Book Description

This book proposes a new approach to helping communities worldwide create healthier and cleaner living environments.

Just and Lasting Change presents how to transform communities rapidly and in locally appropriate ways. Daniel Taylor-Ide and Carl Taylor have been present at key events and worked with key thinkers in dealing with the large forces of inequity, environmental change, and globalization. The approach they have synthesized builds on what has worked over the last century—and can now be implemented rapidly and cost-effectively in many parts of the world. It relies on a three-way partnership of "bottom-up" initiatives from the community level, "top-down" support from government agencies, and "outside-in" ingenuity and objectivity from experts.Based on both a diverse range of case studies—from the earliest attempts to promote social development in India a century ago to current efforts in Tibet, the Peruvian Andes, China, and the American Southwest—and engaging personal experiences, this book describes, step-by-step, how SEED-SCALE can be effectively implemented.

With contributions from leading international experts in community-based development and public health, Just and Lasting Change offers a hopeful description of how people have made a difference in diverse communities around the world and a practical, accessible handbook for those trying to improve the quality of life in underdeveloped communities everywhere. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

new Reformation
As we watch news reports of the world in chaos and trouble this Book offers not just salve to ease the pain of some of these small communties but also real solution as they being to restore their dignity with justice for all involved.
The Model SEED/Scale is one that I believe should be studied and applied in some of the rural areas, small towns in this part of Southwest Oklahoma. This method is about a reformation of attitude, self-awareness , and possibilites for growth and change bringing the best healthiest new life possible.
I think that Churches could apply the model as well as a way to restoring justice and change withn themselves and within the communities they serve. Revitalization is something that churches in rural arears everywhere talk about I believe this model could be applied with success.
This book should have a broad readership. It could help change the world.
Rev. Bobbie G. McGarey, Southwest Oklahoma Presbyerian Parish Pastor, Frederick, Temple, Walters, Chattanooga, and Grandfield. Oklahoma.

A methodology for durable social change in poor communities
The poor communities of the world are, unfortunately, a laboratory for many thousands of mostly failed experiments in how to improve their situation. This important and valuable book builds on decades of practical experience by the authors in the successful, durable transformation of poor communities. The authors' key insights are (1) the necessity for change to be driven by the collaboration of the community, outside experts, and local government; (this may seem obvious, but many projects fail because they treat one of these three groups as an enemy or obstacle rather than a vital element), (2) to have measurable results, (3) to use the power of the community to modify behavior that is an obstacle to success. This book should be read by donors as well as those directly involved in development activities such as community leaders, government officials, and NGO workers. ... Read more

Book Description

In this volume, Albert Hirschman reconstructs the intellectual climate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to illuminate the intricate ideological transformation that occurred, wherein the pursuit of material interests --so long condemned as the deadly sin of avarice --was assigned the role of containing the unruly and destructive passions of man. Hirschman here offers a new interpretation for the rise of capitalism, one that emphasizes the continuities between old and new, in contrast to the assumption of a sharp break that is a common feature of both Marxian and Weberian thinking. Among the insights presented here is the ironical finding that capitalism was originally supposed to accomplish exactly what was soon denounced as its worst feature: the repression of the passions in favor of the "harmless," if one-dimensional, interests of commercial life. To portray this lengthy ideological change as an endogenous process, Hirschman draws on the writings of a large number of thinkers, including Montesquieu, Sir James Steuart, and Adam Smith.

... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good bang for the buck.
My first reading of this material occurred in college as a requirement for a European History course in my second year. The 124-page text is readable in large type with wide margins for notations. In the Introduction (not counted in the text total pages) the author writes that his work, "could be considerably expanded, qualified, bent, and adorned." I appreciated that he did not add unnecessary pages.

The author's objective in writing was to reconstruct how capitalism went from being the sin of avarice to a counterweight for other, less acceptable sins. The work is an interesting history of an idea that is today accepted as the best alternative available for people. I found it amusing that capitalism actually passed through a phase in history where people had to sell it. How that sales campaign was designed and conducted is interesting reading.

The book details some of the advantages of capitalism for workers. While massing people in cities close to factories and raw materials helps owners, it also helps the workers by giving them the opportunity to protest and riot against a government that devalues the currency (apparently a frequent problem in days of yore) or factory owners that otherwise exploit their workers too badly. These advantages are not generally associated with the tenement districts of the late 19th century industrial revolution in America, yet the history of social progress always includes incidents of large-scale violence.

One idea that the book stumbles with is the marginal utility of wealth. Since greed seems to never be sated, it is incorrectly assumed that the pursuit of economic gain has no declining marginal utility. In fact, currency and wealth have no marginal utility at all, but can be transformed into any form of consumption as desired by its owner, and those goods and services have declining marginal utility. This is an important point. The early proponents of capitalism argued that greed would "harness" the destructive and diabolical passions of mankind. In fact, it really has had no effect on them at all, as wealth has become just an innocuous tool available for use or misuse as determined by its owner.

It was necessary to make capitalism something good in order to squelch early critics who opposed low wages and inhumane working conditions on moral grounds. Before then, the Invisible Hand just couldn't compete.

