icon. But, he is so charming! ... Read more