Book Description

Kiggundu argues that we, the incipient global society comprised of governments, corporations, NGOs, and individuals, must take a strategic approach to managing globalization. He explores strategies in the fields of public sector reform, governmental use of technology, foreign direct investment and international trade policy, the evolving World Trade Organization, cultures of entrepreneurship, labor standards, and environmental protection. ... Read more

Book Description

Firms and entrepreneurs of all types¡ªfrom microenterprises to multinationals¡ªplay a central role in growth and poverty reduction. Their investment decisions drive job creation, the availability and affordability of goods and services for consumers, and the tax revenues governments can draw on to fund health, education, and other services. Their contribution depends largely on the way governments shape the investment climate in each location¡ªthrough the protection of property rights, regulation and taxation, strategies for providing infrastructure, interventions in finance and labor markets, and broader governance features such as corruption.

The World Development Report 2005 argues that improving the investment climates of their societies should be a top priority for governments. Drawing on surveys of nearly 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, country case studies, and other new research, the Report explores questions such as:

* What are the key features of a good investment climate, and how do they influence growth and poverty?

* What can governments do to improve their investment climates, and how can they go about tackling such a broad agenda?

* What has been learned about good practice in each of the main areas of the investment climate?

* What role might selective interventions and international arrangements play in improving the investment climate?

* What can the international community do to help developing countries improve the investment climates of their societies?

In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Bank's new program of Investment Climate Surveys, the Bank's Doing Business Project, and World Development Indicators 2004¡ªan appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development. ... Read more

Book Description

How are we to understand the politics of international monetary relations since the end of World War II? Exploiting recently declassified documents from both the United States and Europe and employing economic analysis and international relations theory, Francis Gavin offers a compelling reassessment of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates and dollar-gold convertibility.

Gavin demonstrates that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, Bretton Woods was a highly politicized system that was prone to crisis and required constant intervention and controls to continue functioning. More important, postwar monetary relations were not a salve to political tensions, as is often contended. In fact, the politicization of the global payments system allowed nations to use monetary coercion to achieve political and security ends, causing deep conflicts within the Western Alliance. For the first time, Gavin reveals how these rifts dramatically affected U.S. political and military strategy during a dangerous period of the Cold War. ... Read more

Book Description

From direct foreign investment to the flow of capital, there are endless factors that affect the economies of the world's poorest countries. Knowledge of the struggles of these countries--also known as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)--is essential to understanding the impact of globalization. This work provides a platform for grasping why developed countries are reaping the benefits of globalization while the LDCs are being left behind. ... Read more

Book Description

George Soros is a legend in the world of finance, a man whose name is known from Wall Street to Wuhan, from Manchester to Moscow, from Brussels to Bangkok. His Quantum Fund has been the best-performing investment fund in history and his foundations have helped reshape the post-Cold War world. Now Soros applies all of his wisdom, expertise and insight to explain what's happening in the collapsing global economy. The result is a brilliant work of profound importance, a startling critique of what's gone wrong and an inspiring vision of how it can be fixed.

In THE CRISIS OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM, Soros dissects the current crisis and economic theory in general, revealing how theoretical assumptions have combined with human behavior to lead to today's mess. He shows how unquestioning faith in market forces blinds us to crucial instabilities, and how those instabilities have chain-reacted to cause the current crisis-a crisis that has the potential to get much, much worse. But there is a way out, and it involves embracing the concept of the open society. And by doing so we can save not only our financial system, but also our civilization. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Financial Speculators Against Libertarianism!
Here are two reasons to read this book --

1) Learn why George Soros, one of the world's wealthiest men, a billionaire financial speculator, says that dogmatic belief in the so-called "free market" is every bit as dangerous as a comparably dogmatic belief in Marxism-Leninism (a topic Soros knows something about, given that he grew up under a Marxist-Leninist government in Eastern Europe).

2) Learn about the philosopher Karl Popper, a beacon of rationality in a tribalistic world. Soros is an intellectual follower of Popper, author of the renowned "The Open Society and Its Enemies," and Soros attempts to apply Popper's thinking to the current crisis of global capitalism. Whether he draws the correct conclusion in every case is less the point than the serious thinking involved. Popper is widely misunderstood to be an advocate of the free market. What he is actually in favor of is freedom of thought -- skepticism of any received dogma, including the dogma of the Free Market, to which many now say There Is No Alternative.

Rubbish, says Popper, and so says Soros. A legal, regulatory framework is required. Without the appropriate regulation, the result is the "gangster capitalism" of Russia, and of Enron. Along with Nobel Prize-winning economists Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz among others, Soros is absolutely right in his basic point, and is making a contribution to the construction of an appropriate institutional architecture for an increasingly global society.

At times very good, but in need of editing
George Soros has written an interesting and thought-provoking book with a goal that could hardly be any more ambitious. Open Society is nothing less than a vision for a new economic and political architecture for the world.

The book starts out by presenting a 'Conceptual Framework' that serves to outline the basic principles, such as fallibility and reflexivity, upon which Mr. Soros analyses the present and builds a vision for the future. In many ways, this is the best written, most original and most coherent and convincing part of the book. This is achieved by a fair amount of repetition but also good logic and evidence of the author having thought about the ideas for a long time and researched them thoroughly. Mr. Soros is undoubtedly a very intelligent and well-read man.

