Reviews (12)

Foreign Aid Corruption
In his book Lords of Poverty, Mr. Graham Hancock offers a very detailed account of the so-called Aid Industry. Unfortunately, the case study he presents is completely out of date (the 80's). This is the year 2000 and, hence, fresh figures, new dates and new names are needed.

The other flaw of his book is that, like every one else who has written on the subject of foreign aid, Mr. Hancock bases his account on his experiences in India and in some other regions of Africa. But what about the rest of the world. What we need is a much broader and deeper look of the foreign aid industry as the self perpetuating industry that it actually is, particularly with regard to the secret internal modus operandi of bureaucratic institutions such as the UN, World Bank, OAS, USIAD, etc, etc. In other words, we want the true inside story. It is the only way to really know what's going on.

Few people are aware that these organizations are ran mainly by "political rejects" who after having been thrown out from their own countries accused of becoming political trouble makers, or misfits, they find "haven" in those international aid organizations. Sort of like "dying and going to haven".

The fact that the head of the World Bank or the Secretary General of the UN might have been a head of state before he was rewarded with the current top job does not mean in any way that he is fit for the job that he is holding now. Those top positions and other of lesser importance, are usually regarded as political favors. The same holds true of those professionals who are looking for a place to land a good paying job that requires little or no work at all. To keep a good paying job with private industry, professionals would be required to work very hard, something that many of them don't have to do at the UN or any other international aid organization. These are the "technicians", the "experts" who come to poor third world countries to "straighten things out", as they say, when in fact all they are doing is enjoying officially sponsored vacations with all their expenses paid for with taxpayers money from the industrialized nations. That, I believe, is one of the reasons for the high rate of failure of such organizations: bureaucratic incompetence. It is for this reason that I also believe that some form of tight government control and public scrutiny should be implemented in order to make foreign aid agencies fully accountable for every dime they spend. Otherwise they will continue to function as international clubs of free-loaders.

I guarantee that any American taxpayer would be infuriated to know that the great majority of the employees of these international aid organizations headquartered in the U.S.A. do not, I repeat, do not pay any form of local and/or federal income tax because these organizations (UN, OAS, PAHO, IDB, etc.) are not required by law to report salaries paid to their employees. Therefore, the IRS does not have any way to know who's earning what and who owes what. But even those employees who, by some special circumstance, must file a tax return will do so with the understanding that the organization will not only compute their own taxes, but will also issue them a check for taxes owed on their income. Oh yes, no matter how you cut it, "working" in any of those international organizations is like dying and going to haven; or almost like wining the lottery.

V.P.Reyna Guatemala, Guatemala Mepolly@xela.net.gt

All your suspicions will be confirmed
This book is getting a little dated now, but remains a classic critique of the international aid business. Using colourful anecdotes and solid stats, Graham Hancock convincingly demonstrates how the IMF, World Bank and other international aid/development agencies effectively worsen Third World poverty. What they do is transfer wealth from the poor to the rich in donor and recipient countries alike. In the 1st world, taxes of mainly not-particularly-rich people finance these international organizations, whose administrators often lead lives of incredible luxury. In the 3rd world, money from the organizations helps to sustain corrupt regimes and swell the bank accounts of their leaders, while in many cases the money eventually has to be repaid with interest by taxes which again tend to come mainly from the poor, thereby creating an extra burden for the people it was supposed in theory to help. Meanwhile the projects financed by the money are often wholly irrelevant to the needs of the recipient country, e.g. expressways in countries where only a rich minority own cars, and often the infrastructure is built by companies from the donor country (tied aid) and proceeds to fall to pieces long before the debt incurred has been paid off. This book caused a fair bit of controversy when first published, but was soon forgotten. It's been business as usual for the IMF etc ever since. Meanwhile Graham Hancock got so depressed with uncovering corruption in big aid agencies that he abandoned the field entirely and switched to writing all those speculative books about lost cities of the gods etc. -- yep, it's the very same Graham Hancock in case you're wondering.

One part fact, one part rant
The first half of this short book is a relatively informative overview of the responsibilities and functions of major aid and development agencies, although the statistics are now well out of date. That said, little of any of this is primary research and the author relies fairly selectively on sensationalistic quotes and facts that tell the part of the story he wants to tell.

The second half of the book, however, is little more than a rant during which the author mocks and insults aid and development workers for about 100 pages. The vitriolic quality of writing makes one wonder if an aid worker dumped him at some point. You could skip this whole part of the book and be better off for it.

Maybe I take it personally since I'm an aid worker, but I can tell you with authority that Mr. Hancock really doesn't have any idea what he's writing about - he mischaracterizes the lives and personalities of most aid workers and oversimplifies the challenges and complexity of the work. He's angry and bitter about something and I don't think it's corruption or incompetence.

And just for the record: Reviewer Viola P. Reyna doesn't have command of the facts either. Most foreign aid workers are required to pay taxes in their home countries while living abroad. Americans living abroad for more than 330 days a year, whether they are aid workers or oil drillers or whatever, are not required to pay taxes unless they make over $80,000. Everyone is still, however, required to report their incomes and file their tax returns. So contrary to what Viola says, the US Government knows exactly what everyone is making.

A spirited rant
This book has the flavour of someone who has stewed over the question of foriegn aid for some time and then suddenly this book has been an outpouring of every bit of frustration ever felt by the author. From looking at his other books it appears that he is a person with a thorough background in the industry.

The book is one of the most daming that I have read. Although short the book marshals its facts and explains every argument with a clarity that is breathtaking.

The arguments are that the organisations which are involved in providing aid are incompetent. There are a number of reasons for the incompetance but all orginsations which deal with aid are incompetant and corrupt.

