Book Description

Economics has become a bestselling text through its step-by-step introduction to both micro- and macroeconomics. This package contains a book and two 40-minute DVDs, which feature the bestselling tutorial software DiscoverEcon as well as all-new videos with Paul Solman of "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." Three bonus chapters are available online for further information, while lively vignettes give life to central themes.

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The "commanding heights," according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin and international business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, are those dominant enterprises and industries that form the high economic ground in nations around the globe. In their analysis of the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World, they examine "theindividuals, the ideas, the conflicts, and the turning points" that are responsible. And by considering events such as the ongoing Asian monetary crisis, they suggest what the ultimate interconnection of financial markets might mean in the future. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

Very good read but flawed
As we are used from the authors ( The Prize and their work in CERA) we get a very well written and well researched expose. It is by far not as dry as most books on this subject and actually it is quite light reading.

It starts of well by demonstrating the rise and decline of Government dominated economies in the West as well as in other parts of the world. They describe the initial successes and later failures. The transition to the free market economies we have seen in the past two decades is described well. Unfortunately the book does little more than that...description.

In particular the idea that we have fixed everything now with the global free markets radiates from some of the pages on the Chicago/Harvard experts. The questions posed in the introduction on e.g. how to deal in terms of social and moral systems with the new economic order do not get attention. Instead we gate the same feeling as with reading Fukuyama's End of the World History which at that time was pretentious and looks utterly ridiculous today.

It is not only the current economic crisis but also the imbalances the new system has brought ( eg overproduction of commodities, loss of control over currencies, destabilized capital flows) that has not been identified as possible outcomes of the free market policy. This leaves alone the many disasters the world has seen with privatization.

Therefore, a very good and entertaing read but a bit short on the thought provoking side.

Offers insightful understanding of globalization.
Daniel Yergin provides the reader extraordinary insight into contemporary globalization. In a masterful, sweeping work that encompasses economic and social history of the post-war era, Yergin (who won the Pulitzer Prize for "The Prize," his study of the oil industry) and his co-author Joseph Stanislaw help us understand how economies around the world, but especially in the third world, are abandoning the old faith in big government and are embracing the marketplace. But Yergin and Stanislaw also warn that the marketplace -- laissez-faire -- is fraught with perils for countries that don't have sound governance and indigenous institutions and entrepreneurs who are able to function responsibly in an increasingly interdependent world. I found the book's analysis particularly lucid; the chronology at the end, which details the evolution of economic theory as well as cites political trends, should be especially useful to students. This is a book I'd recommend highly for laymen and scholars alike.

Resource Allocation and the Battle of Economic Ideals
In Carl Sagan's "Contact," the unknown entity encountered by Arroway after her journey into the wormhole delivers a scathing critique of the human condition, and goes on to express his concern about Earth's "astonishingly backward economic systems." "Commanding Heights" is a comprehensive account of those "backward" economic systems and chronicles the seemingly amaranthine battle between governments and the marketplace for control of the most important elements of the global economy. The discussion centers on the economic events of the second half of the twentieth century, sandwiched between the establishment of the British welfare state at the conclusion of the Second World War and the Asian financial contagion unfolding at the time of the book's publication.

The theme of "Commanding Heights" is the superiority of resource allocation via free markets vis-à-vis resource allocation by means of government control of strategic business undertakings. Along this free market-government control continuum, there are three fundamental, ideological positions concerning the workings of an economy: economic totalitarianism, strategic intervention, and non-interventionism. Given this backdrop, the second half of the twentieth century is depicted as a colossal experiment in wealth creation and redistribution. Advocates of neoclassical economics such as Friedrich von Hayek pitted their ideas against Keynesians and supporters of the command-and-control system.

World War II and its concomitant cost in human lives and shattered economic potential served as the catalyst for a remaking of the global economic order. Policymakers and politicians began questioning the effectiveness of a purely laissez-faire market system in mitigating the impact of macroeconomic failures and in addressing the issues of equity, poverty, and unemployment. Keynes provided a blueprint for the emergence of the so-called mixed economy, advocating government intervention through fiscal and monetary measures. Nationalization of strategic industries, central planning, and direct regulation were some of the tools made available to administrators.

By the time of the oil shocks of the 1970s, it became increasingly clear that this system of state control over essential economic activities was ill-equipped to deal with market shocks, and that regulatory capture rendered direct government supervision of natural monopolies and fundamental services ineffective and untenable. At the end of the 1980s, concerns about market failure started to give way to belief in the superiority of the market in allocating resources and ensuring that economic actors adhere to the principles of equity and fair play. Government began to take a back seat from managing the commanding heights of the economy, and privatization, deregulation, and liberalization became the norm.

The authors are unabashedly in favor of laissez-faire economics; this is shown by the recounting of recent economic history as a set of multifarious journeys undertaken by various countries that nearly invariably leads to the adoption of neoclassical economics as the sole logical solution to the ills caused by big government.

Ultimately, whether the experiment with 'enlightened' free enterprise and the continuing retreat of government will succeed or not in the long term will depend on a host of factors, such as: (1) is the pursuit of pure profit by erstwhile government-owned entities detrimental to public welfare? (2) will liberalization ensure a fair distribution of wealth? (3) does internationally mobile capital impinge on national sovereignty? (4) is the marketplace inherently superior in price determination, especially in the short term? and (5) will the "balance of confidence" turn out to be in favor of free markets?

GREAT BOOK
Extraordinary ! Hard to write, easy to read ! Academic approach with a non-academic language ! While you are reading this book, you are learning without realizing ! This book makes learning economics enjoyable.
A good look at the battle between government and market forces in the history of economy. New economies, emerging markets, economic thoughts, governments, all of them are included in this book. From China to Argentina, you can trace the history of economic battle between the governments and market forces. All I can say is , if you are interested in world politics and world economics, if you are running for presidency, if you are a businessman or bureaucrat, you need this book in order to get some lessons from the past.

Did You Say "A Lively Economics Book"?
Don't be scared, Commanding Heights, in every sense, is a lively yet informative economics book. A text for everyone, from the main street person to Milton Friedman

The writers, Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, are both players of the business world, and Ph.D. holders (Yergin's from Cambridge University, where he was Marshall Scholar, and Stanislaw holds a Ph.D. from Edinburgh University). Furthermore, Yergin's book "The Prize" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. One could only expect a dry, scholarly frightening work from the two, but, surprisingly, Commanding Heights is anything but intimidating.

This is a very good introduction to 20th century's economic plans and philosophies- from Gandhi's "swadeshi" to Thatcherism of the late 1970s and 80s to the 'global economy' of the 90s and present.