The second part of the book deals with the present moment in history and can actually itself be divided into two parts. It begins by analyzing the global capitalist system, and then discusses the Asian crisis and the events that have taken place in Russia and eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first two of these are very interesting and give good introduction to the global financial system. The section on Russia is not as engaging and I have a suspicion that Mr. Soros' personal feelings perhaps interfere a bit with his objective analysis.

Part two of the book concludes with the author's suggestions for a new global economic and political architecture. There certainly are nuggets of great wisdom and even brilliance here but the writing is hopelessly unconvincing compared to the first part of the book and at times quite frustrating. Mr. Soros draws up inadequate straw men representing his main opponents 'market fundamentalists' and 'geopolitical realists' and then in due course attempts to cut them down. Unlike the first half of the book, which is much more convincing and logically sound, one constantly wants to interrupt the author with lots of "Oh yeah, but what about X ...".

All in all, the book is interesting and definitely a worthwhile read although it is in need of better editing and some serious, critical proofreading. In fairness to Mr. Soros, one of the central themes of the book is fallibility and he does stress that he is not, nor can be, completely right. The book ends with the confession: "I have gone about as far as I can on my own. I have learned a lot from other people's criticism, and I can continue to do so after the book is published." A brave admission, among many in the book, and one should give Mr. Soros credit for putting forth his best and welcoming the reaction. Well George, in that spirit, I have a dog-eared, highlighted copy with comment-filled margins that you are welcome to have a look at. Looking forward to the next edition.

Pay no attention to the Freepers
In case you don't know, "Freepers" are fans of a certain far-out-right-wing-nut website and they go on sites likes this and "freep" it by giving books one-star reviews. They try to infiltrate other sites and shut them down. They're rotten to their cores.

One Freeper halfwit from St. Paul, MN (his "review" is below) is posting the same review for every one of Soros' books. I love how they spend so much energy being pathetic little sheep.

Anyway, buy this book, it's wonderful and very insightful. I've learned a lot.

A self serving treatise by a convicted con-man
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Out of curiosity about what makes Soros tick I checked out a library copy of this book. After about the first thirty pages I was ready to upchuck. Less than two years ago (2002) this con-man was convicted in France (and the French are usually very tolerant) of insider trading. In other words, he makes his money by cheating. Not playing by the rules is how he's made his billions. His ill-gotten wealth doesn't establish him as a humanist or authority on world problems, but a lot of really dumb and naive people thinks it does.

His poorly written attempt at writing shows him to be just another one-worlder and reveals his hypothesis that for economic stability there should be no separate nations. Soros is a gifted crackpot; gifted in that he is an expert at not playing by the same rules of law as the rest of us, and a crackpot in his views of a one world utopia. No wonder he is financing opposition to a nationalistic and patriotic U. S. president. This book is political propaganda in disguise.

Save your money and read the much more informative "The Secret World of Money" by Andrew M. Gause.

Hypocrisy from a convicted criminal
As one reviewer mentioned, Soros was convicted of inside trading in France. He should be in jail writing his books.

Don't waste your time with this book. He has no interest in "open" societies. ... Read more

Book Description

Is globalization leading us toward a world of fewer and fewer currencies and, consequently, simplified monetary management? Many specialists believe this is the case, as the territorial monopolies national governments have long claimed over money appears to be eroding. In The Future of Money, Benjamin Cohen argues that this view--which he calls the "Contraction Contention"--is wrong. Rigorously argued, written with extraordinary clarity, and thoroughly up-to-date, this book demonstrates that the global population of currencies is set to expand greatly, not contract, making monetary governance more difficult, not less.

At the book's core is an innovative theoretical model for understanding the strategic preferences of states in monetary management. Should governments defend their traditional monetary sovereignty, or should they seek some kind of regional consolidation of currencies? The model offers two broad advances. First, whereas most scholarly work evaluates strategic options individually or in comparison to just one other alternative, this model emphasizes the three-dimensional nature of the decisions involved. Second, the model emphasizes degrees of currency regionalization as a central determinant of state preferences. Cohen also systematically explores the role of the private sector as an alternative source of money.

The book concludes with two key policy proposals. First, fiscal policy should be resurrected as a tool of macroeconomic management, to offset the present-day erosion in the effectiveness of monetary policy. Second, the International Monetary Fund should more actively help coordinate the decentralized strategic decision-making of governments. The future of money will be perilous. But, by mapping out the alternative policies countries can follow, The Future of Money shows it need not be chaotic.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Good Read!
This book is a thoughtful, amply documented reflection on the future of currency. The dollar, euro and yen dominate the global monetary order, with the dollar now unrivaled at the top and unlikely to be threatened in the future. The countries that issue lesser currencies face a trade-off between monetary sovereignty and international acceptability (with all its economic advantages). Some economists say these lesser currencies should simply dollarize, that is, sacrifice their monetary sovereignty on the altar of international economic efficiency by adopting a stronger currency as their own. Author Benjamin J. Cohen argues that these countries are likely to reject dollarization because the emotional and political advantages of issuing one's own currency are simply too strong. He suggests various alternate mechanisms that allow countries to maintain some monetary independence and authority while gaining the advantages of a fully liquid, widely used currency. Non-specialists may find his extensive discussions a bit dry or sometimes tedious, but we applaud the author's ability to explore monetary economics in admirably lucid detail. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Not what you might think from the title
Hegemony is a popular buzz word in international politics these days. Talking heads throw it around every Sunday morning. So one might expect a book entitled After Hegemony to be discussion on American foreign policy "after hegemony." In this case - Wrong! This is a nearly 20 year old book with a title that is currently a trendy topic. And it deals with political economy and "regime" formation, such as international monetary regime, international trade regime, and international oil regime, how these regimes were founded during the time period the author considers the time of US economic (and military) hegemony (the 1950's and 60's) and how they evolved during the years after US hegemony had passed according to the author.