good insights in historical development on idea capitalism
I much enjoyed reading this book, and can unreservedly recommend it to anyone interested in political economy and the history of economics (which grew out of the original 'political economy' into a separate branch of social science). Prof. Hirschman does a very good job in pulling together the various scattered ideas in modern history (so say from around 17th century onward) on the ideology and basic motivations for capitalism. This is a very interesting study on possible political motivations in a time that economic development through capitalism in Europe slowly started to take hold (large parts of Europe still remained a largely agrarian-based economy until end 19th/early 20th century). Even though this brought enormous political and social upheavals, the ideas on capitalism still largely were of a brave new world variety, and understandingly so. The observation that the desire for wealth does not seem to diminish as levels of wealth increase (an exception to the law of dimishing marginal utility) led a number of political philosophers to the exciting and hopeful idea that capitalism would channel human destructive passion or act as a 'counterweight' to other less socially desirable behaviour (of which the 17/18th centuries in Europe saw its share as well). As it turned out, this basic optimistic idea of course needed some heavy qualifications; e.g. to avoid abuses of power (such as the inevetable necessity for a strong role of government in capitalism, e.g. as enforcer of fair and equitable competition and alleviate market failures; or that economic interests do not necessarily stop any war). Nevertheless, the ideas on positive effects of capitalism on human behavior still stands in contemporary discussions as well, if only often implicitly. I liked his remark on how ironic, in historical context, the argument is that the strong focus on capitalism in modern society has led to impoverishment and alienation in the human experience. The idea in capitalism as described by its early protagonists was precisely to counteract or channel the human 'passions' that so far had not led to much constuctive behavior. As Prof. Hirschmann notes, a historical awarenesss of such arguments may not bring any clearer answers today but will certainly help to lift the level of discussion.

A history of the arguments for capitalist rationality
It's a bit of a miscategorization that this book is usually filed under "Economics." It's more about social and intellectual history. Hirschman traces social support for economic individualism as stemming from support for rational, predictable "interest" to counter irrational, unpredictable "passions." It's the old battle of Apollonian versus Dionysian, but it's very novel to see it played out in something as this-worldly as debates about political economy.

Hirschman's history of "interest" is similar to Weber's history of "capitalist rationalism," although Hirschman's attributed causal mechanisms are broader than Weber's: Hirschman says general desire to improve upon human nature, rather than specific Protestant religious concerns, was the justification for capitalist rationality. (However, taking Hirschman's tack, we cannot explain why capitalism elicited more support in some countries than in others.)

This is an excellent history of the concept of the "invisible hand," the idea that the pursuit of private gain can have socially salubrious effects. If you know about "the fable of the bees," you know a little bit about this concept, but Hirschman chronicles its history at a much deeper level.

A romp!
In this delicious wafer of a book, Hirschman describes the process by which a Renaissance-era desire to discount the classical "heroic ideal" in order to account for man "as he really is" in formulating an original and, ... "Machiavellian" statecraft (to be promulgated without respect for a new *spiritual* ethic for the individual) gave rise to a re-examination of the role and motive force of the mortal Passions. Considering the works of such as Vico, Mandeville, and Smith, Hirschman excitedly argues the case for this novel "state" project: the idea that the act of "harnessing" the Passions (e.g., avarice and "cupidity") would serve to parlay the sins of envy, resentment, and petty spite into a value-neutral drive (i.e., "interest") to acquire great *personal* material wealth, which (and this is the rub) would serve not only to break the monopoly of the church over the affairs of men, but to bring about a residual and necessary *collective* prosperity. Behold the Invisible Hand! (Then read your Tocqueville and Marx for 19th-century perspectives on the United States and Britain, respectively.) ... Read more

Book Description

In the 1970s and 1980s the countries of Latin America dealt with their similar debt problems in very different ways--ranging from militantly market-oriented approaches to massive state intervention in their economies--while their political systems headed toward either democracy or authoritarianism. Applying the tools of modern political economy to a developing-country context, Jeffry Frieden analyzes the different patterns of national economic and political behavior that arose in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. This book will be useful to those interested in comparative politics, international studies, development studies, and political economy more generally. "Jeffry Frieden weaves together a powerful theoretical framework with comparative case studies of the region's five largest debtor states. The result is the most insightful analysis to date of how the interplay between politics and economics in post-war Latin America set the stage for the dramatic events of the 1980s."--Carol Wise, Center for Politics and Policy, Claremont Graduate School

Reviews (1)

"Modern Political Economy" in Latin America
Frieden's "Debt, Development and Democracy" is a rational-choice analysis of economic group interests (the "demand side" of political economy) in Latin America that seeks to explain widely differing political and economic outcomes in five countries who faced nearly identical external economic conditions.By holding the external financial environment (foreign lending) constant across the five cases, Frieden can explain two kinds of divergent outcomes (economic policy and political change) through his independent variable:the political interaction of economic interest groups acting rationally vis-a-vis the state to maximize their interests.

Frieden's argument rests on the assumption that foreign loans were liked a pie to be divided.When the pie was large, during the lending spree of 1965-1982, economic interest groups in each of the five countries determined the distribution of the pie based on their political competition for capital.Since these groups were acting to maximize their economic interests, Frieden analyzes these interests in order to explain their impact on the first dependent variable:economic policy during the borrowing period.He finds that the most significant factor determining interests was the nature of national labor-capital relations.In the three cases where labor-capital relations were calm (Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil) various "sectors" of the economy squabbled over the pie, resulting in interventionist economic policy and political cleavages that cut across the labor-capital divide.The winners in this battle for government largesse were the economic sectors that were strongest in two key areas:asset specificity and concentrated organization.But in the two cases where labor-capital relations were contentious, (Argentina and Chile) Frieden shows that capitalists across all sectors recognized their common interest and refrained from sectoral squabbling by forcing the state to eschew interventionism and protect the business climate by liberalizing markets.

After 1982, when the pie began to shrink, it was the nature of these established interest group/state relationships that determined Frieden's second dependent variable:each country's political response to the financial crisis.In the 3 sectoral countries, plus Argentina (where class conflict had subsided and sectoral cleavages therefore rose to prominence), the politically powerful sectors realized their common interest by joining forces to overthrow the regime or government (or the "policy orientation" in the case of one-party Mexico) that could no longer protect their economic interests.But in Chile, where class conflict still seethed, Frieden argues that the entire business community made a rational choice to maintain its pro-regime stance, feeling that they had more to fear from a resurgence of the left than they did from the government's inability to meet their economic demands.This explains the fact that Chile is the book's only case where authoritarianism survived the debt crisis.