The book's treatment of Thatcher and Thatcherism is very good and readable, and almost enlightening. The portrayal of Margaret Thatcher is illuminating, if not flattering for the subject. The Thatcher of the book is not the evil witch of left-wing politics, but that of a hard-working, decent and uncompromising woman from a lower middle class background. Her (political) partnership with Joseph Keith and her devotion to Keith's plan is intriguing, and her David-and-Goliath battles with the 'establishment' is inspirational. ("I am the rebel head of an establishment government" she once boasted). Keynesians beware- this book might turn you into a Thatcherite!

Another highlight is the book's treatment of Latin America's economic dogmas and policies. Here, Chapter Nine of the book, it reads like a dark, compelling, political thriller authored by Vargas Llosa (Not surprisingly, Llosa's name appears in this book). Like the rest of the book, this chapter is highly fascinating and lively.

With great clarity and intelligence, this is a highly recommended 'big' book. A great companion as we face a new century. READ IT! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An insightful analysis of the World's economic systems.
This book explores and compares the different economic systems throughout the world in an easy, almost non-academic manner (it's used in several universities as a textbook.) Mr. Gardner writes in an entertaining and easy-to-understand style, and his explanations are precise and informative. Having been written in 1988, the book still dedicates a good portion of its content to the Soviet communist economic system, which is now a "distant" memory. Still, it's a good reminder of how divided the world was economically and philosophically for almost the entire 20th Century. All in all, a must read for people who want to learn the basics (and a lot of nuances) of the main economic systems of the world ... Read more

Book Description

A galvanizing new work from America's leading economic critic—a book that will set the terms of the political debate for years to come.

No one has more authority to call the shots the way they really are than Paul Krugman, whose provocative New York Times columns are keenly followed by millions. One of the world's most respected economists, Krugman has been named America's most important columnist by the Washington Monthly and columnist of the year by Editor and Publisher magazine.

In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled: how exuberance gave way to pessimism, how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals, how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth about how the United States lost its way. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track. ... Read more

Reviews (180)

Bush fans need not read! Keep your head in the sand......
If you are a George Bush fan this book is probably not for you. Paul Krugman is currently a columnist for the New York Times but is an economist and has been involved with politics since he worked with committeemen in the Reagan administration. The book was taken from his columns from 2000 to 2003. While he tries to simplify things his primary method of explaining things is through the use of numbers.

Krugman explains what happened to the surplus and why the big tax cuts are aimed at ELIMINATING Social Security. Paul Krugman also has some harsh words for his fellow journalists for taking comments from the administration at face value without even doing minimal investigation to check on their validity. If you are a moderate or left in your politics and want to know what happened in the last 3 years this book is for you. If you just want snappy comebacks for your right wing friends then I suggest Al Franken' book instead.

After all, the top 20 reasons for going to war stated by Bush, Cheny, Powell, and Rice have ALL been PROVEN wrong. We give tax breaks to the rich, yet the Bush administration announces they want to cut back on Social Security benefits. WOW! Don't you see something wrong with this?

Economist and Princeton professor Krugman explains why we are back into deficits, why the right-wing GOP refuses to work within the limits of the American political framework, why Americans are now pessimistic about most things, and he exposes George W. Bush for what he is -- A power hungry liar.
But, not only does Krugman point all this out with his great logic and wit, he also (unlike most current political authors) offers ideas on how we can get our great country back on the right track again.

If you are open minded and looking for those books begging for its pages to be turned...look no further. I just read a copy of Edgar Fouche's 'Alien Rapture,' which also blew me away. Fouche was a Top Secret Black Program 'insider', whose credibility has been verified over and over. I also really liked Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons.' Want to be shocked, check out Dr. Paul Hill's 'Unconventional Flying Objects' which NASA tried to ban.

Ab Uno Disceomnes--From One Thing Learn All
I first read this book several months ago, and have had time to think about it and to refer to it periodically. At first I was disappointed. I expected a book of analysis on what has happened to the country under the Bush presidency. Instead, I found a collection of Mr. Krugman's columns. Because I already read his op-ed pieces every Tuesday and Friday for free on line in the New York Times, I felt a little cheated. But Mr Krugman is an economist, and getting paid twice for the same work is very economical, I guess.

But as I read "The Great Unraveling" the technique grew on me, and I accepted the book for what it was. The introduction (pp 6-20) is truly compelling. Here Krugman introduces his readers to the concept of the "revolutionary power." He borrows the idea from Henry Kissinger's PHD dissertation "A World Reborn." He argues that the neocon movement the Bush Administration represents is such a power. These people do not play by established rules of conduct. Their values and goals differ from those of the established order. Krugman delineates the characteristics of such a movement from again borrowing from Kissinger's work. It was reminiscent of a conversation between Sean Connery as a streetwise Chicago cop and the idealistic Eliot Ness played by Kevin Costner. In the exchange the elder man tells Ness how he has to approach getting Capone

Also, Krugman writes as an economist and not as a journalist; he makes this point early in the book. Because of his training as an economist he did not buy into the Bush campaigns statements about how they would meet government obligations and offer huge tax cuts at the same time. His professional training would not allow him to buy the oft cited equation in the book that 2-1=4. His training as an economist allows him to spring board into a broader discussion about areas beyond pure economics.

An old friend of mine told me that though I was a complete failure that "I could always serve as a bad example." This is how Krugman studies economics, looking at bad examples, mistakes that have occurred in foreign economies so that he can predict what will happen in our country and in our economy.

The book begins with an examination of bubbles in the economy--how the exuberance they create works to undermine economies. He talks about the bubble in the Asain Rim and ultimately in American high tech stocks. He explains the Ponzi scheme and how it applies to contemporary economics and why the feeding frenzy that ensues is often so irrepressible. He rues the role of Alan Greenspan in perpetuating the irrational exuberance that the tech rallies fomented. In the following section he takes on the crony capitalists--that group of beneficiaries of greed at Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, etcetera, explaining the reasoning for why CEO's plunged their companies into the abyss as they did. It involves stock options and cooking the books.

The sections of the book are designed to follow different threads of this unraveling. In retrospect I realized that this was indeed the best way to watch something come apart--reports over time on a variety of topics. It is interesting to watch Krugman's thinking emerge.

Also, it is interesting to watch that thinking evolve away from just economics and into the things that economics impacts--which is everything. He discusses the impact on health care, the Iraq War, terrorism, the treatment of veterans and of little people. There is a compelling quote in the book where Krugman questions whether Dick Armey and Tom Delay really believe the draconian free market solutions they espouse or whether they just "hate poor people." He talks about injustice to veterans--how the Bush administration tries to conceal benefits from them.

Krugman, at bottom, is not an ideologue. He is interested in economic results. He attacks some of the arguments against globalization. He contrasts economists like Larry Summers and Larry Lindsay, showing how ideology can effect solutions. He states that sound economists, regardless of how they are labeled right or left, differ little in their assessments of conditions given sound information. He writes that the collapse of the Argentine economy had not so much to do with free market solutions as it did faulty monetary policy. Conversely, he shows that Sweden, while a highly taxed mixed economy, is doing very well--low unemployment and 4% growth.