For students and academics who are interested in the political and economic theory of how organizations are created and evolve, how "rational actors" (governments) behave on the macro scale, how preponderance of power allows a nation to create regimes (that is rules sets) that favor its policies, how these regimes become self-perpetuating, this is the book. It is an academic analysis of the subjects.

If you are looking for something relating to the oft discussed current "American Hegemony" and its likely impact on US and world relations, this is not the book. Look on.

"Non-hegemonic cooperation is difficult but not impossible"
In After Hegemony neoliberal institutionalist Robert O. Keohane deals with the 'central political dilemma': How to organize international cooperation without hegemony? Or in other words, is cooperation possible in the post-hegemonic world? Keohane audaciously contends that cooperation is possible without hegemony since international regimes make this cooperation possible. In this sense, he criticizes hegemonic stability theory (HST) since HST necessitates a hegemon for regime maintenance specifically and for international cooperation in general. This book, however, might not be considered as a fundamental criticism of the realist theory since it accepts basic realist premises of international cooperation. For instance, he takes states as the major actors in international politics in which they have interest maximizing goals. On the other hand, Keohane also basically argues that 'although hegemony can facilitate cooperation, it is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for it...hegemony is less important for the continuation of cooperation, once after began, than for its creation'.In this respect, he differentiates hegemon's role in creation of international regimes from their maintenance. While he keeps hegemonic power important in creating regimes he does not see hegemon so significant for the their maintenance. What are the functions and/or benefits of international regimes? Institutions/regimes provide information, decrease transaction costs, monitor compliance, create issue linkages and prevent cehating. Then, they serve states' self-interests and generate international cooperation. Fear of retaliation and search for reputation are the key reasons why states eschew to break the rules of international regimes. The concept of 'bounded rationality' is also important in Keohane's functionalist theory of regimes. In this framework, states are willing to uphold international regimes for their self-interests. According to him 'bounded rationality' relaxes the strict assumptions of rationality and they make states emphatically interdependent to each other. Then it leads to shifts in state preferences and they will be more likely to cooperate by means of international regimes. In this respect, Keohane tends generally to see interdependence as a beneficial element for international cooperation. Moreover, After Hegemony have case studies in three issue areas; trade, money, and oil. Keohane examines international regimes in these areas for post-hegemonic period when the US power began to decline by the early 1970s. He finds hegemonic stability theory relevant for oil while he does not for the issue areas of trade and money. in this sense, he also point out the limits and possibilities of both HST and his regime theory.Overarall, he makes the point: non-hegemonic cooperation is difficult but not impossible.

A groundbreaking book
Robert Keohane is one of the top five International Relations theorists today. His book "After Hegemony", written in 1984, is considered to be the iniciator of the neoliberal institutionalist school of IR. In this book, Keohane shows that although states live in an anarchic world and are racional actors, they can cooperate with each other through institutions. This book revolutionalised the field and opened a fierce debate on cooperation that lasts until now. A very interesting book written by a master in the field - that is enough recommendation. ... Read more

Book Description

Completely updated and revised in this eighth edition, Leading Issues in Economic Development, covers the main issues in economic development through professional journal articles by leading scholars. These articles are edited to provide greater accessibility to an undergraduate audience and organized thematically using overview essays along with explanatory notes and comments. This distinctive approach allows for a variety of perspectives while keeping the most important overall themes in sight. This extensive collection of articles and essays is prefaced with an introductory section that covers the measurement of development, recent economic performance of less developed countries, and the discipline of development economics. It also provides historical perspective on how the world divided into rich and poor countries and treatments of international trade, human resources, investment and finance, urbanization and the informal sector, agriculture, income distribution, political economy, as well as development and the environment. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good second step in development economics
This book is a very good introduction to development economics for those who have some background in economics.The book does assume some prior knowledge of concepts and terminology, as it seeks to address many of the main contemporary issues related to development.There is a definite bias of focus on Third World developing countries rather than transitional or developed countries.

The issues addressed include the more traditional ones (such as poverty reduction, trade policy, population issues, financing issues) coupled with some newer areas of debate (such as the specific role of women in development).Most interesting I found the section on industrial and technological progress, which follows from the classical eocnomics argument that there should be no indsutrial policy.As it is a compilation of arguments, it does not go terribly in depth in any of the subjects, but offers enough references for those who wish to do so.