Frieden offers two kinds of evidence to test his theory:quantitative and qualitative.The qualitative evidence, showing the behavior of interest groups vis-a-vis the state, is made up of interviews with key players in each of the five countries, plus numerous citations from other studies, both historical and contemporary, that ostensibly use qualitative data.The quantitative data is primarily made up of statistics on Frieden's key antecedent condition, foreign lending (to illustrate the similar nature of debt conditions across the five cases) and also his economic dependent variable:well-organized and asset-specific sectors pushing for state intervention in the economy (to illustrate the fact that sectoral economies spent their foreign loans in statist ways, while the two other cases spent their money in more "liberal" ways).Fewer statistics are needed for Frieden's political dependent variable, political change after the debt crisis, since most observers would agree that Chile changed much less than the other cases (although some would say that Frieden's "policy orientation" variable in Mexico is meaningless, since the PRI never lost its grip on power.But if Frieden were to admit that Mexico did not experience political change after the debt crisis, then his argument would be falsified).

Frieden makes it easy to assess the logical completeness of his rational choice argument by himself bringing up possible alternative theoretical interpretations of his data.While this is an admirable attempt at fair and open social science, it also gives us easy access to the deficiencies of his approach.Frieden himself admits that the behavior of interest groups cannot account for all changes in political economy, but then goes on to assert that "trends toward or away from democracy are largely a function of political actors' evaluation of which institutional arrangement will best serve their interests, not of structural characteristics of developing societies" (137).While this is a bold statement, it robs all other variables (international economic conditions, institutions, the state, ideology, strategic interaction, etc.) of too much of their explanatory power.To argue that economic interest groups alone can determine the nature of economic policy and the extent of political change is an overstatement of their individual capabilities, and Frieden probably knows it.Rational choice assumes too much omnipotence on the part of particular groups and individuals, and too much power to act in their collective interests.Nonetheless, Frieden's explanation is parsimonious, and sheds much light on heretofore ignored factors in the development/democracy relationship. ... Read more

Book Description

"This is a book that should be read by all economists." -- Roger E. Backhouse, The Economic Journal

"A stimulating essay by one of the world's most thoughtful and innovative economists." -- Paul Ormerod, The Times Higher Education Supplement

Why do certain ideas gain currency in economics while others fall by the wayside? Paul Krugman argues that the unwillingness of mainstream economists to think about what they could not formalize led them to ignore ideas that turn out, in retrospect, to have been very good ones.

Krugman examines the course of economic geography and development theory to shed light on the nature of economic inquiry. He traces how development theory lost its initial influence after it became clear that many of the theory's main insights could not be clearly modeled, and concludes with a commentary on areas where further inquiry looks most promising.

The Ohlin Lectures ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Do economic models matter?
Paul Krugman is one of the few economists at home both in 'high theory' and in public economic discourse. He thinks deeply, and he thinks brilliant thoughts. This little book - based on the Olin Lectures he gave in Stockholm - is proof of what his mind can yield, when it sets out to clarify issues.

Development and economic geography, he argues, failed because they did not submit themselves to the discipline of model-building - what might look or even be at first sight downright silly in the end is preferable to the unconscious metaphors of the narrative economic discourse.

For all its clarity, Krugman's argument is deeply flawed. Development and economic geography - together with income distribution - belong to the derelict class of economic problems that addresses the question of historical disparities of wealth in the economic tissue. Why have some countries or regions developed and others have staid behind, why are there poor and rich? Was it done by better use of the available resources, or by impoverishment of other nations or persons? A corollary to this question would be: does our quest for efficiency worsen or reduce disparities? Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx addressed this question, but their observations have been largely forgotten. Pareto and welfare economics picked up the thread, only to conclude platidinuously that the only 'good' policies are those that benefit all.

Should the model-building solutions that Krugman suggests be used in development and geography be any good, they might imply that a 'big push' applies not just to economic growth, but also to concentration of income - consumer surplus playing the role of 'economies of scale'. Interesting. Just as interesting as the metaphor that - as in the 'big bang' theory of star formation - the smallest of initial income irregularities (e.g. first predatory capital accumulation) lead to the agglutination of wealth around capitalists. Which, of course, also implies that it is the 90% of dark (workers) matter that keeps the shiny capitalist 'stars' in place in a well-ordered and expanding economy.

Toys are useful provided they teach a child the 'real thing'. Toy models are not useful when they fail to recognise (let alone address) fundamental issues like that of economic disparity. Models are downright bad when their incautious use leads to blind-sighting in economic policy. Every economist should be made to ponder Kenneth Arrow's Theory of Second Best. Partial optima are bad solutions in the search for an overall optimum.
Can we expect models of income disparity soon? Paul Krugman might devote some of his intellectual powers to construct the simplest of models of income disparity and attempt to integrate it into a growth model - just to disprove (or prove) the widespread intuition that when governments pursue efficiency single-mindedly, the rich get rich and the poor poorer.

Can we further expect a 'grand unified theory of everything economic' that would bring together both concerns of efficiency and income distribution into a unified model for development? Don't hold your breath. As Koopmans famously proved, one cannot kill two birds with one stone. Until then, however, efficiency models should either be denied the Warrant Of Fitness for circulation in political circles, and/or carry the label: Efficiency may be harmful to income distribution.

Neat little book but too expensive!
It's a wonderful little piece, but a teeny little book for $40 bucks?! What's more, most of contents are/were actualy available at Krugman's own web site. Someone's sure making a lot of unearned money here off..... If money were no object, though, I'd surely rate this book much higher.

An Excellent critique of high development theory
This is an excellent critique of high development theory. Although good economists will know the main faults of their disapline, this text elegantly explains why development theory lost its direction. I will not divulge the main ideas, they are well worth the money to find out. - Economists consist of two groups, those that don't know, and those who don't know that they don't know.