At the head of the list is the world bank. The world bank is willing to make grants of aid conditional on changes to monetary policy and dismanteling of anti competative market systems but it never wants to make aid conditional on introducing human rights or democracy. As a result changes to make the market more competative almost always damage the poor by for example the removal of food subsidies. The benifits of World Bank loans almost always flow to the middle class or urban dwellers. The Indian Economist Sen has shown that democracies do not have famines. If the world bank was to make democracy the condition of aid packages it would be more likely to reduce famines in these countries. In fact govermental corruption or incompetance is the real reason for the sorts of problems which require aid in the first place.

The world bank is addicted to large capital intensive projects. Most of these turn out to be white elephants and have unsustainable maintence costs. Again the benifits of electification or transport benifits mainly the urban centres.

Those who are responsible for aid projects are overpaid, come from foriegn countries and lack language skills to properly evlaute projects. The result is that huge amounts of aid are used to pay for incompetant staff at aid bodies.

The author says that the proof of the pudding is that those countries which have had huge amounts of aid have simply gotten poorer. Aid projects have generally failed. The world would be a better place without any aid at all.

Whilst this is an extreme position the book is a valuable addition to debate in the area.

Still very relevant
It's too bad that updated editions of "Lords of Poverty" were never published; indeed, even this edition was out of print for several years before this reprint edition. Hancock's writing style here may be a sustained rant, but it nevertheless provides a great deal of useful information and tears down many of the misconceptions most Americans or Europeans may have about the international aid industry. Particularly interesting is his criticism of the various UN agencies and, especially, the World Bank and the IMF - whose projects all too often do more harm than good (if they do any good at all). Perhaps the most disturbing aspect exposed in this book is still quite valid today: that taxpayers in the big donor countries like the U.S., Germany, Japan, the U.K. etc. are footing the bill for many disastrous projects worldwide that make the lives of impoverished populations even worse and often destroy in the environment in the process. "Lords of Poverty" may be dated, but it's still well worth the read. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Is economic development conducive to political democracy? Does democracy foster or hinder material welfare?These two questions are examined by looking at the experiences of 135 countries between 1950 and 1990. Descriptive information, statistical analyses, and historical narratives are interwoven to gain an understanding of the dynamic of political regimes and their impact on economic development. The often surprising findings dispel any notion of a tradeoff between democracy and development.Economic development does not generate democracies, but democracies are much more likely to survive in wealthy societies. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Interesting Work
I had a love/hate relationship with this book. First, and this is purely a stylistic point, I believe it could have been far better edited. It was an avalanche of statistics, statistical analyses, and presented results without a lot of discussion of why relationships emerged. Their first goal -- showing development does not "cause" democratization is, I believe, a revamp of earlier published work. It is, nonetheless, an important finding that is worth repeating.

More interesting is the relationship between dictatorships and demography, but, again, aside from a little theorizing and a few statistical tests I believe the authors do little to shed much light on why different regimes affect demography differently. They begin to flesh out an argument the crux of which revolves around the ability of democratic polities to "commit" to providing social welfare over the long run, but this seems to run counter to their initial dismissal earlier in the book of the Neo-Institutional economics claim put forth by Douglass North, among others, as to the importance of institutions in "binding the hands of the sovereign."

Finally, their results do show that democracies tend to survive in wealthy states, in essence becoming "unkillable" after a certain level of wealth is reached. They do little to really explain why this is, but the result gives credence to Lipset's thesis that devolpment, at the very least, helps sustain democracies.

Overall I liked to book and would reccommend it as an assigned book in a comparative politics/political economy class.

Monumental Work!!!
Too many conjectures and too many theories have been addressed concerning the relationship between polities and material well-being in the world. But they have been raised without a proper test of them, without empirics. This book completely cleans all kinds of intellectual garbages, clarifies the existing arguments, and above all provides a series of the sohpisticated tests. Adam Przeworski and his comrades did a marvelous job.

A Major Book With Only a Minor Contribution
This will clearly be a major book within political science and political economy. Unfortunately, the book's prominence will be due more to the preeminence of the lead author, Adam Przeworski, than to the scholarly contribution of the work. The bulk of the book is a series of statistical analyses that probe the effects of regime type (democracy or dictatorship) on a series of dependent variables. While the book is competent and this is an interesting topic, it is also a topic which has been studied in depth in the existing literature. In fact, dozens of journal articles over the last five years address the questions that drive this book, and many of those articles make use of better data and are methodologically more sophisticated than "Democracy and Development." If this book has a genuine professional contribution to make, it will probably consist in drawing more attention to other people's better, more innovative work on the same subjects. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

"The first great book of the twenty-first century"
Jack Rain, a reviewer on another site, used the phrase above to describe this book, and I unhesitatingly appropriate it for my review because it is so dead-on accurate. This is a very, very good, and very, very important, book. It's also a strong argument for the author's elevation to the pantheon of pro-freedom writers and philosophers, alongside Mises, Rothbard, Spooner, de Jasay, and a select few others.

I have to admit that I found the first two chapters, especially, to be tough reading, and had to work through them several times. The economic analysis in the sections on time preference, for example -- while the outline of the argument becomes clear soon enough -- need extra time for all the shadings and implications to fall into place.

After that, though, the truly important work begins, as Hoppe is engaged in nothing less than (to use his own words from a slightly different context) "an ideological campaign of delegitimizing the idea and institution of democratic government." In so doing, he undertakes a two-pronged approach of both demonstrating the failures of democracy (failures that are part of the very nature of democracy, and therefore irreparable) and the superiority of "natural order" -- a condition known by many other names too, including anarcho-capitalism and individualist or free-market anarchism.

Personally, I responded most strongly to Hoppe's argument that "conservatives today must be antistatist libertarians and, equally important, [that] libertarians must be conservatives" [p. 189]. In so arguing, Hoppe gives us a thorough and revealing deconstruction of modern "conservatism" (so-called), showing how many self-styled conservatives are in fact merely the right wing of social democracy. He convincingly links the Buchananites, on the other hand, to "social nationalism or national socialism" (p. 192). In either case, the neo-cons, the Buchanan brigades, and also the so-called Christian Right have, in Hoppe's eyes, "not a trace of principled antistatism."