For the introductory student of development, this is an essential compilation.For the more advanced student, this is great reference and the bibliography is a list of important works.

Wonderful collection of articles
I found this book extremely useful for understanding development economics. It provides a variety of different approaches and theories with clear explanations from the editors. A great source that I recommend strongly.

very useful introduction
I bought this book on the recommendation of a colleague who teaches development economics and uses the book himself. I am an economist by training, my background is on macroeconomics and international economic relations, and hence there was much that i recognized. One reason I wanted to learn more on development economics is that I am currently involved in work on EU Candidate Countries and economic transition issues.Although these countries are clearly not in the same category as less developed countries (although that phrase has become increasingly meaningless in itself as it covers so many very different countries), I think there could be fruitful cross-fertilization from reading a book on development economics. Certainly there would seem to be a number of issues where the candidate countries share some common ground at least, or where useful lessons could be learned from development economics (institution and capacity building and macroeconomic stabilization, for instance). The discussion on how development economics is different from other disciplines in economics (notably macro-economics) or adds value to it is of course as old as development economics itself.I found this book very useful as a broad and balanced introducion, and even though it sometimes covered familiar ground I think it often did so with a specific slant on LDCs that did add value for me, as did discussion of subjects not usually found in most economics books on social issues such as the role of women.I liked the listings of positive and negative arguments on a number of issues such as what has been achieved incpoverty reduction. I also liked the broad collection of seminal articles that you are unlikely to find elsewhere.

I found the articles and empirical research quoted not always of very recent date, and especially the latter bothered me.In several instances the texts quoted empirical findings from studies dating from the 70s or so. I do not find that very convincing; have there really been no more recent findings for the last 25 years?Also the lay-out of the text was not always very clear or attractive to the eye, and I think there is definite room for improvement there as well.

That said, this is still excellent value for money, and the book is certainly well worth to read for anybody interested in a good introduction on development economics.

excellent tool for any one interested in development
Meier's book provides an excellent tool for anyone interested inDevelopment Economics. Most, if not all, of the important developmenttheories and issues have been covered in a clear and concise way. Amongstthe contributors, many are notable economists and scholars such as:Chenery, Stiglitz, Bardhan, Nurske, Sen, Lewis, Todaro, Krueger, Ranis,Rosenstein-Rodan, Hirschman- to name but a few. This book has truly beenthe most useful reference tool from my first year to final year as anundergraduate reading development economics.Particularly interesting anduseful chapters include: Dualistic Development(Lewis Model etc.), Debt andAid, Population, Trade Strategy, and an awesome section onIndustrialisation and Technological Progress.

A must buy for students ofDevelopment!

A concise and elegant review of economic development issues
A concise and but detailed review of the most important issues in agricultural development. The text includes new and important perspectives on issues in development. Topics covered include dualistic development,domestic financing of development, external financing of development, humanresourses, industrialisation and agriculture and trade/development. This isan excellent reference book as well as a very interesting read. It isuptodate and enables the reader to quickly grasp the main themes. Alsoincludes comprehensive references for futher reading. Very good value! ... Read more

Book Description

This book brings forward a crucial issue of how to manage the process of strategic integration into the global economy.The performance of Asian and African economies over recent decades clearly shows that engagement with the global economy can play a key role in advancing development. Asia and Africa in the Global Economy systematically deciphers the different experiences in the two regions, and provides comprehensive coverage of policies and institutions, focusing on the key sectors of primary exports. It also covers key topics such as manufacturing, foreign direct investment, financial flows and official development assistance. Contributors to this book include leading scholars from Southeast Asia and Africa. ... Read more

Book Description

Something new is happening across East Asia. A region notable for its lack of internal economic links is discussing regional cooperation on trade, investment, and exchange rates. Because of negotiations elsewhere around the globe on regional trade—such as those that led to the consolidation of the European Union, the formation of the North American Free Trade Area, and the rapid proliferation of bilateral free trade areas—the talk is not surprising. Nevertheless, East Asia’s past inertia with regard to forming a regional partnership raises many questions about its emerging regionalism. Why has the region suddenly shifted from taking a global approach to economic issues to discussing a regional bloc? How fast and how far will the new regionalism progress? Will the region become a version of the European Union, or something far less? What is the probable impact on American economic and strategic interests—are the likely developments something that the U.S. government should encourage or discourage? Edward Lincoln takes up these questions, exploring what is happening to regional trade and investment flows and what sort of regional arrangements are the most sensible.

Lincoln argues that an exclusive grouping is unlikely. Free trade negotiations have brought some economies in the region together, but they also have led to links with nations outside the region. Some regional governments most notably Japan, continue to have difficulty embracing the concept of free trade, even with favored regional partners. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, governments also have looked at cooperating on exchange rates, but they have done little to move forward.

The U.S. government must decide how to respond to these developments in East Asia. An exclusively Asian form of regionalism could run counter to American economic interests, and the U.S. government has reacted negatively to some of these proposals in the past. Because trade and investment links between the countries of the Asia Pacific region and the United States remain very strong, Lincoln argues that the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum remains the appropriate institution for pursuing regional trade and investment issues. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Paucities and Scarcities
An excellent work from one of our most important scholars on Asia. Riddled with numbers and graphs, the book is still readable for those just encountering energy politics. The referencing is also excellent, and allows one to delve further into the topic.