Quick and Lucid
Trade theory and economic geography are two subjects that are as interesting as they are tough to lay out. This book would probably be an utter disaster in anyone but Krugman's hands. This book is not really for anyone unfamiliar with economics, but the majority of it could probably by understood by a reasonably bright high school student with some familiarity in the area. Krugman has a breezy style which runs over all the intriging upshots without becoming bogged down in fetishistic details. Admirably his clear rhetoric is supplemented by by many examples, analogies and "intuition pumps."

As far as an introduction to geography and trade go, it is less than thorough, but these are mostly props for Professor Krugman's views on economic theory, which are sensible and unpretentious. He deflates and delineates the worse practices of his profession without resulting to the stock complaints (i.e. that Economists generally think they are physicists -- nonsense!). A good quick book on how to do economics. ... Read more

Book Description

The Liberal Democratic Party, which dominated postwar Japan, lost power in the early 1990s. During that same period, Japan’s once stellar economy suffered stagnation and collapse. Now a well-known commentator on contemporary Japan traces the political dynamics of the country to determine the reasons for these changes and the extent to which its political and economic systems have been permanently altered.

T. J. Pempel contrasts the political economy of Japan during two decades: the 1960s, when the nation experienced conservative political dominance and high growth, and the early 1990s, when the "bubble economy" collapsed and electoral politics changed. The different dynamics of the two periods indicate a regime shift in which the present political economy deviates profoundly from earlier forms. This shift has involved a transformation in socioeconomic alliances, political and economic institutions, and public policy profile, rendering Japanese politics far less predictable than in the past. Pempel weighs the Japanese case against comparative data from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, and Italy to show how unusual Japan’s political economy had been in the 1960s.

Regime Shift suggests that Japan’s present troubles are deeply rooted in the economy’s earlier success. It is a much-anticipated work that offers an original framework for understanding the critical changes that have affected political and economic institutions in Japan. ... Read more

Book Description

What are the key foreign economic policy issues facing the United States in the second half of this decade? How can the administration and Congress meet the economic challenges that lie ahead? This new book analyzes the dramatic importance of the world economy to both the domestic prosperity and overall foreign policy of the United States, describes the new global environment (e.g., the rise of China as a global economic superpower and the completion of European unification) in which US policy must operate, and proposes major US initiatives on a wide range of international economic issues, including correction of the huge current account deficit, new trade negotiations, and energy. Individual chapters by senior staff of the Institute on each of the key topics are included. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume presents ten original essays and four commentaries contributed by leading scholars in technology and innovation that discuss how newly industrializing countries (NICs), particularly those in East Asia, have transformed themselves from technologically backward and poor to relatively modern and affluent economies over the past thirty years. They provide interesting theoretical perspectives and the insightful understanding of the process of technological progress at both the macro and micro levels in these countries. ... Read more

Book Description

Originally published in 1985, ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Good analysts of root causes, & indirectly the solutions
This book was first written in 1985 and revised in 2000. In a nut shell the author looks at the history of Latin America, and argues that the classic explanation of the Dependency theory of Latin America's poverty relative to the United States is wrong. For a long time many people in Latin America blamed their problems on the rest of the world, and often the United States was the source of most evil. This was victimhood on an international level.

Harrison argues that this is wrong, and shows how the legacy of the Spanish and Catholic influences has produced a culture that is anti-progressive. I was a bit surprised at how often he brings up the importance of child rearing practices. This is a very well researched book. It was well written. It was very thought provoking.

Yes ...it is !!!
I read this book a long time ago ...I actually borrowed it from a friend at the USAID office in Santo Domingo and never returned it. It was an eye opener and at the same time a confirmation for a lot of our opinions. This book is ,a very clear
description of the underdeveloped mind...the way of thinking and of viewing the world that we inherited from our spanish colonial era. Not only religion is a burden...but also the
rent-seeking ,oportunistic and corrupt ways of our politicians ....and worst of all...that we the people..don't do a thing to end this mess.

Thomas Sowell recommends it, and for good reason.
Unlike one of the reviewers of this book which declared this book to reek of white supremacy stench, a portrayal which couldn't be further from the truth, I found this book to be very insightful and very well reasoned. I read this book as a recommendation from Thomas Sowell (a noted black economist and author of a trilogy on cultures - and one of my favorite authors and economists) and I found that he was right on the money with his recommendation. There is no reason in the world that any population, with or without natural resources, can't progress and become developed in a generation or -at most - two (as long as they have guarantee of liberty including the iron clad right to own property without danger of seizure from the government). The author reveals very well the stumbling blocks that prevent some countries from developing regardless of the billions given in foreign aid. Culture does play a part in this and in some cases - a major part. As an example, how do two countries of a comparable economic situation (Hong Kong - no natural resources - and Mexico - with considerable reserves of oil - in the early 50s) become so diverse in their development in a scant 50 years? Culture and economic liberty are an obvious answer. Do yourself a favor and read a copy of this book. It'll open your eyes utilizing clear and basic economics as to one of the root causes to third world poverty.

The truth that you should heed
If you are one of those people who disingenously think that all cultures are the same and that cultural attitudes do not impinge on economical issues, move on and keep on reading the same type of pseudo-scholarship that created and sustains all those described in two other works the reader should take into account: "El Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano" (The Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot")and "Fabricantes de miseria" (Makers of Misery). Otherwise, buy books like this and one day you might learn the truth.