Mr Krugman is an "honest broker" who believes that he should report according to the best evidence, measure results and not ideological purity. As he does report, he watches those who do believe in ideological solutions press on in their great unraveling.

Much-Needed Wakeup Call
Krugman has been a beacon of truth in some very dark days in American politics. Because he is an economist rather than a journalist, Krugman can expose the Bush administration's deceptions by doing the math and checking the sources. It's a rare talent these days, when most news reporting consists of little more than printing a quote from side A and an opposing quote from side B ("balance" accomplished!), with no regard for the objective truth of these claims.

While the book is essentially a collection of Krugman's New York Times columns, I found it very valuable for seeing how various stories unfolded, from the growing awareness that California's energy crisis was in fact engineered by Enron traders "gaming" the system to the deceitful manner in which the Bush adminstration lured the country into the misguided and tragic war in Iraq.

But more than anything, this book is not to be missed because of Krugman's excellent introduction, in which he explains how the Bush administration constitutes (in Henry Kissinger's term) a "revolutionary power" that will brook no compromise and will do anything (issue bogus terror alerts, out CIA agents, knowingly lie to the American public, etc.) to maintain and extend its power and ram its extremist agenda down our throats.

The Great Unraveling is a much-needed wakeup call for the American public and an urgent and timely warning of the dangers the Bush administration poses to our cherished democracy.

Ex-Enron Consultant fails to come clean
When will Krugman talk about how he was a (well) paid for Enron as they were scamming investors and Enron employees who lost their life savings. Come clean Krugman!

Outdated anthology of spiteful and shallow op-eds
A member of my extended family recommended this book as "the" book that would "convert" me from my moderate stance. He said he was just sure I would read it and begin to "hate Bush" as much as he does. He was just sure I would "see the light."

So I read it, with an open mind, yet skeptical that one book could sway me.

It is trash. And, as it turns out, I had already read the entire book in its many pieces.

First off, it is shallow. Because it is essentially just a collection of old op-eds, there is no depth, no real substance. If you want the gist of this book, just go to the NYT archive and pull up a few of his op-eds.

Which brings me to my second point, that it is repetitive. The op-eds are hollow and short, yet some of them cover almost the same ideas. If you've read one on a particular subject, you've read them all. My advice for Mr. Krugman: either elaborate or go to a new subject, por favor. Thanks.

Third, Krugman contradicts himself over and over. For example, his paranoid belief that President Bush wants to de-fund the government and take away the social safety net secured by FDR doesn't jive with his bemoaning of the deficits (and blaming them solely on Bush, nothing else) we now face.

Fourth, the guy just seems angry. I guess some Americans share his anger, and if you are angry and pessimistic about life and our country, this is the book for you, but he just is such a vindictive and bitter writer that it is hard to take him seriously.

Fifth, along those same lines, his hyperbole makes him not very credible. He seems to believe the worst about the direction of the country and the leadership of the Bush administration, no matter what he is talking about. Even good news becomes bad news to Paul Krugman.

If you are a moderate, you will be repulsed and repelled, as I was. If you are a conservative, you will probably become energized to fight against it. If you are a liberal (or just anti-Bush), this probably won't enlighten you or give you anything new to use at happy hour or around the water cooler, but it will, in a rather shallow way, reinforce your anger and resolve to oust Bush (notice, I didn't even say it would reinforce your ideology or positions or beliefs, because it likely will not). ... Read more

Book Description

Widely regarded as the best, most comprehensive text available for the in-depth study of labor market theories, The Economics of Labor Markets calls upon excellent pedagogical elements and empirical research to introduce students to labor economics.The authors' balanced approach to the material enables students to gain an understanding of the background of the field as they explore its latest developments and unique topics not covered in most competing texts.Intended as the basic text for an undergraduate course in labor economics or labor relations, this book also is suitable as a survey or reference text for a graduate level course. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the first U.S. economic history books on the market, this classic text ties America?s past to the economic policies and debates of today and beyond. Presenting economic events chronologically for ease of understanding and to provide continuity, the authors equip students with a firm foundation in the evolution of American economic history. ... Read more

Book Description

For more than a decade, Japan's dismal economy -- which has bounced from deflationary collapse to fitful recovery and back to collapse -- has been the biggest obstacle to economic growth. Why has the world's second largest economy been unable to save itself? Why has a country, whose financial might in the 1980s was the most feared force on the globe, become the sick man of the world economy? Why has the industrial transformation once called the Japanese Miracle frozen into the Japanese malaise?

Saving the Sun answers these questions by telling the story of Long Term Credit Bank, one of the nation's most respected financial institutions, and its attempts to transform itself into a Western-style bank. Through the stories of three extraordinary men, former Financial Times Tokyo bureau chief Gillian Tett brings to life the bank's long struggle to regain its financial health. In the process, she shines a light into the secretive world of Japanese banking where business is done in sex bars and gangsters lurk behind the scenes. And, in a fast-paced narrative, Tett chronicles the internal conflicts between reform-minded and tradition-bound factions within the bank, as well as the powerful and protective Japanese bureaucracy.

Filled with dramatic scenes involving some of the most important figures and institutions in international finance -- -Paul Volcker, Lawrence Summers, John Reed, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and CSFB -- Saving the Sun charts the growing confusion between a government eager to revive the economy but unwilling to accept the necessary compromises and the Western bankers (profiled here for the first time) who too openly scorned Japanese capitalism and its paramount interest in social harmony over pure profit.

What emerges is the first viable explanation of what caused Japan to stumble from such economic heights -- readers will finally understand what has hobbled that country. But what also emerges is the realization that a profound rift still exists between Japan and the rest of the world. Though Long Term Credit Bank's transformation into Shinsei bank has been a rousing success in financial terms, the Japanese press, government, and people have all but turned against the idea of American-style capitalism. Indeed, instead of reforming Japan, the banking crisis may have convinced ordinary Japanese, more than ever before, that they must go it alone.

Reviews (12)

Good but not the whole story
Overall Tett has done an exemplary job in summarizing the basic events surrounding LTCB / Shinsei. Her access to senior Japanese management of the old LTCB is particularly impressive. No Japanese journalist has gotten such close personal access to the men involved. In addition, her book provides very thorough background of the history of Japanese banking right up through the "bubble" years. Tett's book , however, does have some shortcomings. First and foremost, she overstates the role of Yashiro and drastically understates the key role of Chris Flowers and Brian Prince in the bad loan cleanup phase. Those two, more than anyone else, deserve credit for doing the really tough work. Moreover she appears to have fallen under the spell of the very glib Tim Collins and therefore has exaggerated his contribution as well. Collins is essentially a money raiser, he is not the architect of the LTCB/shinsei deal. Flowers again deserves the credit here. Perhaps Tett missed this because Flowers is famous for his reticence with the press. Lastly Tett seems overly focussed on the (gasp!) fact that some financial sector employees in Japan (gasp!) frequent strip clubs and hostess bars. I guess she hasn't been out on the town in London or New York recently....