His initial chapters on environment/pollution and population growth/demand, and scarcity are important by themselves. Understanding the differences between a scarcity of resources and political limitations or economic bottlenecks on those resources is essential to being able to really forecast the strategic environment. Consequently, the time Manning spends belittling Paul Ehrlich and the Club of Rome is well spent. The country analyses are also very useful, and give one a sense not only of the economics of energy, but of the two way impact of energy and political relationships between countries. With our noble leaders beginning to evoke various fears about Asia, this is very important in understanding the nature and degree of "emerging threats."

Manning might be too bold in divorcing extending military interests with growing energy demands, but it is worth reading the book to develop an opinion on the subject.

I also recommend checking out the Energy Information Administrations's website, which Manning used heavily. It was of great use to me in a recent project: www.eia.doe.gov

Also useful is the cover piece of the January 2001 'Atlantic Monthly.' The piece, "The New Old Economy: Oil, Computers, and the Reinvention of the Earth," in helping advance perspectives of the oil industry. See: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/rauch.htm

Energy Interdependence as an Integrative Force
Robert Manning covers a lot of ground in this book, from the Caspian, to India, to Northeast Asia, and challenges a lot of established notions, but two of the points he makes really stand out:

First, he argues that energy interdependence is a potential positive force for Asian regional stability. While a number of analysts (from the serious scholar Kent Calder to the more shrill "Blue Team" types) have argued that China's entry onto the stage as a major oil importer will have serious negative consequences for regional stability, Manning argues that this is far from clear, and that it may actually have positive consequences. Other energy development issues looming in the future, such as the need for natural gas integration in Northeast Asia, can only be addressed by cooperation among regional governments and some degree of mutual interdependence.

Second, Manning points out in his preface how little contact and exchange there is between American analysts who focus on political and security issues, on the one hand, and those who focus on energy from an economic perspective. (As an example, he points out the differing views of the South China Sea between energy specialists and security policy analysts.) Energy issues involve tie-ins with a broad range of national security, economic, and environmental issues, and Manning argues that the policy community could benefit from more dialogue between these two separate sets of analysts. (I've long known this - since my own academic and professional background sort of straddles both groups.)

While the book does suffer a bit from poor editing in some spots, it is definitely a must-read for anyone interested in Asian security issues and/or the region's rapidly growing energy sector.

Intriguing Analysis of an Emerging Geopolitical Concern
Without a doubt, energy will be among one of the most important factors determining diplomatic behavior and relations in Asia in the coming decades. The Asian Energy Factor tackles this emerging geopolitical concern through an intriguing analysis of Asia's growing demand for energy and its global political, economic, and strategic consequences. Unique from other authors addressing this under-examined issue, Robert Manning sets the stage by exposing the myth that the world is quickly running out of oil. Technology and new methods of both collection and use of energy have made the impending energy crisis espoused by the doomsayers less of a concern. Manning proceeds to focus on the regional powers (China, India, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia) and where their individual energy abilities and needs puts them on the collective strategic map. He examines the commercial and political dynamic between the countries demanding increasing amounts of energy (China, Japan, and India) and those with the reserves (the Middle East and Southeast Asia).

As The Asian Energy Factor aptly points out, energy security is the crux upon which the economic, social, energy, and military policies of Asian nations converge; it is among the most critical issues in the coming decade. Manning delves deep into these economic and strategic complexities and continues to challenge the prevailing wisdom about Asian power structure and energy competition. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

hurrah for heterodox economics
maybe i'm better read now, or maybe this work is more relevant, but i found this work tremendously more readable than the capitalist imperative, which i tackled last fall. in this work, storper asks why we still have cities and agglomerations in an era marked by increasing mobility of resources.

one reason i like storper is because he eschews traditional urban economics, which i too find rigid and at times anachronistic. to counter location theory, storper argues that cities and regions, given the recent changes to capitalism, evolve along a path of cumulative knowledge, such that knowledge and learning gain economic value and hence competitive advantage. individuals, firms, and public institutions are codependent. knowledge creation is a process unique to cities/regions and even more compelling unique to individual cities/regions. while a few cities might be technology or financial hubs, their culture and inhabitants influence the way activities are conducted such that their output is also unique. therefore no recipe for economic development and policy can be given - you have to use your brain and think. cities are not machines, but reflexive entities which assume the characteristics of their constituent parts. he concludes, "heterodox regional economics, like economics in general, continues to be controlled by the metaphor of economic systems as machines, with hard inputs and outputs... this focus on economic development must now be complemented by another focus, where the guiding metaphor is the economy as relations, the economic process as conversation and coordination, the subjects of the process not as factors but as reflexive human actors, both individual and collective..."

mérçi Michael Storper
A proactive and creative work A refer it for all who wants to have a new- nontraditional- view about The Regional Economy. For all who wants to think about the future out of stereotypes. ... Read more

Book Description

Kessler provides a detailed case study of Mexican financial policy reform as well as a comparison of financial collapse in other emerging markets. He shows how political challenges can distort the economic liberalization process in developing countries and how those choices undermine the economic stability achieved by genuine reform. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What makes financial liberalization tough?
This book offers a timely and compelling explanation that will allow the reader to understand why Mexico, a country that became the darling of the international financial community after following orthodox liberalization policies, ended up in 1995 with the most dramatic recession in its modern history and cuased the Tequila Effect, which threatened the stability of the world's financial system.