A few good insights tainted by the stench of white-supremacy
The thesis of this book is that the economic disparities between the US, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Haiti result from the superiority of WASP culture. The study of the relationship between culture and progress has a long history dating back to Max Weber. This book offers nothing new except a harsher edge that gives it a stench of white-supremacy. Harrison is clearly aware of the potential for charges of racism. He makes extensive use of quotes from blacks and Hispanics to make points that would be offensive coming from a white person. This is reminiscent of the 2000 reform party's black vice presidential candidate whose job it is to state that Pat Buchanan is not a racist, not an anti-Semite, and not a homophobe. Harrison's book purports to be a book on development, rather than a justification for the disparities of wealth between the first and third worlds. Indeed, there are reasonable policy proposals in this book, as well as a decent refutation of dependency theory. However, there is nothing really new here. Economists almost universally rejected dependency theory long before "Underdevelopment is a State of Mind" was first published. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the development literature will come away with nothing more than the simplistic argument that poor people deserve to be poor because of their inferior culture. The book gives no hint as to the fundamental causes of cultural differences. Clearly culture affects economic progress. However, it is equally clear that economics affects culture. The U.S. has a culture conducive to capitalist growth in no small part because it is a wealthy capitalist nation. Any writer sincerely concerned with improving the welfare of poor people should look favorable upon immigration and cultural exchanges. With the fed raising interest rates to choke off US growth and prevent labor shortages, the U.S. can absorb vastly increased levels of immigration. The success of immigrants from very poor countries makes it clear that it is the institutional and cultural restrictions of poor countries that make them poor. They do not bring their supposed "cultural inferiority" with them. The fact that Harrison's book contains diatribes against immigration shows that his concern is with relieving his own guilt about living better than 90% of humanity rather than improving the lives of the bottom 90%. ... Read more

Book Description

A gripping adventure story and an insightful look at why foreign aid so often fails. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A highly informative and unique book
It is not very common to find a World Bank economist who writes with a touch of humor, humility and eloquence, but that is exactly what you will discover in this unique book. The author was a World Bank advisor assigned to the tiny African nation of Equatorial Guinea in the late 1980's, a time when many African nations were beginning to flirt with market reforms and economic liberalization. This book is kind of like a personal diary of the time he spent there. It is written in an easygoing, informal style. He alternates between discussing his job- trying to develop an economic strategy that will enable E. Guinea to qualify for a World Bank loan- and discussing his recreational activities, which range from surfboarding to hanging out with African rock stars. He introduces us to many people- government officials, "experts" from the UN and other international organizations, and ordinary Equatoguineans. He seems to be particularly critical of the so-called "experts," many of whom are in this remote backwater merely because "they couldn't find jobs in their own countries." Many economists and other academics seeking a rigorous, theoretical analysis of African political economy might be frustrated by this informal style, but I think it adds an extra dimension to the story of economic reform in the third world. It helps remind us that these structural adjustment policies thought up in Washington D.C. are implement by real people facing real constraints in recipient countries. Klitgaard does an excellent job of relating the pressures faced by well-intentioned (and some not so well-intentioned) government ministers, as they must deal with corruption, apathetic bureaucrats, nasty military officers, and the poor infrastructure found in every developing country. All in all, this is a great read for anybody interested in the troubles facing third-world countries, for anyone curious about why these countries can't seem to get out of their economic malaise. Although it was written in 1991, it seems just as relevant today as it did when it was written.

Better not to tell what you saw
This was the cheer statement of an old spanish allien in EG: "people in your country is not going to believe you, they'll tell you're crazy man! Surely he knew all the characters of this amazing book. I did too. I've been ther six months after Bobs departure,and spent two years inside this contradictory scenary of beauty and madness; one of my collegues in a UN Project was this fascinating woman CHA-CHA (or what rhitm it was?)Well for someone who has not been there this could not count as histories about Mr. Kurtz or worst, but all i can said is: being there is living in permanent fear no matter how far your white collar work is from the crude day to day reality of this people. Bob surely did an excelent work, but damn! why not try to surf across the "filariasis" waters of the Malabo coast? Thanks Bob, for remind me some of the better experiences in my life, those that help to know the worth of living in a developing country with all of his ups and downs but surely better as happily I'm now. Finally I'm happy for not catching malaria in those long years. A record! The book tells the truth, but I know there are many worst things that hardly one could see or tell. Want some more? I'll tell you about Andrew, a young and handsome british consultor being beaten on his barefeet by Malabo's police -headed by the strong police chief and Obiang's brother, - his fault was showing off at a Malabo disco bar.The reaction in the UN context was: "don't make waves". Want to know more about "etiopia"? You wouldn't believe it, you'd tell I'm Crazy. Cheers Bob!

Excellent
Tropical Gangsters gives you an interesting look into Equatorial Guinea through the eyes of an economist, but also a human.

If you're interested in development, foreign aid, etc you'll find this book fascinating. No groundbreaking theories are found here, but the practical side is conveyed clearly and precisely.

It reads like a diary of sorts, there are insights into cultural differences, personal life and political science questions.

Interesting but less than the title suggests
Perhaps I have a warped perspective because I read Tropical Gangsters around the same time as reading accounts of Congo, Somalia, the Sudan, Rawanda and other African genocides, but Robert Klitgaard's experience in Equatorial Guinea was not all that bad, comparatively speaking. Which is not to say it is an interesting book. But a lot of what he does is office work; put together presentations, have meetings, plan strategies, etc. He does them in interesting surroundings in interesting circumstances, but at the end of the day it is white collar work. And in his spare time he surfs, visits with friends, drives around the country side and so forth. All of which is interesting to read about for most of us. And occasionally there are very low key coup attempts and a couple of people he knows are arrested and tortured. But it is unclear who the "gangsters" he refers to are; most of the people in the Equatoguinean government he works with seem honest and eager to get his help in furthering economic development. He does not personally experience any of the outrageous examples of corruption you read about in the context of other African countries. For comparative purposes, try "In the Footsteps of Mister Kurtz" about Zaire/Congo, which shows how bad things really could be.

Best book ever written on Equatorial Guinea
This is really an excellent book on all levels and I am very glad to have found it. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer I could empathize with the author's trials and tribulations in trying to pull off some development work in a badly mis-governed country as well as his obvious liking and best wishes for the people he met. From this book you get a very clear and down-to-earth picture of a) Equatorial Guinea, one of the forgotten corners of the world, b)the development game played by donors and recipients, experts, expats, local bureaucrats and dictator's toadies and c) the problems the world, collectively, faces because poorer countries need help but richer countries don't really know how to deliver it. I finished the book wondering, as ever, if the whole development game is hopeless in all countries with autocratic or kleptocratic rulers who care not a whit for the welfare of their own people. "Gangsters" exist amongst the Western aid people too, they are not endemic merely in the Third World. The author was most certainly not one of them. TROPICAL GANGSTERS is a clear, well-written book, one of the best on the development process I have ever seen. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

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Reviews (9)

Good textbook companion
Academic economists will 'harumph' at this book on the grounds that it seeks merely to destroy undergraduate textbook economics, rather than hard-headed analytically sound economics. Such harumphing is double-edged.