SUMMARY: Good general chronological summary and overview but lacks deep understanding of key element -- the bad debt workout.

Outstanding focused explanation of the Japanese loan problem
This book chronicles the fall of Japan's Long Term Credit Bank (LTCB, not to be confused with American Long Term Capital Management) and it's resurrection as Shinsei. The story starts with the problems created in Japan's real estate bubble, and how they left Japanese banks saddled with poor performing loans. The story zeroes in on the problems that caused LTCB to fail. It then covers the revival of the bank with the assistance of an American private equity fund, and the struggle of the new managers to play within the constraints of the Japanese system.

This book highlights several issues with reform in Japan:
1) The business problems are never what they seem on the surface.
2) There are deep cultural issues at play that transcend mere language barriers.
3) Working on a turnaround in Japan is a tremendously challenging ordeal for people on both sides.
4) There is no simple economic or cultural solution.

So was it a success? Well, depends on how you define a success. Collins and Flowers put a $1.2 billion in the bank. The government accepted $10 billion in returned loans, on top of a recapitalization. $27 billion in bad loans were disposed of. The bank winds up with a projected market cap of about $10 billion. So was it a transfer of public wealth to private wealth? Or a neccessary step in reforming the banking system? The reader is left to decide.

If the book has one shortcoming, it's the presentation. I certainly enjoyed it, but the focus is much narrower than the title of "Saving the Sun" would highlight. While broader banking issues are tackled, the book centers on one bank and a small group of investors, and no broader Wall Street/Ginza tie-ups.

In all it is well worth the time for anyone interested in the Japanese financial sector. It is one of the strongest books I've read in describing the economic situation in Japan, and melds cultural and antropological issues into describing the problems and solutions. Very well done!

overall fine, but...
As others have commented, Saving the Sun provides a good chronology to the LTCB takeover, a significant event in Japan's recent history. But there are problems with the book. I lived in Japan during most of the 1990s, and Tett's constant pigeon-holing of the Japanese and American attitudes contains some truth but is exaggerated and becomes tedious. (Even the title is an exaggeration.) Tett may be a financial journalist, but there are enough errors that one questions her expertise on the subject matter. In addition, it is difficult for the reader to get a sense of the scope in some sections as numbers are almost never provided within a clear context. For example, Japan's debt may be "horrendous" although its savings may be "staggering." What is the horrendous/staggering ratio, and how has it changed? Still, readers interested in Japan should read through the shortcomings because the anecdotes Tett provides are interesting and the story itself is important to understanding what is happening inside Japan's financial sector today.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ?
"I would put an exclamation point at the end of all these sentences! On this one! And on that one!"

The above speech from Seinfeld's Elaine pretty much sums up my feelings regarding Ms. Tett's attempts at "writing". I feel like Franklin Dixon (yes, he of Hardy Boys fame) wrote this account of LTCB/Shinsei. Much of the dialogue (whether direct quote, questionable translation, or fanciful conjecture) is peppered with inappropriately many exclamation points, making the story sound like a teenage mystery adventure novel.

Aside from the unnecessary dramatization, and the author's tendency to intersperse good economic analysis with poorly considered social commentary about Japan, the book is informative and interesting. If you are interested in learning about the main players in the Shinsei drama, and learning a fair bit about the differences between Japanese and western political and financial systems, then this book is definitely worth the three stars I am giving it.

I just finished reading Saving the Sun, and today (2004-Feb-19 in Japan) Shinsei actually completed the IPO mentioned in the book. The shares were offered at the upper end of the range, and traded at a 66% premium. It looks like Collins, Flowers and Co. will be making a handsome profit for their investors, after all.

Let's wait and see #1: let's see if New LTCB Partners CV (Netherlands) is allowed to get away with paying zero tax in Japan.

Let's wait and see #2: let's see if Japan ever allows foreign investors to get this much control in this profitable a local investment ever again.

Let's wait and see #3: let's see if the Shinsei experience has any lasting (positive) effect on reforming the Japanese financial system -- history says it won't, but we keep hoping.

Finally, one material transgression worth noting is the author's reference to Anil Kashyap of "Chicago University". Professor Kashyap is certainly a good teacher and a great researcher, but we prefer to refer to the institution as the "University of Chicago" -- please take note for the 2d edition, Ms. Tett.

The Japanese banking crisis as an anthropological study
What is new to be said about Japan's now decade-long financial crisis? A Wall Street Journal financial reporter has returned to her roots as a trained anthropologist to look at the cultural implications behind Japan's continued failure to deal definitively with its insolvent banking system.

The core point that Gillian Tett returns to again and again is that Japan's problems started when its traditionally-run banks extended into global markets. There they operated without any of the checks and balances provided by either Japanese society or Western business methods.

American, European and Australian customers were only too happy to take advantage of Japanese banks that lent money without any attempt at risk analysis. They called the bankers "unseasoned" and "juvenile". The Japanese, on their part, saw the West as a Garden of Eden, ripe for the picking. It was sweet revenge after the humilation of World War II.

The important point is that these wealthy, powerful men with their sophisticated knowledge of derivatives and debentures, were hopelessly naïve about the differences between Japanese and Western social and business assumptions. Despite many of the Japanese having lived and (often very successfully) worked in Europe or the US, and some of the Americans having lived in Japan, neither side showed any insight into the social mentality of the other. Crucially, this caused them to misinterpret even such basic tools of their trade as the implications behind a simple insurance contract.

There aren't many heroes in this tale. The Japanese bankers and their Japanese customers were crudely vulgar. The Western "ex-patriots" in Japan were crassly bad-mannered. It's no surprise that the more the Japanese public learned about both groups, the more outraged they became. Frustratingly, even the ongoing churn of politicians and political parties in an attempt to get the system reformed, and a few nominal criminal charges of fraud against some of the Japanese participants has failed to significantly cut the Gordian knot created in the 1980's and 1990's.

At the date of publication (and of this review), Japan is still an economic basket case, its banks loaded with an unstable mountain of debt. In the final chapter, Tett lets the major participants involved in the takeover of one of the biggest banks by a Kansas-based "vulture" fund have the last say. Unsurprisingly, they all disagree with each other. ... Read more

Book Description

A brilliant investigative marrative: How six average Soviet men rose to the pinnacle of Russia's battered economy.