Libertarians shouldn't start feeling too smug, however. Hoppe also calls for principled antistatists to retake libertarianism from the "lifestyle libertarians," who see antistatism as just one part of a comprehensive revolt against all social order and bourgeois culture (these folks were devastatingly described by Rothbard as "modal libertarians" or MLs -- a description Hoppe reprints in a footnote). He also targets "left libertarians" like the Cato Institute and Reason magazine, whose leading lights throw in the towel on the key question of State legitimacy, revel in the glamour and importance of life Inside the Beltway, and are reduced to arguing for reductions on the margin of an ever-expanding Leviathan.

Hoppe's final chapter, "On the Impossibility of Limited Government and the Prospects for Revolution," expands on the philosophical basis for his earlier-defined strategy of personal secession. (It's important to note that Hoppe's "revolution" explicitly and firmly rejects violence: "[I]t is not necessary to take [government] over, to engage in violent battle against it, or even to lay hands on one's rulers. In fact, to do so would only reaffirm the principle of compulsion and aggressive violence underlying the current system and inevitably lead to the replacement of one government or tyrant by another. To the contrary, it is only necessary that one decide to withdraw from the compulsory union and reassume one's right to self protection. Indeed, it is essential that one proceed in no other way than by peaceful secession and noncooperation" [p. 91].)

This book now occupies a place of honor on my freedom bookshelf. But more than that, it's a reference I will return to (and already have returned to) often. To borrow from yet another review (Schumann's of Chopin, this time): "Hats off, gentlemen -- a genius!"

Make history make sense - brilliant !
Prof. Hoppe's brilliant book attacks the greatest sacred cow of our time: representative democracy. Hoppe's theory makes sense of the broad trends of the 20th century and identifies the root cause of our society's slow break-down: the democratic system which undermines civilization.
In response to "roGER" (who either didn't read the book or didn't understand it), Hoppe doesn't advocate monarchy, he just demonstrates that monarchy has a LESS de-civilizing effect than democracy. The ideal government is no government, and Hoppe clearly explains how private-property anarchy could work.
This is important work, a must-read for Libertarians and serious students of history, politics, and economics.

The New Anarcho-Capitalist Masterpiece
Democracy: The God That Failed shows such clarity of thought that it is depressing to think that these ideas are on the fringe. In under 300 pages, Hans-Hermann Hoppe outlines a system of thought that provides meaning to history and sense to the world we live in.

In the first 2 chapters, Hoppe writes the clearest explanation for the Austrian theory of time preference that I've ever read. In the next few chapters, he takes this economic theory and shows how recent world history should have been entirely predictable.

By the time we're done, Hoppe has torn down any justification for the existence of the state, and explained how successful a stateless society can be. Hoppe's explanation of how the most basic government service, protection, is better provided privately, is more compelling than anything I've read by Rothbard or Friedman.

This book, more than any of its predecesors, will win converts to the worldview of a stateless society. A genuine masterpiece.

Interesting analysis, but detached from reality
This is a lively,accesible, and well known discussion of the compartive features of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order.
Hoppe's book is filled with some truly unique and at times insightful analysis. Like another review says, this book is not advocating monarchy. Hoppe claims that monarchy is a better alternative to democracy. However, his theory fails for it is detatched from the reality of history. Hoppe continually cites the four same references and denies the accuracy of just about every other historian, writer, and social commentator. His theory of private ownership of the means of coericon is brilliant, but it fails to pass the test of being historically true. History cannot be studied A priori. The most atrocious dictators solely wielded the monopoly of coercion known as the state and used it for great evil. While I agree with Hoppe's conclusion for a "Natural Order", he fails to support it adequately in this work.

Having said all that, Hoppe's book is filled with many excellent chapter, most notably, "On Conservatism and Libertarianism" and "On the errors of Classical Liberalism". This is a classic work that is a "must read" for those interested in Anarcho-capitalism and Austrian Economics. It is often discussed and is worth reading for at least its popularity and ubiquitous reference.

A better source for Anarcho-capitalism is the classic by Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty". After reading that, move on to Hoppe.

Freedom is always superior to government.
Hoppe's introduction alone is worth the price of the book. And it is crucial to read the introduction before starting the book. He explains a priori knowledge ("propositions which assert something about reality and can be validated independent of the outcome of any future experience") in a simple, straightforward manner providing many examples. I stress this because although the Austrian Economists, which includes Hoppe, regularly mention a priori knowledge/theory - some of which is more commonly known as human nature - this is the first time I've seen it explained in such a clear and concise manner.

Hoppe also defines what a monopoly is and stresses that all governments are monopolies and must result in declining product quality at steadily increasing prices for any activity they are engaged in. And, of course, the reason monopolies always behave this way is explained by a priori theory.

Another significant point the author makes in the introduction is the inability of most historians to logically interpret, or choose between competing interpretations, the facts they so meticulously gather. As Hoppe states, "The principle advantage that the political economist and philosopher has over the mere historian (and the benefits to be gained from the study of political economy and philosophy by the historian) is his knowledge of pure - a priori - social theory, which enables him to avoid otherwise unavoidable errors in the interpretation of sequences of complex historical data and present a theoretically corrected or "reconstructed," and a decidedly critical or "revisionist" account of history".

Needless to say, a priori theory threads it way through the remainder of the book, which, by the way, is useful and enlightening itself. My favorite chapters were one, seven, eight, and ten.

Chapter one deals with time preference and how that determines whether society is moving in the direction of increasing civilization through savings and investment (low time preference) or its opposite, decivilization (high time preference). Hoppe shows how government is the biggest contributor to high time preference.

In chapters seven and eight the author discusses the merits and demerits of free or restricted immigration. Hoppe's arguments have encouraged me to rethink my position on this issue, which had been to support free and open immigration for all. He also discusses forced integration and free trade. His arguments favoring free trade are, in my view, simply unchallengeable.