The author shows how political considerations played a key role in the direction of the liberalization process of Mexico's financial system.The author argues that liberalization led to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy, which contributed to Mexico's 1995 deep recession and the consequent bank bailout. The author argues that although market reform has been promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations.

The book examines four periods: the populist administrations of Presidents Luis Echeverria (1970-1976) and José Lopez Portillo (1976-1982), during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of Miguel de la Madrid's adminsitration (1982-1988), who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas (1988-1994), who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration (1994-2000), whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process.

The author also offers a comparative perspective of financial liberalization in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, which also underwent financial crisis in the late 90s, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. By providing a comparative analysis the author derives some lessons from financial liberalization in developing countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.

The book should be read by those interested in development and economic policy reform as well as those following policy making processes.This book is certainly a contribution to understanding a period of profound changes in Mexico's history and its process of economic reforms. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume is a successor of sorts to an earlier study, Toward Renewed Economic Growth in Latin America (Institute for International Economics; 1986), which blazed the trail for the market-oriented economic reforms that were adopted in Latin America in the subsequent years. It again presents the work of a group of leading economists (*) who were asked to think about the nature of the economic policy agenda that the region should be pursuing after the better part of a decade that was punctuated by crises, achieved disappointingly slow growth, and saw no improvement in the region's highly skewed income distribution. It diagnoses the first-generation (liberalizing and stabilizing) reforms that are still lacking, the complementary second-generation (institutional) reforms that are necessary to provide the institutional infrastructure of a market economy with an egalitarian bias, and the new initiatives that are needed to crisis-proof the economies of the region to end its perpetual series of crises.

(*) Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (Minister of Finance of Peru), Nancy Birdsall (President, Center for Global Development), Miguel Szekely (Mexico), Ricardo Lopez Murphy (Argentina), Jaime Saavedra (Peru), Claudio de Moura Castro (Brazil), Liliana Rojas-Suarez (Peru), Andres Velasco (Harvard), and Roberto Bouzas (Argentina). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent book for students of international economics.
The book is composed of 11 essays concerning what went wrong, what went right, and what is to be learned from the last decades of economic policy in Latin America. I myself am a new-comer to international economics and I found the essays to be rich sources of information and insight.

This book marks a partial shift in the debate on economic development from an emphasis on growth as an engine for the reduction of poverty, to an emphasis on stability and a more equitable distribution of wealth as an engine for growth. This introduces somewhat heterodoxical arguments for minimizing dollarization and in favor of capital controls. Clearly, the co-editor that had coined the term "The Washington Consensus" has seen the need to amend the 90's program.

For the layman this book may be a bit dense. For the student of international economics, a must read. ... Read more

Book Description

A leading economic journalist explains why Washington's responses to globalization have created a global worker surplus that undermines both American workers and those in developing nations.

As evidenced by the WTO riots in Seattle in December 1999, there is a volatile debate among Americans over how the new world economy affects our standards of living and our country's chances for future prosperity. With giant multinational companies based in the U.S. and other wealthy countries transferring ever more factories and labs to poorer countries, the fear is that slave-wage workers overseas are undermining the bargaining power of labor in the industrialized world.

As evidenced by the WTO riots in Seattle in December 1999, there is a volatile debate among Americans over how the new world economy affects our standards of living and our country's chances for future prosperity. With giant multinational companies based in the U.S. and other wealthy countries transferring ever more factories and labs to poorer countries, the fear is that slave-wage workers overseas are undermining the bargaining power of labor in the industrialized world.

In this book Alan Tonelson explains how a competition has emerged in which countries with the weakest workplace safety laws, the lowest taxes, and the toughest unionization laws win investment from American and European countries. Tonelson argues that this "race to the bottom" of labor standards has been the driving force behind the decline of American living standards for the past quarter century, and, as we have already begun to see, will cause even bigger problems for the worldwide economy as it continues.

Tonelson analyzes how the entry of such population giants as China, India, and Brazil into the global market have added fuel to the eroding labor standards. He reveals how an ever larger share of the foreign competition faced by American laborers is hitting not just fields such as apparel and toys, but many of America's highest wage industries such as aerospace and software. And he describes how the reeducation and retraining programs that political leaders say is the remedy to the problem will do nothing to help most Americans cope with competition from the global workforce.

A lively, provocative guide to the new global economy, The Race to the Bottom fills the gap of hard evidence in readable form in the globalization debate, providing the guidebook that American workers have been waiting for, and the indictment that our economic and policy establishments have been dreading. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Fails to deliver on it's shock-value title.
"The Race To The Bottom" fails to deliver on it's shock-value title.