David Hoffman, former Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post, sheds light onto the hidden lives of Russia's most feared power brokers: the oligarchs. Focusing on six of these ruthless men Hoffman reveals how a few players managed to take over Russia's cash-strapped economy and then divvy it up in loans-for-shares deals.

Before perestroika, these men were normal Soviet citizens, stuck in a dead-end system, claustrophobic apartments, and long bread lines. But as Communism loosened, they found gaps in the economy and reaped huge fortunes by getting their hands on fast money. They were entrepreneurs. As the government weakened and their businesses flourished, they grew greedier. Now the stakes were higher. The state was auctioning off its own assets to the highest bidder. The tycoons go on wild borrowing sprees, taking billions of dollars from gullible western lenders. Meanwhile, Russia is building up a debt bomb. When the ruble finally collapses and Russia defaults, the tycoons try to save themselves by hiding their assets and running for cover. They turn against each other as each one faces a stark choice-annihilate or be annihilated.

The story of the old Russia was spies, dissidents, and missiles. This is the new Russia, where civil society and the rule of law have little or no meaning. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good Job!
Much better than I expected, a serious work with a great deal of research invovled. It avoided the typical lurid embellishments of the genre, and also made the point of the important period of transistion in the Gorbachev period, where nascent Russian capitalism started. It lacks somewhat in that it focuses on only six men, and they are of varying importance in the post-Yeltsin period. As Putin reportedly said when asked about Berezovsky--"Who?" Nevertheless, a good job, an interesting read and thankfully avoids falling into the tabloid style of so much of the literature on the topic.

The Power of Six
David Hoffman's "The Oligarchs" documents in great detail the rise of 6 businessmen--Aleksandr Smolensky, Yuri Luzhkov, anatoly Chubais, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky--who became the "oligarchs" who shaped the political and economic landscape of the New Russia. They were merely ordinary Russians until the Soviet Union collapsed. So how did a mere handful Russians end up controlling such an epic proportion of Russia's economy and have such great influence in its politics? And how did they manage to rise at Russia's decline? Hoffman's book will answer these questions by piecing together extensive research and interview to create a well-balanced, serious but at the same time, a downright fun and readable book. "The Oligarchs" is a landmark. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Economists openly taking a stand! GREAT!
"Economics" in the US is usually code for "why 'free enterprise' is better than the tooth fairy." I get sick of so-called economists and many other social scientists telling us that being "objective" is somehow possible and desirable. Whenever someone in the U.S. says they are being "objective" about a subjective subject like economics - they really mean they are for the dominant capitalist status quo. This book makes no bones about being critical and NON-objective - and its refreshing and much needed. I teach high school economics and I can't get kids to put this book down. It may not be scholarly work - but it makes important HUMAN issues graphically clear in its pages. Every American should read this book. Excellent stuff. Bravo!

Just the Most Telling Facts
Readers seeking an introduction to capitalistic theory and its relationship to the U.S. economy can find better works elsewhere. This book doesn't purport to provide that kind of analysis.

But if readers want a book that provides facts on how capitalism effects individuals in the U.S. across a variety of racial, gender and class lines, then it is hard to imagine a better book than this one. The book is an easy read, but it is by no means simplistic. It is easy because capitalism isn't nearly as successful at providing a fair and equitable standard of living as is commonly held. The book proves that point quite well. Readers might be surprised to discover facts in this book about the U.S. economy that they've never read before. It's a real eye-opener.

My econ professor has always told me to...
My econ professor consistently instructs us to approach the topic of economics from an objective standpoint. This is the most slanted economics text I have ever read. No way people actually use this book in a classroom setting! I got through half of the book before I had to toss it out because it totally distorts the rational economic theories that I have learned throughout college. I am neither liberal or conservative, but a realist who understands enough about economic history to know that there is more than the one-sided arguments that are presented here.

Top Notch!
The Field Guide is a pointed critique of the US economy, and in fact IS well referenced with clear citations for all its statistics (see pages 213-222). Most of the information is culled either from government sources or from the corporations themselves, as printed in publications like Business Week, Fortune, and the New York Times. And when there are comparisons made they're relevant; for example, comparing industrialized nations and developing countries exclusively.

What's best about the Field Guide is that it's a clever resource for fighting off all those people who would tell you "I don't believe it." As the title would suggest, The Field Guide provides you with the tools so you too can find and understand economic information yourself. From pages 194-212 you'll find the 'Toolkit', which has neat things like explanations of how to collect your own information and make graphs. Fun stuff.

The Field Guide helps fight the obfuscation of corporate shills.

Great resource
I love this book. It's a terrific, easy-to-read source ofinformation about the US economy, giving careful attention to economic realities for women, people of color, poor people, and everybody else whose individual net worth is under Bill Gates' $90 billion. (It's estimated that the cost of providing education, health care, adequate food and safe water for all the people of the earth is about $40 billion - I read it in the Field Guide!)

This book is an outstanding resource on the economics of everything from elections to health to the environment to gender to the global economy, kept reader-friendly by cartoons, swift wit, and a great guide to sources for more information (complete with web addresses!). ... Read more

Book Description

Since 1965 an increasing preoccupation with money has resulted in the inversion of its role in higher education, from a practical means to an end that crowds out all others. No longer do students and parents choose the best education that "money can buy." Instead, they are faced with choosing which college or university will "buy them more money." This comes as no real surprise, as the cost of attending a four-year college has doubled since 1985. Yet the question persists: at what real cost are we sending our students to college?

Renowned educator James Engell and coauthor Anthony Dangerfield explore the answer to this question in Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money. They argue that the counterbalancing attitudes that used to temper a focus on money with other equally legitimate and more fundamental goals have steadily weakened, resulting in a new consensus that elevates money and the marketing of oneself and one's institution to the foremost ambitions of the intellectual world. This new minimization of higher education to the category of an investment to be repaid has damaged all disciplines not directly associated with money, particularly the humanities. Students often now are told they face a choice: between the practical sciences, business, and economic success, or the traditional liberal arts and sciences and expected poverty.

In their comprehensive analysis of admission practices, institutional rankings, salaries, hiring practices, scholarships, student attitudes, tuition costs, research programs, library budgets, and class barriers, Engell and Dangerfield expose the major changes that the Age of Money has wrought in higher education while also offering a practical method of understanding and prioritizing the various elements involved in choosing the right school. Focusing on liberal arts and sciences colleges, private research universities, and flagship public institutions, the authors provide an explicit and coherent model of what an academic institution should offer, while encouraging individual institutions to retain their unique identities.