Chapter ten deals with conservatism and libertarianism. Hoppe and Rothbard's descriptions of "modal" libertarians are right on the money. As a former member of the Libertarian Party and county chairman for several years, I could have written these descriptions myself!

In its entirety, I thought the book was excellent. Frankly, as an amateur economist and libertarian, it has to rank as one of the best book I've ever read. ... Read more

Book Description

Research on economic growth has exploded in the past decade. Hundreds of empirical studies on economic growth across countries have highlighted the correlation between growth and a variety of variables. Determinants of Economic Growth, based on Robert Barro's Lionel Robbins Memorial Lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics in February 1996, summarizes this important literature.

The book contains three essays. The first is a survey of the research on the determinants of long-run growth through the estimation of panels of cross-country data. The second essay details the interplay between growth and political freedom or democracy and finds some evidence of a nonlinear relationship. At low levels of political rights, an expansion of rights stimulates growth; however, once a moderate level of democracy has been obtained, a further expansion of rights reduces growth. The final essay looks at the connection between inflation and economic growth. Its basic finding is that higher inflation goes along with a lower rate of economic growth. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

For advanced students
The person who buys this book must be really acquainted with economics (senior or master). It involves, as the title states, the determinants of growth and inflation, along with political matters. I really liked this book because it gathers econometric models to support the essays that consists in many political variables just as democracy and civil rights. Barro, as a Harvard professor, has a well-known academic life. So I would suggest for every macroeconomic student to buy this book, it really helps for courses just as Macroecon or Development Economics.

A careful study.
This book is essentially a report on a series of analyses of the determinants of growth, democracy, civil liberties, and inflation. As a statistical analysis with interpretation, it is excellent. If you want to know what factors really affect these variables, you will find answers here. However, the utility for modelers is limited, because the author inexplicably omits to report the extimated constant terms in any of his regressions. One hopes that succeeding publications will provide more help to those who are trying to construct dynamic models of economic growth. ... Read more

Book Description

Despite the plethora of textbooks available on the European Union and the wide range of interdisciplinary and non-specialist courses on which it is studied, there has, surprisingly, until now been no single text providing concise coverage of all its major dimensions and implications. Rather than focusing just on the history or the politics or the economics of the EU or on detailed coverage of its institutions and/or policies, John McCormick's new book introduces all aspects of European integration combining a very clear and accessible thematic narrative with boxed summaries of a wide range of essential facts and figures.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent Introduction
As an undergraduate political science major, this book was immensely helpful to me. I read it before studying the EU during my junior year abroad. It's clear, uses easy language, and provides the necessary basics for understanding the institution. I highly recommend it.

A must read for poli-sci majors
This is a bit dry, if this is not your area of interests, but anyone who is curious about what's been going on in Europe should read this. The EU is a like nothing this world has ever seen before. This unique institution willl heavily influence global politics in the next century. It behoovs anyone interested in government to learn the basics of what the EU is all about. ... Read more

Book Description

Although some trillion dollars worth of restorative activity is going on in the world annually, it isn’t presently perceived as an industry, or as any kind of whole. Until that happens, it can’t develop and mature as an industry, nor can research be properly focused.

For instance, those who restore streams seldom perceive that they are part of an overall restoration of the watershed, and those who restore watersheds don’t see any connection between themselves and those who restore historic buildings. They don’t consider that they both share the title of "restorationist." On the other hand, those who clear-cut forests feel a connection with those who build new buildings: They both know they are "developers."

The Restoration Economy exposes the previously undocumented trillion dollar global industries that are revitalizing our natural and built environments. A deeply researched, entertaining blend of business, science, and economics, it documents the historic shift from new development to restorative development that defines 21st Century commerce and government. It is written for a broad rage of people, including strategists, community planners, architects, engineers, ecologists, and investors. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Restoration Economy will help put a focus on your future
The Restoration Economy, the Greatest New Growth Frontier by Storm Cunningham is a book that bridges the gap between business/ development and conservation/landscape management. Those with a business bent will find that it brings into focus what most of us have seen over the last few decades, a shift is taking place from new development being primary to redevelopment and restoration being primary. It explains a lot about the trends in redevelopment and gives great insights into where business might concentrate as more and more oportunities present themselves to restore the built environment we all live in. Making brownfields and industrial sites more livable; rehabilitating highways and bridges; upgrading water and waste water facilities; rebuilding after wars and natural disasters; and recreating historic sites and structures are all actions of the restoration economy. Cunningham does a superb job of showing how these activities are all pointing us in one direction: making our built environment more livable. But the story does not end there. As a society we are now also heavily involved in the restoration of forests, prairies, farms, wetlands, fisheries, etc, etc, etc. This is because humans have now been everywhere on earth, and almost everywhere that humans have been, we have left a mess that needs to be cleaned up. This provides literally thousands of oportunities for businesses, large and small, to get involved in clean up and restoration. By reading this book, one not only gets a sense of where business will be going in the future, one also gets the sense that as a society it is time to intergrate the management of built and natural environments into one comprehensive whole. This book helps us all understand more completely that the disparate sectors of our economy that have been involved in various phases of restoration now are feeling the pressure of a coming together. The more there is a coming together, the more effective will be the process of making landscapes livable throughout the world.