On the one hand it means that it is not compulsory reading for (all) academic economists (although it must be said that the sections dealing with methodological issues and heterodox theories would be informative to academic economists of all stripes).

On the other hand it means that, by the harumphers' own logic, it IS compulsory reading for (at least) undergraduate economists because it does exactly what they condemn it for: lifting the scales from the undergraduate economist's eyes.

As an instructional text, it works best when read along side an undergrad macro/microeconomic textbook because not only does it reinforce the student's understanding of the basic theory, it extends it by means of critical analysis. If nothing else, it should wake a mildly interested student from his or her slumber and then promptly boot them down the road of Critical Engagement. (As I have discovered through first hand experience, it tends to turn students into annoying, and rewarding, interrogators of Received Wisdom.)

Why mainstream economics is dangerously wrong!
This wonderful book written by a genuinely concerned economist clearly documents the main ideas of economics taught to undergraduates (the background to much research in economics) has been documented as being WRONG by research published in major economics journals.

the myth of TINA dismantled
Keen has accomplished from the inside what many critics have attempted, and that is to decisively reveal the fatal flaws of neoclassical economics. Yes, it's a paper tiger, a giant with feet of clay, a Potempkin Village, or my favorite metaphor -- the thundering Wizard of Oz, which is really a little man behind a curtain. With Keen's book in hand, any professor ought to be able to effectively challenge the ruling TINA orthodoxy that "there is no alternative" to The Market. The supposedly iron laws of supply and demand are not iron after all, there is no One Perfect Equilibrium, so it's back to the political economy that prevailed prior to the "marginal revolution" -- politics matters, institutions matter, and the Masters of the World are nothing but Naked Emperors. Keen offers a section on alternatives, and he favors post-keynesian theory, but is fair to other approaches.

As Keen warns, this is not easy reading, and I can't imagine assigning it to undergraduates. Hopefully some economics professors will (I'm a sociologist). But it should be required reading for every professor and graduate student in the social sciences.

At Last !!!
This is a tremendous book which is written in such a way to be of use to both the novice and the 'expert' in any field/sub-specialism of economics. Most undergrad economics training is still steeped in the neoclassical tradition. This book presents the neoclassical paradigm in a most lucid fashion (moreso than many conventional and popular texts) and simultaneously refutes even the most basic tenets on which the paradigm is built. Prof Keen also tackles some rival theories. Progressing through this book I kept feeling drawn to some of the structuralist models, but alas, these are not specifically covered to any significant degree. This book is already on my 10 favourite of all time (see my list). My recommendation for the person to whom neoclassical economics and/or challenges to it are new is to start with this great work and then go on to some of the structuralist and IP literature (suggest: Prebisch; Lewis; Beckford; Lall to start). Specifically for the "non-economist" in the developing world - this helps explain why people have had to pay such a high price as a result of neo-liberal policy imposed on LDC's. It will also help resolve the issue of how within the profession we can brutally criticise our models yet at the same time reject the commonly heard lay-person's judgement of economics as a 'failure'. Reading this we should remember that it is no more a failure than engineering or medicine: these sciences are also supported by evolving masses of paradgims,theories, observations etc.

Econ 101
This book provides a far more clear explanation of the ideas of standard economic theory (neo-classical economics) than do the standard texts (compare with Samuelson, Mankiw, or Barro, e.g.). The book explains utility maximization, indifference curves, and the assumptions underlying the standard economic model that is used by the IMF, the World Bank and all major western governments. Keen uses simple language that even the lay person can follow. The text should be standard reading for every student of elementary economics, but even an experienced economist like Alan Greenspan might benefit from the clarity of thought displayed therein.

Macroeconomic theory is covered from the right perspective, from the result of Sonnenshein et all which shows the basis in microeconomic theory for the standard macroeconomic model. Kirman is mentioned but his seminal connection of liquidity demand with uncertainty is not discussed. The work of Radner should have been included, but then Samuelson and Varian do not discuss Radner's contribution either.Chapter 7 presents the correct perspective on general equilibrium theory, with good advice for students of econ 101.Chapter 8 on Keynes is outstanding, presenting the clearest (and even correct!) textbook discussion of Keynes that I am aware of. Marx's contribution to the basis of capitalism, the recognition of the central role played by the profit motive, is also made apparent in the Keynsian context. The profit motive is ignored completely in Samuelson and the other standard texts, which discuss merely pure barter economies and leave out financial markets altogether. Hicks' interpretation of Keynes' ideas is also correctly presented. All in all, students of economics would be well advised to make Keen's book their main econ text. ... Read more

Book Description

Poverty reduction on a large scale depends on empowering those who are most motivated to move out of poverty—poor people themselves. But if empowerment cannot be measured, it will not be taken seriously in development policy making and programming.

Building on the award-winning Empowerment and Poverty Reduction sourcebook, this volume outlines a conceptual framework that can be used to monitor and evaluate programs centered on empowerment approaches. It presents the perspectives of 27 distinguished researchers and practitioners in economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and demography, all of whom are grappling in different ways with the challenge of measuring empowerment. The authors draw from their research and experiences at different levels, from households to communities to nations, in various regions of the world.