Written for a general audience as well as for professionals, Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money will appeal to teachers and administrators, parents of students and prospective students, students and faculty in schools of higher education, and anyone interested in intellectual life. ... Read more

Book Description

Papua New Guinea is a complex, rapidly changing nation, where the economy has been profoundly affected by political change. Before independence the economy was largely based on agriculture; since 1975 it has focused on coal production. This book is the first to deal with these changes from an economic perspective. Coming at a time when interest in Southeast Asia is expanding rapidly, and containing a substantial amount of additional information on the controversial subject of Bourgainville, The Economy Of Papau New Guinea is an important addition to our well-received Growth Economies in Asia series. ... Read more

Book Description

Michael J. Mandel, chief economist of BusinessWeek, is the country's most passionate partisan for exuberant economic growth. In the mid-1990s, he was one of the first journalists to use the term "New Economy" to describe the fast-growing but volatile U.S. economy, supercharged by technology and finance. Mandel's understanding of the true underpinnings of the 1990s economy led to his prescient warning that the Internet bubble was about to burst, which he predicted in his book The Coming Internet Depression.

Now Mandel is issuing another warning. Without exuberant, technology-driven growth, the U.S. economy will lack the firepower to solve its social problems. Without breakthrough innovations like the internal combustion engine or the Internet, the U.S. economy simply can't create enough jobs or wealth to provide for its citizenry.

Yet exuberant growth is stigmatized as immoral by some and bad public policy by others. And economists, surprisingly enough, are the biggest enemies of innovative, transformative growth. Mandel, a Ph.D. in economics himself, believes his colleagues in the dismal profession are a big part of the problem. Focusing on what he labels the single biggest failure in modern economics, Mandel blames New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and Greg Mankiw, President Bush's head of the Council of Economic Advisers, for misleading generations of students and slanting public policy against scientific innovation.

Lively, opinionated, and controversial, Mandel's thinking will serve as a rallying cry for the creation of a new political coalition dedicated to economic growth. He calls on Silicon Valley to take their case to Washington, and to shift the debate from arguing about trade and budget deficits to solutions, such as more support for research, start-ups, and workforce training. Mandel is sure to kick-start that debate.

Reviews (8)

No wonder this book is a dud
Michael Mandel's book has laid an egg, but you can only understand why if you make the mistake of picking up this book and reading it. This same gent, who "predicted" the Internet depression (after it already happened) now seeks to burden us with the believe that all these hobgoblins out there are the "enemies of growth." But his arguments are unconvincing and poorly presented, in prose that is hackneyed and academic-dull.

I found the arguments unconvincing
This is a book where I agree with the main premise, but dislike many of the conclusions as well as the delivery. The main premise is that the periods of great technological change are times of great economic growth, which is something that is very hard to disagree with. From this, the author argues that all policies should favor the development of new technologies and takes a few shots at the people he thinks are opposed to such policies. Unfortunately, his arguments are shallow and unclear.
First and foremost, he neglects history. The onset of the industrial revolution was an era of great technological advancement and led to a dramatic increase in wealth. However, we cannot forget many of the consequences of this advancement. In England, it led to rapid loss of their forests and in the industrial regions, the air was so dirty from the smokestacks that people could barely see. I remember reading of an instance where a lengthy weather pattern that kept the pollution in an English city led to thousands of deaths. There is also a classic case in the United States where a river was so polluted that it actually caught fire. Therefore, some of those he classifies as enemies of growth are asking the very important questions that need to be asked concerning the consequences of technological improvements.
Mandel also derides those who preach against MASSIVE federal budget deficits. He quotes former secretary of commerce Peter Peterson, who said in 2003 "When such deficits are incurred in order to fund a rising transfer from young to old, they also constitute an injustice against further generations." Mandel's next sentence is "This is the language of morality, rather than economics. From this perspective, taking on debt is wrong because it reflects profligacy and wastefulness, and shows that the government is out of control." It is immoral to saddle the next generation with an enormous debt, so Mandel's statement is inappropriate in that area. I have listened to Pete Peterson argue against massive budget deficits for two decades and his point has always been in opposition to massive deficits that require large expenditures for interest payments and take capital away from the free markets, where it would be the most efficiently utilized.
Mandel then does a little bashing of former Senator William Proxmire, who regularly gave out Golden Fleece Awards for what he considered outrageous government spending. The classic example of the $600 toilet seat is mentioned. Mandel then states, "Unfortunately, this antiwaste, antidebt mind-set is inimical to innovation, which inevitably requires going down a lot of different dead-end roads before finding success. . . From the perspective of a deficit hawk, exuberant growth is intensely disturbing." This is simply not true, rapid economic growth does not disturb the deficit hawks, in fact they welcome it. What disturbs them is the unarguable fact that government spending is inherently wasteful. Mandel seems to believe that the only way new technologies develop is by throwing enormous amounts of money at them. The dot-com bubble and burst shows that this is nonsense. The Internet companies that survived the implosion were almost exclusively those that spent well within their means and were fairly conservative in their business plans. Also, many of the new technologies that are so highly praised in the book were developed on minimal budgets.
This book is little more than a collection of arguments in favor of massive federal budget deficits, cloaked in a nebulous mantra of "exuberant growth." I found very few of the arguments convincing, in many cases they deal with peoples beliefs taken out of context and inaccurately. To sum them up, his point is that if we are courageous enough to accept the right amount of debt, then enough new technologies will be developed to grow the economy into surplus. Mandel presents no conclusive evidence in support of this thesis, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I was also unimpressed with the subtitle of the book, as quite frankly he silences no one and while many people will raise legitimate concerns, few are really enemies of economic growth.

Big Risks Big Rewards
Mandel's thesis is that economic progress and technological innovation are inextricably linked and the U.S. is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it. Like many good ideas the link seems intuitive, but as Mandel shows, many respected economists are skeptical of the contribution of technology to growth. This book clearly defines its case and argues forcefully for a change in the prevailing wisdom.

Mandel distinguishes "exuberant growth" exemplified by the internet boom of the last decade from the "cautious" growth of the U.S. in the 1970's or Europe and Japan today. Cautious growth, "suggestion box" growth, is marked by an emphasis on personal savings, fiscal conservatism, and gradualism. This is "capital fundamentalism". But there is little evidence to show that a high savings and investment rate without the jumpstart of technological discovery yields much growth. High savings rates in Japan and Europe have not placed these economies in the vanguard of economic progress. Nor has our historically low savings rate stalled our leadership.

Exuberant growth in the U.S. economy is supported by our "high performance" financial markets. The efficient way in which huge sums of capital are directed to new ideas by venture capital firms and the high-yield (junk) bond market make it possible for breakaway developments to bubble up through the economy. Stock options, maligned for their high profile abuse, serve an important funadmental role by securing the allegiance of valuable wage earners and making them partners in a risky enterprise.