The Restoration Economy is a Worthwhile Read
Storm Cunningham's The Restoration Economy: The Greatest New Growth Frontier: Immediate & Emerging Opportunities for Businesses, Communities & Investors is a worthwhile read for all. Businesses, unions, economic development leaders, and conservationists will truly find that this book is an exciting introduction to thinking outside the box when it comes to restoration. At last, a strong argument has been made that clearly articulates that restoration is not a "donation" to be given back to society. Indeed, restoration of both built and natural environments can be seen as fee for service and a strong source of economic vitality across the board. As the author points out, not only do communities and the natural environment benefit from restoration, but restoration can provide a strong platform for successful businesses and cutting edge economic development. In a style not unlike that of Paul Hawkin, Storm Cunningham has gifted us with a visionary yet pragmatic perspective of a bureoning Restoration Economy across multiple sectors of our current economy. It is likely that many currently unfamiliar to the promise of restoration such as bussiness, unions, and economic development leaders will find the book a useful tool in providing baseline arguements and understanding. For those already versed in the potential of restoration, this book will only strengthen and further legitimize your own efforts to advance restoration. ... Read more

Book Description

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance. Rich with anecdotal evidence, piercing analysis, and a truly astonishing range of erudition, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is a "picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight" (Kenneth Arrow) as well as one of the most audaciously ambitious works of history in decades. ... Read more

Reviews (127)

Diversity is a resource; cultural values matter
Professor Landes has executed a tour de force, a deep, penetrating work that should be required of all college students. He attends to the historic question: Why are some nations so rich and others so poor?

Geography matters, e.g., cold weather countries do economically better than tropical. Climate matters, e.g.,moderate climates are better for growth than are extreme climates. Technology matters e.g., eyeglasses added years to the productive work of skilled crafstment hundrds of years ago. Most of all, culture matters. Landes indirectly yet quite adroitly shows that diversity in all its forms is a resource and that nations benefit from diversity and their other resources in matters of economic and human development if -- perhaps only if -- that nation forges consensus around common values: political and economic freedom; private property and the rule of law; a system of progression and success through merit; and education, training and entrepreneurship.

The anecdotes are plentiful. The data are useful. The scope of the work is incredible. The message is clear and well made. Sure, the most politically correct skeptics will carp. But the world still has not yet witnessed a major economic power between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. A small portion of the world's population produces an abundance of the globe's wealth (and, yes, of course, consumes much of what it makes). And the link between political freedom (and its correlates) and economic growth is very clear. Tyranny eventually fails. Technology will eventually be adopted and exploited.

A nation's common, progressive, evolving, empowering culture provides the template for economic development and success. Full marks, professor.

Everything you wanted to know about economic history, but...
I have only praise for this volume. Firstly narrative: It read like a thriller; hard to put down. Secondly content: the scope is vast with fine detail in addition to excellent references for further reading. Landes has combined real world knowledge with scholarly research to produce a tome that is immensely readable and rewarding. It is hard not to recommend his work to others. The book is written without regard for unnecessary political correctness; fearless. He clearly addresses aspects of recent history that is usually mired in vagueness and doublespeak. Wisdom and humour shine throughout. It reads like the author was able to magically place himself in various regions at different time periods, observing the proceedings and the back stabbing politics that normally accompany these historical events. And best of all, do look forward to the trivia candy strewn along in the book. For example, while making a point on the relevance of the State, he informs us that in Ottoman Turkey firefighting in the hands of private enterprise would respond efficiently when the alarm sounded. They competed with one another and negotiated with the house owner on the spot. As the negotiation proceeded, the fire burned higher and the stakes diminished. In light of the rewarding experience in reading this book, I am prepared to overlook his statement on the advantage Asians have in fine electronic assembly due to the inherent skill learnt by wielding a pair of chopsticks!

Excellent Book
Very good book. Logical, factual and thorough research. The conclusions are not tinted by political opinions. Gives an honest, even maybe harsh, reasoning behind the current state of economic developments throughout the world.

Great overview of world history from the Economic viewpoint
Whats not to like about this book? If you have any interest in history, sociology, or economics it will be right up your alley. As a Senior finishing up my Econ degree I found the background information in the book to be very illuminating. Despite high level of information contained inside it is written clearly and in a manner that the layperson may understand. This book will rest on my shelf amidst my favorites.

Simply Idiotic
Though I enjoyed Landes' humour sometimes, this book is by no means an honest endeavour to answer the question posed by the title. The work is mostly rhetoric. Though I agree with some of his conclusions but his arguments are almost always fellacious. This is my first history reading and I have almost no background on the subject. Still after few chapters it became clear that the book does not meet the criteria of an academic writing. It is a shame for Harvard that Landes carries its credentials! ... Read more

Book Description

There has been a radical series of transformations in the economic, political, social, and cultural life of Latin America. This text offers a holistic approach to understanding these changes, relating them to the wider processes of modernization and globalization. An international team of contributors from a range of disciplines contextualize their different fields within a broad political economy approach that provides a critical yet balanced analysis of the neoliberal policies provided by nearly every country in the region over the last two decades. They then argue that a new political economy is being constructed in Latin America; as national economies become radically restructured and transformed, democracy becomes the institutional norm and new social arrangements are being created within national societies. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent analysis of current issues in Latin America.
The is a most impressive analysis of economic, political, social and cultural life in Latin America. This excellent book offers an holistic approach to understanding these changes, relating them to the wider processes of modernization and globalization. An international group of scholars with impressive credentials and from a wide range of disciplines attempt to contextualize their different disciplinary foci within a broad political economic approach that provides a critical yet balanced view and detailed analysis of the neoliberal policies pursued by almost all countries in the region. They contend that a new political economy is being contructed in Latin America, as national economies become radically reconstructed and transformed, democracy becomes the instituional norm, and new social arrangements are being created. The constestation and alternatives to this new global modernity are also explored. In sum, this excellent book fulfills a much needed market niche for students, scholars, and the educated avid reader, who require an interdisciplinary and contemporary approach to Latin American development.