Measuring Empowerment is an invaluable resource for planners, practitioners, evaluators, and students—indeed for all who are interested in approaches to poverty reduction that address issues of inequitable power relations. ... Read more

Book Description

NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED PAPERBACK EDITION

Received ForeWord Magazine's Silver Book of the Year Award in Business and Economics

The business of baseball stands in sharp contrast to the game’s wholesome image as America’s favorite pastime. Major league baseball is a deeply troubled industry, facing chronic problems that threaten its future: persistent labor tensions, competitive dominance by high-revenue teams, migration of game telecasts to cable, and escalating ticket prices. Amid the threat of contraction, existing franchises are demanding public subsidies for new stadiums, while viable host cities are begging for teams. The game’s core base of fans is aging, and MLB is doing precious little to attract a younger audience.

According to Andrew Zimbalist, these problems have a common cause: monopoly. Since 1922 MLB has benefited from a presumed exemption from the nation’s antitrust laws. It is the only top-level professional baseball league in the country, and each of its teams is assigned an exclusive territory. Monopolies have market power, which they use to derive higher returns, misallocate resources, and take advantage of consumers. Major league baseball is no exception.

In May the Best Team Win, Zimbalist provides a critical analysis of the baseball industry, focusing on the abuses and inefficiencies that have plagued the game since the 1990s, when franchise owners appointed their colleague Bud Selig as MLB’s "independent" commissioner. Run by a shrinking and self-selecting group of owners subject to no oversight, MLB suffers from a lack of competitive pressure. Several large franchises are owned by media companies that have shackled their teams to lucrative broadcast and cable contracts—often making it impossible for fans to see games on television. Others own entities that do business with the teams, charging inflated prices for facility management, concessions, and catering. Complex intracompany transactions can reduce franchise revenues substantially, causing operating losses for teams while the owners still make millions. Zimbalist estimates that tens of millions of dollars are sheltered from MLB revenue each year—more than enough to eliminate the operating losses that led Selig to claim contraction and other radical remedies as fiscal necessities.Zimbalist believes that many of baseball’s problems would be effectively addressed by removing the industry’s presumed antitrust exemption. He urges reconsideration of baseball’s antitrust status, encouraging legislation to force monopoly cable providers to de-bundle their services, along with private initiatives to cultivate the game’s fan base, such as offering special ticket prices for families, allowing fans on the field after games, and involving players more in community events. Zimbalist also provides MLB with guidelines to reconstruct the incentive system underlying its revenue sharing policies.Zimbalist believes that consumers need an industry that is subject to judicial checks and competitive pressures. Only then will baseball fans be able to put the traumas of the 1990s and early 2000s behind them and utter freely the simple and enduring exhortation: May the best team win! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Baseball¿s Business Side Revealed
Andrew Zimbalist's "May the Best Team Win" explains to the reader just how much the game aspect of baseball has dwindled over the years. Many owners nowadays seem to want to maximize profits out of their teams, not wins.

He goes into detail about the history of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and their fights against ownership. It is interesting to note that while the union is portrayed as the goat for many of the past labor work stoppages, after reading this book one can understand why the union's grievances with ownership are what they are. They have also harbored feelings of distrust not just against the owners, but against commissioners as well: Ueberroth and his role in the collusion scandal of the 1980s, and Selig and his ludicrous demands thrown on the bargaining table along with his claim after the 2001 season that Major League Baseball was in the red by millions of dollars.

Zimbalist studies Major League Baseball's exemption from antitrust legislation, how it came about, and how it is congressionally and judicially deemed today. While it seems baseball will retain exemption so long as they can police themselves, given the bevy of problems plaguing the game (or, rather, business) today, it seems that the government must sooner or later step in and right the many wrongs. If baseball were not exempt from antitrust legislation, notwithstanding the fact that owners could sell a team to municipalities and amateurs could challenge the right of a team to withhold exclusive rights to their services for up to seven years, one would find out just how much money ownership really lost and by how much the number would differ from Selig's number.

He writes with a viewpoint that seems to place most of the blame, right or wrong, on ownership and the commissioner's office. Labor problems aside, if the owners and commissioner would be open and honest with the union and the government while striking accord between themselves over what issues they should bring to the bargaining table, Zimbalist seems to rightly conclude this would lead to amicable relations between the union and management. He cannot be wrong in blaming management-because of their antitrust exemption, they are given a lot of liberty that many corporations in this country do not enjoy. In addition, the owners who own other businesses (John Hart, Ted Turner, et al) can rearrange their books to categorize revenue earned from the team under their other business ventures.

He proposes many rational solutions to be implemented: a promotion/relegation system similar to the English Premier League where the worst team moves down into a second-tier league and the best team in that league moves up to the premier league; an international draft, along with more early draft picks for low-revenue teams; and an adjustment to the revenue sharing system that discourages excessive spending but will not reward low-revenue teams that simply pocket the money they receive. If the government chose to intervene, he suggests splitting MLB into the American League and the National League as two separate leagues. This, Zimbalist believes, would bring down team revenues, player salaries, and costs to attend games while at the same time resolving competitive-balance issues. These solutions are certainly not without merit, yet given the myopia of the current caretakers of the game (or, rather again, business), it is unlikely any of them will be enacted, and if so, reach remotely successful fruition.

It seems really unfortunate to think about the idea that baseball really has become less of a game and more of a business. Given the "new wave" of GMs who feel they can put a team together on the basis of sound sabermetrics, it appears that the players are seen more as commodities than they are as people. They say baseball is a game of numbers. While common numbers used to center around batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, numbers studied in the "game" today seem to include expected rate of return, comparative advantage, and cost-benefit analysis.

Darn clear thinking
Good book. Read it after listening to the interview
on First Voice. Detailed, specific, thoughtful.

The interview is online at
http://www.7to7.net/zim.html

There's a transcript for those using dial up.

--J. R.

Great insight..
This was a great view into the inner workings of baseball's front offices. Not only does it give the reader a foundation for understanding the complexities of baseball labor negotiations, but it also gives insight into foundations of free agency and many of the arcane laws that give the sport its monopoly status.