A "hot" economy is a creative one fostering new technologies and economic progress. It is also a risky economy "pulsating" with the flow of capital to the Next Big Thing which may in the end be nothing more than a bubble. The internet has proven to be a disruptive innovation (Clayton Christensen's evocative phrase) creating jobs and wealth. Our efforts in Space and nuclear power have have been less successful. Areas that Mandel lists for possible breakthroughs include biotechnology, energy (e.g. fuel cells), wireless communications, and nanotechnology.

High octane economies make for risky markets. Mandel urges greater corporate transparency and multi-year income tax averaging to soften the tax burden of boom years and to cushion the lean ones. Implicit in all this is the need for a strong commitment to research and development in promising technologies.

Without technological innovation job markets stagnate, skill sets become commonplace and vulnerable to the cheapest provider (e.g. "offshoring"). Exuberant growth is not assured. Mandel is not shy about naming the economists he sees impeding the necessary support for technological initiatives that foster growth. For Mandel their blind spot is "the single biggest failure" of modern economics. This is a book intended to stimulate vigorous debate.

Thoughtful and Passionate
This thoughtful and passionate book by Business Week's Chief Economist aims to reshape the U.S. political debate about economic policy. Its central concern is to keep the U.S. economy on a path of "exuberant growth," led by innovation and technology. As Mandel reminds us, from one generation to the next, the prosperity of a nation depends on the rate of growth of its economy. He identifies two unique advantages of the United States in achieving rapid growth: a deep bench of scientific and engineering professionals to identify and commercialize technological breakthroughs, and a venture capital industry that will fund promising new technologies and products. But exuberant, technology-led growth comes at a cost, as it is accompanied by instability in financial markets and the real economy. Mandel worries that too many in public life - economists as well as politicians - see that instability solely as a problem without noticing that it is the natural byproduct of innovation and rapid growth. Taming financial and economic instability, he fears, would condemn the economy to stagnation. He calls on policy-makers instead to embrace exuberant growth by subsidizing science education and R&D, protecting investor confidence in financial markets through increased corporate financial disclosure, and ameliorating the costs of instability with a stronger social safety net. Mandel embraces a cause well worth fighting for, grounds his argument in an insightful analysis of the 21st Century U.S. economy, and provides a detailed policy road map for exuberant growth advocates.

An Important and Timely Book
As we head into the last stages of a presidential campaign where the economy is a top issue, this engaging book is a must-read. Mandel provides a robust critique of economic policy and lays out a road map for regaining exuberant growth. The key he argues lies in making "support for technology...central to economic policy," Yet, such a task is anything but easy. Mandel bemoans the fact that "unfortunately, technology rarely makes an appearance...in Washington economic policy discussions." As a result, while policy makers may talk about technology-driven growth, in Washington it's "the poor step-child, receiving a microscopic amount of time, energy and money from politicians." He's right.

Mandel goes on to "out" the enemies of exuberant growth, including naming names of economists who for all their claim to fame, actually neither understand nor support technologically-driven economic growth. Here's a Ph.D. economist saying that the emperor (the economics profession) has no clothes (they don't understand how the 21st century innovation economy works.

He goes on to lay out how its not just mainstream economists who don't get it, but that on "both on the left and the right, there is a profound discomfort with technological change." In spite of this, Mandel is optimistic about the future, given America's advantages in financial markets, entrepreneurship, and technology. Mandel got it right (albeit he was a bit premature) when he predicted "The Coming Internet Depression" (who besides Mandel had the foresight to buck conventional wisdom in early 2000 that the Internet economy was going to go through a big correction). I hope he has it right now when he predicts good economic times for the next decade at least. He lays out some interesting and useful policy proposals (although my only complaint with the book was that I wish he had gone into more detail on these) that could help spur growth in the future. All in all a great book and on top of that an enjoyable, "journalistic" read. I only hope economists take the time to read it. ... Read more

Book Description

Why do economies grow? What fixes the long-run rate of growth? These are some of the simplest, but also hardest, questions in economics. Growth of lack of it has huge consequences for a country's citizens. But for various reasons, growth theory has had long fallow patches. Happily, this is changing.

In 1956 Robert Solow developed what became the standard neo-classical model of economic growth. Counties grow, on this theory, by accumulating labour and capital. Adding either obeys diminishing returns: the more labour or capital you already have, the more you need for a further given jump in output. One consequence is that an economy with less capital ought to outgrow one with more. Generally, they do. Another is that growth should eventually drop to zero. Awkwardly, it stays positive. To save the theory, long-run growth was explained by an outside factor, technical innovation, which is not in the growth function itself--hence the label "exogenous" for the Solow family of models.

Partial as it was, the Solow model won wide acceptance and growth theory slumbered for three decades. Then came two changes. One was an attempt to add technical change and other factors to labour and capital within the growth function so that the model might predict long-run growth without leaning on outside "residuals"--the so-called "endogenous" approach. The other was a huge number of factual studies.

Barro and Sala-i-Martin explain all this and more with admirable clarity (and much demanding maths) in the first modern textbook devoted to growth theory. The main theories are examined. The stress throughout is on linking theory to fact. One of three chapters on empirical work suggests how much each of several possible factors would be needed to explain differing international growth rate--not an explanation itself, but an indispensable set of empirical benchmarks.

from The Economist, 17 February 1996 ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Macro Musings
By David Guy Atkin
As somewhat of a social insomniac, I have an exorbitant amount of time laying in bed doddling. While playing games with myself is somewhat amusing, I have found the most amazing solution. THIS BOOK! A stimulating read...perfect for rest, relaxation, and casually flipping thru during spare time...especially, the rigorous development of the dynamics of the Uzawa-Lucas model...the illustrations are captivating and encapsulate all I love about Economics and New Jersey.

Economic Growth is just Super!
Prior to having used this book, Macroeconomics was the bain of my life. A short sweater wearing Frenchman assigned it as the set text of his course and everything changed. The models are clear, lucid and stimulating. The exposition is first rate and the mix of theory with empirics is frankly breathtaking.

I used to turn up 20 minutes late to macro lectures out of fear, now I wake up early asking myself "How can I make Peru grow faster". Is Economic Growth dull? Now, not so much as not at all...

Excelent Book
This is an excelent book that covers very well "the old and new" Growth Theory". However it is a very hard book and be prepared to use everything you know about math and economics. Perfect book for graduation courses in growth theory. My only suggestion is to include a chapter about the efect of institutions on the economies.

Taking Xavier's Class at Columbia? This book is a must
Hi, I ran into this book while taking Professor Sala-I-Martin's Intermediate Macro class at columbia. I found it to be much clearer and useful as compared with the assigned textbook. His final is impossible without it, get it early and follow along when he discusses the Solow Swan model, Endogenous growth rate, etc. You'll thank me when you ace the final.