Roberto Cabello-Argandona

Complete, coherent political-economic analysis of Lat. Am.
Robert Gwynne and Cristobal Kay have put together an impressive and timely analysis of current trends in Latin American Development. The coverage of the countries of the region is excellent, as is that of their economic, political, and social trends...The range of issues raised and the quality of their documentation make this an excellent text for teaching and for research. Prof. Bryan Roberts, University of Texas at Austin ... Read more

Book Description

The authors of The Economic Effects of Constitutions use econometric tools to study what they call the "missing link" between constitutional systems and economic policy; the book is an uncompromisingly empirical sequel to their previous theoretical analysis of economic policy. Taking recent theoretical work as a point of departure, they ask which theoretical findings are supported and which are contradicted by the facts. The results are based on comparisons of political institutions across countries or time, in a large sample of contemporary democracies. They find that presidential/parliamentary and majoritarian/proportional dichotomies influence several economic variables: presidential regimes induce smaller public sectors, and proportional elections lead to greater and less targeted government spending and larger budget deficits. Moreover, the details of the electoral system (such as district magnitude and ballot structure) influence corruption and structural policies toward economic growth.

Persson and Tabellini's goal is to draw conclusions about the causal effects of constitutions on policy outcomes. But since constitutions are not randomly assigned to countries, how the constitutional system was selected in the first place must be taken into account. This raises challenging methodological problems, which are addressed in the book. The study is therefore important not only in its findings but also in establishing a methodology for empirical analysis in the field of comparative politics. ... Read more

Book Description

This NBER series presents current academic research in the areas of taxation and government spending. The papers included provide important background information for policy analysis without making specific policy recommendations.

Volume 17 continues the series tradition of addressing topics that are relevant to current issues as well as longer-range concerns, with topics that include the fiscal implications of the No Child Left Behind Act, the 2001 Tax Rebate, and the tax burdens of multinational corporations. ... Read more

Book Description

This revised and expanded edition of a Brookings best seller explains recent budgetary events in clear, understandable language. But the book is more than update--over half of the material is new. In addition to explaining how the deficit was liquidated and providing insights on how to protect against them in the future, it analyzes the changes in the appropriations process, friction between the president and Congress, and the reliance on omnibus legislation to resolve budget impasses. The book also contains vital statistics and trends, extracts from important documents, and case studies which dramatize contemporary budgetary politics and provides readers with a "you are there" appreciation of how budgeting works and decisions are made in Washington

Praise for the first edition:

"Schick makes the federal budget process understandable for those unfamiliar with budgeting while providing sufficient detail for policymakers interested in understanding more about its Byzantine rules.... [A] strong contribution to the understanding of budgeting at the federal level." -Perspectives in Political Science

"The serious student of life in this country can profit from having this volume readily accessible.... [It] will be empowering to those seriously interested in public affairs."-Presidential Studies Quarterly

"Allen Schick has once again provided an up-to-date, clear explanation of the federal budget.... [He] has captured the politics of federal budgeting from the original lofty goals to the stark realities of today." -Pete V. Domenici, U.S. Senate

"Schick ... unquestionably knows the arcane intricacies required to construct the federal budget." -Choice ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent overview - also get the poster!
Dr. Schick's book is outstanding. If you use this book in the classroom or teach the congressional or federal budget process, you should also look at the Congressional Operations Poster.

One side of the poster covers the federal budget process, with a flowchart that is very useful when teaching about the federal or congressional budget process. (But don't take my word that the poster is useful - I have seen it hanging in federal agency offices in Washington, DC.) The publisher, TheCapitol.Net, has more information about the poster, and many useful links, on their web site: congressposter.com

Best bet is to buy Dr. Shick's book and the Congressional Operations Poster. ... Read more

Book Description

Growing world trade has helped lift living standards around the world, and yet free trade is always under attack by opponents. Critics complain that trade forces painful economic adjustments, such as plant closings and layoffs of workers, and charge that the World Trade Organization serves the interests of corporations, undercuts domestic environmental regulations, and erodes America's sovereignty. Why has global trade become so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputation? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin sweeps aside the misconceptions that litter the debate over trade and gives the reader a clear understanding of the issues involved. This second edition includes a new chapter on trade and developing countries and updates the entire text to deal with new issues such as outsourcing and steel tariffs.

Book Description

This new edition in the Sociology for a New Century Series is a wonderful supplement to any course in the undergraduate or beginning graduate curriculum that focuses on globalization. It is the first book published for undergraduates which presents a coherent explanation for how "globalization" took root in the public discourse and how "globalization" represents a shift away from "development" as a way to think about non-western societies. The book is full of case studies that help to make the intricacies of globalization concrete, meaningful, and clear to students.

Reviews (3)

Fabulous!
Usually professors who assign their own book for a class tend to be egotists.McMichael bucked that trend, however, by assigning his book which explained everything I ever needed or wanted to know about how the world works.The structure of the book makes it easy for anyone to understand and explains the state of the world today using historical context, which I found fascinating.However cheesy this may be, I honestly think the world would be a better place if more people read this book.

An excellent place to start
I completely agree with Mr. Jones' review.I can name countless books that offer strong arguments and good research.I can also recommend many books that are written with such clear and graceful style that they are a pleasure to read.McMichael is one of the few authors who can manage to combine these two aspects.I thank him for making it both easy and interesting for me to learn about this field of study.

Beyond modernization and underdevelopment
McMichael avoids the classic pitfall of falsely dichotomizing his development themes into modernization and/or underdevelopment theory.Nor does he leave us in the postmodern paralysis of absolute relativity.His straightforward and readable style reveals the entire postwar development project and its consequences, as well as the rise of the globalization project now under way.McMichael underscores his points with case studies and acutely observes the cultural phenomena and localized resistance of our times.Development and Social Change brings the sociology of development to the edge of modernity and the end of our century, in a vocabulary and style open to laypersons and sociologists alike. ... Read more

Book Description

"This book represents the culmination of a decade's work and succeeds. Forester, perhaps the finest planning theorist in the U.S., uses a variety of case studies to show how his ideas about deliberation shape planning practice. He speaks to the problems and worries of practitioners and students of planning in all types of public settings. This book will likely prove popular as a text in planning schools and appeal to professionals in a variety of allied disciplines." -- Charles J. Hoch, Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, University of Illinois at Chicago