Its a quick read and a great reference for any student of the financial aspects of the game, especially those interested in reform.

Terrific work on the state of baseball
Bob Costas's popular "Fair Ball" was an examination of baseball from the fan's perspective. "May the Best Team Win" is a similar work, but is written from the point of view of a professor of economics. Mr. Zimbalist's writing style is often just what you would expect from an economist; the text is very dense and may turn off some readers. Luckily, the book's fault is also its strength. The well-researched analysis provides irrefutable arguments in favor of making changes in the game, and educates the reader far better than other authors' attempts.

This deeply probing work uncovers the abuses and inefficiencies in the baseball industry, and concludes that baseball's monopoly is the devil in the details. Team owners use their monopoly power to "derive higher returns, misallocate resources, and take advantage of consumers." Any fan who has paid $5 for a ballpark hot dog will definitely empathize with his findings.

"May the Best Team Win" addresses the competitive balance (or competitive imbalance), the myth of non-profitability, the collective bargaining agreements, and how teams convince cities to foot the bill for new stadiums.

In the end, Mr. Zimbalist outlines some possible solutions to help improve the game. Some of his ideas seem workable, while others seem idealistic and unrealistic. However, all of his suggestions are well worth reading. This is an ambitious effort, and fans with serious concerns about the future of the sport will definitely appreciate this analytical endeavor. Zimbalist has taken on a difficult issue, and shown that he has more than just warning track power.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume presents 18 recent IMF research studies on the causes and consequences of corruption, as well as how it can most effectively be combated to improve governance, increase economic growth, and reduce poverty. The authors examine how civil service wages affect the incidence of corruption, whether corruption may encourage economic stability and various aspects of controlling fiscal corruption. They also investigate the impact of national resource availability on corruption, how corruption retards the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, the impact of corruption on a country’s income distribution and incidence of poverty, and the importance of structural reform in combating corruption. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is about the analysis of regional economic performance and change, and how analysis integrates with strategies for local and regional economic development policy and planning. The book is not about the theory of regional economic development, although it provides the reader with an overview of key theoretical and conceptual contexts within which the economic development process takes place. Rather, the deliberate emphasis is to provide the reader - students and practitioners - with an account of quantitative and qualitative approaches to regional economic analysis and of old and new strategic frameworks for formulating regional economic development planning. This is done within the context of the evolution of society from the industrial to the post-industrial era in which contemporary forces of globalization and economic restructuring are creating increasing interdependence, rapid change, and high levels of uncertainty and risk for regions at all levels of scale. ... Read more

Book Description

A wide-ranging, but thoroughly accessible, critiqueof the dominant political ideology and cultural sensibilities of the capitalist West.Its analysis centres on an unpicking of two foundational principles of capitalism: the need for economic growth and, secondarily, the importance of progress. Successive chapters explore and criticise key aspects of western society: consumerism, attitudes to work, government (especially ‘third way’ social democracy) and our treatment of the environment. In the final chapter, the author gives a sketch of an alternative post-growth society.

Growth Fetish is a powerful and highly readable synthesis of critiques of Western society under capitalism from a variety of angles - economic, cultural, environmental, philosophical - and its range is impressive. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Must read - must act
Extraordinarily insightful - significant and urgent.As a 'civilised' society we must dampen the motivation of self interest and greed at the expense of all else (relationships, environment and happiness).This book describes in detail the roots of our unhappiness 'the prisoners of plenty' and seeks to describe a way forward.It will capture your imagination and stir you to reassess your definition of success.

Easily the most signifcant book I have read and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Enjoy and hopefully our 'advanced' human race can evolve to a society that promotes and supports the full realisation of human potential for all.

Growth Fetish
Trained in economics and politics, Dr Clive Hamilton is Executive Director of The Australia Institute, an independent Australian public interest think tank. For the first time his book clearly analyses the current world-wide fetish for mistakenly equating economic growth with improvement in wellbeing and outlines his illuminating view of the "post-growth society". For instance, he states:- "The transition to a post-growth society will be just as far-reaching as the transition from feudalism to industrial capitalism or from industrial capitalism to consumer capitalism. It will fundamentally transform power relationships, social institutions, our relationships with others, our ethical rules, our attitudes to the natural environment and, ultimately, our consciousness."

This book demonstrates integrative thinking of a high order and is a welcome change from the plethora of writing that is full of critical thinking about world affairs but does little to suggest a way forward for the growing number of people who feel there is more to life than increased consumption.

I believe it is a "must read" for thinkers in all fields everywhere. ... Read more

Book Description

A study of the transformation from the violent kinship of clan society to the prosperous politics of the modern state. In his experiences around the globe—among the miners of Kitwe, Zambia, the guerrilla fighters in Sudan, and the diplomats in Bogota—Robert Bates has studied firsthand the processes of modern political and economic development. In this concise volume, he shows us how, as a culture moves from dispersed agrarian clans to the dense modern metropolis, the nature of its capital evolves, from resources of kinship and family to more material investments. But this tenuous transition can only thrive within the favorable conditions ensured by the institutions of a peaceful modern state. Inspired by his work among diverse cultures, Bates looks back over the history of human civilization and illuminates how the often-violent clash within agrarian clans has developed into the coercive systems of institutions that compose Western statehood. Ultimately, Bates hopes to apply this understanding to building states that use power effectively, and that harness ethnic diversity not for violence and political power but for greater prosperity. 3 maps. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

what I've been looking foreward
Being a double major in political science and economics, it seems that I'm always looking at ways to connect the two subjects. Prosperity and violence does this so brillitanly that i read the book in a matter of a few hours. The book talks about how trade has brought people toghether to create cities to trade creating goverments in order to control and facilitate the process. Through time, goverment and the economy became mutually dependent and modern countires became to develop which the books compares to newly independent countries in the 20th century. The books goes into the present dealing with the cold war and how former allies of America and the USSR are comping with the transition into the 21rst century. ... Read more