One of the principal books about the modern economic growth.
"Economic Growth" by Robert Barro and Xavier Sala-I-Martin is one of the best book about economic growth theory who I've seen. This book together with "Advanced Macroeconomics" by David Romer and "Endogenous Growth Theory" by Philippe Aghion and Peter W. Howitt are the principal books about all the modern economic growth theory. I recommend very much this book. PD. I bought the last book, sorry. ... Read more

Book Description

"Full of surprises and unusual revelations . . . an informed and disturbing portrait of the new American badlands."--Chicago Tribune

"[Kaplan is] tireless, curious, and smart. . . . I cannot imagine anyone will concoct a more convincing scenario for the American future." --Thurston Clarke, The New York Times

With the same prescience and eye for telling detail that distinguished his bestselling Balkan Ghosts, Robert Kaplan now explores his native country, the United States of America. His starting point: the conviction that America is a country not in decline but in transition, slowly but inexorably shedding its identity as a monolithic nation-state and assuming a radically new one.
        Everywhere Kaplan travels--from St. Louis, Missouri, to Portland, Oregon, from the forty-ninth parallel to the banks of the Rio Grande--he finds an America ever more fragmented along lines of race, class, education, and geography. An America whose wealthy communities become wealthier and more fortress-like as they become more closely linked to the world's business capitals than to the desolate ghettoes next door. An America where the political boundaries between the states--and between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico--are becoming increasingly blurred, betokening a vast open zone for trade, commerce, and cultural interaction, the nexus of tomorrow's transnational world. Never nostalgic or falsely optimistic, bracingly unafraid of change and its consequences, Kaplan paints a startling portrait of post-Cold War America--a great nation entering the final, most uncertain phase of its history. Here is travel writing with the force of prophecy.

"Lively . . . Kaplan has a sharp eye for social truth, and his encounters with a chorus of eloquent citizens of the West keeps the narrative humming." --Outside ... Read more

Reviews (41)

American Travel Writing from an Alternate Dimension
While Kaplan keeps to his usual winning combination of travel writing and social science in "Empire Wilderness," he cannot avoid falling prey to the very same flaws that marred his last book, "Ends of the Earth"; namely, a tendency to over-emphasize pervailing social trends until he begins to sound like some kind of prophet of doom, forecasting a world out of control. When writing about the Third World, this is somewhat more forgiveable approach, but when applied to the United States, the reader begins to wonder how Kaplan can, in good conscience, hype and sensationalize some of the trends on which he chooses to focus. In his writings for the "Atlantic Monthly," Kaplan has admitted to a Hobbesian, conservative view of human nature, and this, at times, makes him sound like a rabid elitist frightened by the dark, deprived "mob" seething beneath the shining surface of America. This is a somewhat unfair characterization, however, as most of Kaplan's social observations demonstrate a stunning ability to forecast history and cut to the heart of the most salient political and economic trends facing our nation. The extra hype and generalization are probably just to sell more books, so we can let Kaplan off the hook on this one. Just be prepared to read this book skeptically, and you are in for one hell of a journey.

Bitter pill to swallow. But the pill seems working.
The poverty of American inland states described in this book shows that, contrary to many Asian people's belief, America is also one of victims of globalization. Benefactors of globalization tend to live in suburban pods. And the pod will be, according to Robert Kaplan, protected by private security guards. About those who are excluded, Kaplan's solution is simple: Forget the poor (though he borrowed other person's mouth). It's too cruel, isn't it?

The issues of border dissolution between U.S. and Mexico and between Pacific North West and British Columbia are empathized very much in this book. These issues are closely related with immigration and decline of nation state. The phenomena of border dissolution is not peculiar to North American continent. For example, the border line between North Korea and China is also being dissolved because of N.K.'s famine. (As a South Korean man, I'm very much concerned about future N.K.'s absorption into either China or South Korea. No small, rich country wants to share border line with a big, strong but poor country. South Korean government is helping North Korea despite political grievances to prevent such an outcome, or so I guess.) Anyway, the strict control of immigration is not universal through human history. I guess it was strengthened because of Cold War.

Positive Reviewers are so Naive
Just because one never experiences racism or does not practice it or because a few CEO's are "minorities" does not mean we can say "problem solved". Why do we still claim racism and race are a factor in the US? because if it wasnt, all minority groups would be equal or at least encroaching upon the same level of economic reality most whites experience; the question is will we be allowed to share it???? So in response to "negative reviewers are so hilarious" think about this...nothing will be solved until "minorities" are at the same socio-economic level as whites, in other words we want the majority of people of color to share the same economic status and cultural priveleges as light skinned people do within every aspect of US culture...can you handle that?

Negative reviewers are hilarious
Kaplan writes what he sees and hears. He directly quotes the people he meets. Accusing him of racist and bigotry is like blaming the TV weatherman for an oncoming hurricane.

Veiled Issues
Kaplan's piece in the Atlantic Monthly "The Coming Anarchy" should give you a sense of what this book, An Enpire Wilderness, will offer. Like the romatic buffonery of Urban and Surburban critics like James Howard Kunstler, Kaplan has a subtle, veiled racism inherit in his travels. This is not new, it is typical of all the historical accounts of Anglo-Americans or European (i.e. light skinned) writers describing the "Third World"--- an offensive and dehumanizing label.
The future is bleak for U.S.-"minorities" indeed if we allow people like kaplan to speak for us. Not only do we suffer their avarice, genocide and lingering neo-colonialism all over the various nations we or our families derive from, now we must be the examples and first victims of the deterioration of Kaplan's euro-centric "Civilization". Kaplan's vision doesnt include "minorities" and it is time to protect ourselves when oil and other natural resources are depleted because like his own accounts abroad prove, who will suffer the most? In the U.S. it makes total sense that those who lack political and economical power, let alone competent and brave voices of dissent within our communities, will be the first to be subjected to the majority's so called "reforms". For me as a U.S. Latino, the future is grim but I dont need Kaplan to show me why. It is time to bypass this veiled racist and xenophobia promoted by impotent neo-liberal "progressives". ... Read more

Book Description

Written in refreshingly accessible prose, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is a long anticipated revival of some of the original voices in the growing chorus of sustainability. Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update is a work of stunning intelligence that will expose for humanity the hazy but critical line between human growth and human development. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Humanity Needs to Wake Up: We Are Devastating the Planet
This is a thorough, scientific account of what mankind is doing ecologically to the planet. There are many charts, graphs and research studies proving that the planet is in danger.

Mankind has already gone past the level of sustainability. It's not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN the planet will not be able to sustain humanity at the current population level and standard of living.

This book explains about the earth's resources and how we are overusing them. Also about the byproducts of our use of these resources and the pollution it causes. Many examples are given of how people can change their ways of production and resource use.

It is disturbing to think what humans are doing to the planet and what the future will be if we don't change our ways. This book gives the big picture of what is happening ecologically to the planet and what needs to be done NOW to stop the devastation. ... Read more