Citizen participation in such complex issues as the quality of the environment, neighborhood housing, urban design, and economic development often brings with it suspicion of government, anger between stakeholders, and power plays by many--as well as appeals to rational argument. Deliberative planning practice in these contexts takes political vision and pragmatic skill. Working from the accounts of practitioners in urban and rural settings, North and South, John Forester shows how skillful deliberative practices can facilitate practical and timely participatory planning processes. In so doing, he provides a window onto the wider world of democratic governance, participation, and practical decisionmaking. Integrating interpretation and theoretical insight with diverse accounts of practice, Forester draws on political science, law, philosophy, literature, and planning to explore the challenges and possibilities of deliberative practice. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Searching for theory behind praxis
Once I started reading this book I could not put it aside for long. Perhaps this is because so many of the insights that the author offers on what practioners of deliberative planning and rural development actually do resonates so much with the work I am involved with in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Unlike many other books I have read on planning and development, this book relates stories of planners' real world experiences. It appears that most of the skills practitioners use to deal with the diversity of interests in the face of conflict are rarely taught in universities or textbooks. One wonders where practitioners learn what they do best.

While a solid professional background is necessary, planners must also use improvisation to deal with deliberative processes which involve many stakeholders. What I enjoyed most about this book, unlike many others, is that it contrasts rationality with emotional sensitivity, calculation with improvisation, all of which are necessary for good practice.

The author aslo addresses an often overlooked aspect of deliberative processes in the design professions, that is, how to balance pragmatism in contexts where there has been a history of injustice towards particular groups.

The book makes use of extensive practical experiences of real-life planners and attempts to draw theory from that praxis. These experiences are just as fascinating to read as the authors' insights into theory. It's like being immersed into a deliberative dialogue.

Planning in a Pluralist World
As Forester explains in his Introduction makes, the title of his book is an intentional reference to Don Schön's path breaking The Reflective Practitioner. To use a trite cliché, that his book begins where Schön's book left off. There is, on the one hand, a remarkable similarity between the way Schön frames the situation the planner faces on the one hand, and Forester's description of the planner's world and his concept of deliberation on the other. The difference is in Forester's upfront, no-illusion understanding of the conflict-ridden nature of the world of planners and policy makers. Where Schön's reflection-in-action can, perhaps somewhat unfairly, be read as an improvement of the received view of professional knowledge as the sage expert who solves complex problems for clients in need, Forester has no illusions anymore about the moral and instrumental bankruptcy of the expert model. This becomes nowhere as clear as when we look at the examples each author uses. Where Schön uses one-on-one encounters between a psychotherapist and his supervisee, or an architect and his student, Forester examples include a bitter, entrenched fight over urban development in the Oslo harbour, a black home buyer counsellor in the overtly racist environment of a low income white settlement house, or housing improvement among poor campesinos in rural Venezuela.

Between Schön's and Forester's book lie almost twenty years of massive social, economic and political change, and, in its wake, almost twenty years of disenchantment, if not disillusion, with the role of politicians, administrators, and experts in the public domain. The world that Forester's planners or today's administrators inhabit is the fragmented, pluralistic, adversarial world that has eroded the steering capacity of central governments and that transferred policymaking power to a fragmented field of social and political actors. It is a world that has become so complex and tightly coupled, that the only thing that seems certain to policy makers is that their actions will generate massive unforeseen effects. A world in which the "privileged" knowledge of experts time and again dramatically fails to foresee or solve social and technical problems, and in which, consequently, citizens no longer take the authority of experts for granted. A world, moreover, in which debates about policy solutions are often less about the effectiveness of solutions as about the nature of the problem or the identity of the parties involved. As Forester makes clear, any theory of planning or policymaking or public administration that aspires to even a modicum of social or political relevance, has somehow to come to terms with this world. Listen to the way Forester, subtly commenting upon Schön, sets the stage for his book: "As planners work in between interdependent and conflicting parties in the face of inequalities of power and political voice, they have to be not only personally reflective but politically deliberative too."(1999: 2) Planners, in order to be effective in this pluralist and conflicted world, have no choice but to work with others in an open, transparent and mutually respecting way.

So what does democratic deliberation in the real world of politics and administration entail? Without being exhaustive, let me just touch upon some of the more startling insights of this rich and rewarding book. First, deliberation is more than debate and dialogue; more than the opportunity of being heard. (1999: 115) It is above all active participation in joint problem solving situations. Despite the practical stance of the book, it's key argument is epistemic and circles around the twin notions of unpredictability and complexity. Actors have no choice but to immerse themselves in the messiness, ambiguity, and open-endedness of practical situations. Not only are they literally captives of the everyday world, but the social-technical complexity of most public problems is such that it discounts any general problem solving strategy, and demands from the actors' immersion in the rich, diffuse detail of concrete situations. Knowledge, thus, is essentially local and relational.

In line with the book's epistemic theme, Forester argues that an important part of participatory inquiry consists of telling stories as a special, pragmatic kind of knowing. Much has been written in the last two decades about the role of stories in providing meaning to unstructured, conflictual situations. Forester is particularly insightful about the central role of storytelling in working through everyday political situations. Stories, he tells us, are not mere representations of meetings or encounters between planners and their clientele. Instead, stories are generative; they open up possibilities and close off unwanted or unfeasible lines of action by helping the actors narratively explore the complexities and contradictions of the situation at hand as it is situated in its proximal and distal environment. As Forester puts it, with a particularly happy phrase, stories do all sorts of moral and practical "work": "descriptive work of reportage, moral work of constructing character and reputation (of oneself and others), political work of identifying friends and foes, interests and needs, and the play of power in support and opposition, and, most important. ...deliberative work of considering means and ends, values and options, what is relevant and significant, what is possible and what matters, all together." (1999: 29) Stories are, thus, the prime means for practical judgement. They retain the rich detail that we need for a valid assessment of the situation at hand, yet, by situating the concrete event in a wider moral and causal landscape, stories allow us to connect the particular with the general, the concrete situation with the more general standard. In addition stories allow the actor to explore the emotional dimensions of his actions, both for himself and for others.