Author Tonelson provides considerable detail that demonstrate the
increase in job exports from US, yet still concludes that "of the
1990s, manufacturing wages ... grew ... 2.9 percent after adjusting for inflation" - pg. XIII. It was GREW, not shrank.
On page 48: "large influxes of legal and illegal imigrants into the United States have forced many of America's loweset income workers into a race to the bottom of the wage scale". Note that the AVERAGE worker is in fair shape. Finally, on page 137: "The race to the bottom is only the worst and most important symptom, not the cause, of the global economy's problems."

The main thrust of the facts presented betray the book's title:
that dispite the truth that job export has had a deflationary
effect on US wages, those wage losses have been minimal. The facts presented would better name a book "downward wage pressure" - but of course that title would not sell many books.

Not a waste of time, but by itself this book paints an incomplete
picture. "The Dollar Crises" by Richard Duncan is better, and with "Tommorrow's Gold" by Marc Faber fill the most of void. Add
"Globalizaation and It's Discontents" by Joseph Stiglitz and a
much clearer view is created of the crazy world economy that we
must deal with.

Frightening
This book details the depressing details of globalization, and debunks the promises of free trade, like Mexico being a huge market(it isn't), most workers that lose their factory jobs would get new and improved high tech jobs(they haven't), and we'll do the high tech stuff and the Third World will do the low tech(not true). We are living in an age where business can relocate almost anywhere. Our corporations are dumping our highest paying jobs overseas and/or importing Third World workers to do them (like Indian programmers). The result is a slowly sinking standard of living. Between mass immigration and globalization it appears we may be at the beginning of a new age of poverty.
For "fun" scroll down to the first review of the book, down to the guy that gave it one star (apparently after reading only part of chapter one). Print it out and keep it with this book. After you read the book, re-read his review and then see if you can answer the question: What planet are the globalists living on?
This just in: According to NPR, one of the last textile factories in the US closed on October 22, 2002. It was a fancy high-end shirt factory in Maine. It had been in business for decades. The women there worked so fast that their hands were just a blur. Not fast enough apparently, as they couldn't compete with the sweat shops of the Third World. (NPR said "foreign competition") Some of the women had worked there for twenty years and cried when they left. I seem to remember the globablists saying that foreigners only took jobs Americans didn't want. Perhaps those women were just crying tears of joy.

Facts First And Feelings Second
I found this work to be significant in that the title and the content described clearly the global trade dynamic which we find our selves in today. I'd heard George Gilder a few years back tell a gathering of telecomm executives that they were caught up in this very dynamic; many of them have already lost that race and are no longer with us.

Mr. Tonelson's research is clearly evident in this book. He has done the heavy lifting(analysis)needed to make considered and substantiated statements about something a complex as the impact of global trade on our quality of life in this country.

I recently read "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas Friedman and thought it a good counterpoint to "The Race To The Bottom."

"The Race To The Bottom" is richer in the numbers and is focused on us, while "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is the more subjective and places the subject in a global and human context.

I highly recommend both books, however if you want solid facts before solid impressions, I'd say read "Race To The Bottom" first to get a good sense of "what." Then read "The Lexus And The Olive Tree" to figure out the "why" of it all.

My thanks to both authors.

globalization is bad for your health
Tonelson describes in detail why the current trade system, aka globalization, will cause the purchasing power of the US population to go down the drain. (Yes, the book is written with a US bias, but it applies equally to Europeans). It describes a type of trade where factories (even sophisticated ones) are shipped off to China, Mexico, Malaysia... only to see US/European labor displaced by a torrent of cheap imports. Further aggravating the downward spiral in the standard of living of Americans/Europeans are the massive immigration flows - more cheap labor to compete for the dwindling manufacturing jobs. There is a chapter on the asymmetric type of trade that is worthwhile reading; it describes how countries like Korea do everything to build sophisticated industries with the intent of exporting primarily to the US, but at the same time do everything to impede US imports (except the capital goods necessary to build the original factories). The implications of the lopsided trade are catastrophic for all involved - US, Europe, Japan and the Asian tigers.
The consequences of globalization are massive and detrimental to US and Europe, and this requires an informed debate on the issues. This book is an important document that analyzes some of the reasons that globalization is detrimental to your health. The book nicely skirts "econospeak" - the type of analysis that causes brain damage. It makes its points backed up by data - it refers to the real world!!
On the downside: the book suffers from a wee bit of repetition - I guess the editor got lazy. The few graphs in the book discuss identical points with slightly changed data - this is on the less than useful side.
All in all, I read the book, and was happy I did so.

Freefall to Nowhere
Readers looking for ammunition in the ongoing battle against globalization would do well to pick up this book. It's not an unmixed triumph of analysis, but the author succeeds in putting a perspective on the results of globalization so far. His thesis is simple but devastating. Despite the media hype from politicians, economists, and other corporate types, popular perceptions are not wrong: globalization is driving down American living standards. Such sacrifices might be acceptable were there real prospects of a globally-led improvement down the road. However, Tonelson also argues that such promised benefits will fail to materialize unless real changes are made in policy currently defining global integration. It's the book's burden to carry out these claims, which, I believe, the author does with varying degrees of success. The book itself is compact and to the point, with few graphs, but sufficient statistics that are well integrated into the text, and a metculously footnoted appendix - All of which make for unencumbered reading.