"Listen to Stories, Learn in Practice"
John Forester's latest book entitled "The Deliberative Practitioner encouraging Participatory Planning Process", (MIT press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 1999) develops the key ideas of his earlier writings on participatory planning processes by examining the challenges and difficulties of planning in the midst of contested power relationships.

Forester perceives planning as the effort to build consensus towards commonly perceived goals. Since the context of the planning is always fraught with differences, conflicts and inequalities, a planning process necessarily shapes opinion, creates value, transforms not just material conditions but human relationships.

The emphasis on democracy and participation is central to Foresters search for effective planning practices. Keenly sensitive to a world 'riddled with racial violence and discrimination with vast differences in levels of political organization and mobilization', Forester highlights the significance of public deliberations that give space to plural voices and strengthen democratic practices. Adversarial situations are not predetermining. They can be negotiated towards collaborative action. Deliberative planning is seen as a process of learning together to craft strategies towards greater community good. Forester's concern with planning focuses on the issues of rationality, emotional sensitivity and moral vision. Forester defines rationality as an interactive and argumentative process of marshalling evidence and giving reasons. By ethics, Forester understands not a system of fixed codes and predetermined standards, but the continuous allocation and recognition of value inherent in every pragmatic choice assessable by its quality of action and consequences. Emotional sensitivity is seen as a source of knowledge and recognition. "Deliberative practitioner" highlights these issues in a 'live' way by using 'stories' as a narrative method because stories deepen our understanding of planning as a human interaction. Stories bring into play our dual roles of actor and critic, crucial to planning. By capturing situations in their complexity, Forester sensitizes our perceptions to the significance of many non-formal processes and the elements of unpredictability and surprise in planning cautioning against a 'rush to interpretation' and simplistic cure-alls.

Forester's book makes significant contributions to the discussion on participatory planning. The stories he selects indicate how planners can through their technical inquiry, explicit value inquiry, and learning about social identities succeed in a pragmatic synthesis of rationality, ethical judgements and emotional sensitivities. Forester's book has special relevance to developing contexts, fraught with unevenness, caught between their indigenous cultures and the new cultures that the culture of external development aid brings with it. Development projects in such contexts, under the pressure of measurable, time-bound performance indicators, tend to abandon the process of deliberative planning. Forester's book reminds the planners in contexts of developing economies, of the need for culturally-sensitive planning process if sustainable development has to happen. It underscores the possibility and need of cross-context learning. It also reminds that in a situation of unequal relationship, participatory planning can be said to be successful only if existing relationship have been transformed through greater transfer of power to those who are the subjects of planning. Forester's book creates an effective, innovative way of educating planner, using theory and practice, the general and the particular, to mutually illuminate each other. Finally, and most importantly, it bridges the gap between theory and practice in a way that makes practice insightful and theory relevant, each enriching the other. It restores the practitioner to the centrality of planning discourse, and in doing so, the importance of people in planning. ... Read more

Book Description

This book tackles one of the most pressing public policy issues of our time: the reform of regulatory and enforcement practice. Malcolm K. Sparrow shows how prescriptions for reform that are centered on the concepts of customer service and process improvement fail to take account of the distinctive character of regulatory responsibilities—which involve the delivery of obligations rather than just services.

Sparrow identifies a central notion at the heart of a new regulatory craftsmanship: "pick important problems and fix them." This simple approach presents complex implementation challenges with profound consequences for the way regulators organize their work and report their performance. The author explores the underlying nature of the risk-control or problem-solving art, and specifies the organizational infrastructure and managerial practices required to place effective risk control at the heart of routine agency operations.

The Regulatory Craft will be especially valuable for regulatory and law-enforcement practitioners, as well as legislators, students, and others who care about the nature and quality of regulatory practice. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

re-thinking the role of government
Author Malcolm Sparrow suggests something so simple about the role of government that it's revolutionary -- agencies should be in the business of finding important problems and fixing them.

Simple -- but difficult.

Anyone who works in government would tell you they solve problems all the time. But most objective looks at government show that government's primary job is to "implement programs." Those programs often deftly solve problems. Yet they leave much undone. It is the undone problems that Sparrow's book deals with.

Sparrow is an old cop, turned top-level educator. He's got a doctorate and teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is a recognized expert in results-based reform of government. Personally, he is glib and practical.

His experience with policing seems to drive his philosophy. At the crux is this quote from his mentor, Herman Goldstein:

"...policing becomes more effective if police, rather than processing 911 calls one after another and in isolation, could learn to identify underlying patterns and then fashion tailor-made solutions that prevent recurrences." (page 72)

Sparrow shows how identifying patterns and fashioning tailor-made solutions is the crux for most government -- not just police. He ampley cites examples from environmental agencies, customs, OSHA and others to show this. He tells the real-life obstacles to achieving this, too (page 112). Overall, he tells how government could do better and who's doing it.

The book implies a unique slant on deterrence. While getting tough may achieve a deterrence effect, too often it happens after the evil deed. Sparrow suggests that government deter before the deed. How? Analyze patterns of unsolved problems, then tailor interventions to deter BEFORE the problem happens. This is not to rule out enforcement punch -- just to focus it on those against whom it's most effective. He shows that it can be done using case studies.

Sparrow's thinking should appeal to the pragmatist. This book is not pie-in-the-sky theory. It blends top-level thinking and on the ground experience. If you think government could be doing better, you could do worse than picking up a copy of "The Regulatory Craft." ... Read more

Book Description

A large measure of consensus exists about the substantive content of successful economic policy reform—macroeconomic discipline, microeconomic liberalization, and participation in the global economy—that is needed for an economy to enter the modern world. There is much less consensus on the p