Two points concerning the contents. Tonelson, like many others, gets careless in equating globalization with free trade. The two are not only conceptually distinct, but as the author himself shows, distinct in practice as well. For example, protectionist frameworks in many countries have encouraged "offsets", which amount to tradeoff schemes whereby the host country extracts concessions from foreign investors in return for project approval. Offsets have been a significant force behind "outsourcing" and the loss of good American jobs, quite apart from free-market measures such as NAFTA.Thus outsourcing as an aspect of global integration will likely drain American jobs with or without open markets. Second, Tonelson's solution to globalism's woes lies in US "unilateralism". Basically unilateralism amounts to getting tough with America's industrialized trading pardners, using domestic market access to leverage protected markets, such as Japan's. There is a well known risk here that the author unfortunately bypasses. As previous administrations have understood, a policy of unilateralism risks shattering the fragile multilateral framework kept in place for 50-odd years by US hegemony. Though trade wars are no longer certain in a nuclear age to end in shooting war, their outcome is highly uncertain and bound to loose unforeseeable consequences. Yet, Tonelson makes a strong point when he argues that the US cannot continue to act as purchaser of last resort in order to keep a harmonious framework in place. Something has to give. There is a real question implicit in a proposal like unilateralism, unaddressed in the book. Have the needs of an emerging global economy finally exhausted the era of Pax Americana, and, if so, what will take its place? ... Read more

Book Description

The first book to look at how and why the British banking industry sold out

A revolution took place in the City in the 80s and 90s. The cosy club of British merchant banking collapsed in a series of sell-outs, closures and scandals. This left the City dominated by US and European giants. Was this the inevitable result of globalization, or did mismanagement play a part? This is the first book to look at how and why the British merchant banks and brokers sold out, and where that leaves us. Augar tells this fascinating story with pace and drama, taking us through the Thatcher years, the crash of 1987, Big Bang, and the aggressive invasion of the American banks. He looks at why the British banks failed to keep pace with the Americans, what this says about the way they were run, and what this means for the future. ... Read more

Book Description

Globalization is not a new phenomenon; nor is it irreversible. In Globalization and History, Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson present a coherent picture of trade, migration, and international capital flows in the Atlantic economy in the century prior to 1914--the first great globalization boom. The book's originality lies in its application of the tools of open-economy economics to this critical historical period--differentiating it from most previous work, which has been based on closed-economy or single-sector models. The authors also keep a close eye on globalization debates of the 1990s, using history to inform the present and vice versa.

The book brings together research conducted by the authors over the past decade--work that has profoundly influenced how economic history is now written and that has found audiences in economics and history, as well as in the popular press.

"Fans and foes of globalization usually agree on one thing: its inevitability. But that is a big mistake, as this fine piece of scholarship makes clear. . . . It is an exceptionally rigorous and insightful history of globalization. Its main message--that globalization can sow the seeds of its own destruction--is salutary. It should be required reading for anyone inclined to think that economic history is bunk." -- The Economist ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Good Data, Wrong Bias
I would agree that this is a very good book in terms of presenting what happened in the 19th century Atlantic economy. I do have one critical observation. The authors blame the collapse of globalization on the lobbying of particular industries; thus setting up the argument that general gains from trade were lost to special interests. This is in accord with their belief that globalization is a good thing. As an economist working on these issues for many years, with experience in government as well as academics and the private sector, I have to disagree. Clearly, governments need to rally constituents to support policies. Yet, from our own Alexander Hamilton to Germany's Otto von Bismarck, and a host of others, states had a strategic vision of what was in the national interest for which they sought support. This is the origin of the "iron and wheat" alliances that O'Rourke and Williamson credit with undoing "free trade" on the continent. This was a strategy of national economic development and strategic independence under which the major powers were able to successfully increase their economic growth rates. For evidence of this I would recommend Paul Bairoch's book Economics and World History (Univ. of Chicago, 1993). As the great economic thinker Joseph Schumpeter observed "the consistent support given by the American people to protectionist policies...is accounted for not by any love for or domination by big business, but by a fervant wish to build and keep a world of their own and to be rid of all the vicissitudes of the rest of the world." This is true of most people, most places---which is why the current fad of globalization will not last either.

Economic History Made Delightful
This book is not an easy read. Especially if you are not interested in economics and lack basic economics terminologies, you'll certainly have difficulties appreciating this book the way it should be. It is, however, an tremendously insightful story of the evolution and devolution of globalizm in the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It, in rigorous details, shows how an earlier period of globalization in the late 19th century was self-destructed by the very same forces that established it as a significant force in the global economic system. It reflects how easy it is to lose the benefits of economic globalism which we today often take for granted.

Interesting history 19th cent. Atlantic globalization
I am an economist working on globalization issues, interested in history and economic history. I found this book an excellent study that puts globalization discussion in historical (19th century) context, a period of large international capital flows and even larger human capital flows. Th study uses data on these mass movements in production factors to empirically test/uses the standard international trade Heckscher Olin model on income and factor price distribution in trade. It shows that these mass movements had indeed measurable effects on income distribution following some of the model predictions. Problems of globalization in economic terms are indeed linked to the income effects of several groups in the economy following the opening up to increasing trade, investment and migration flows. All too often these discussions are marred by lack of data and lack of historical awareness, and i found this study filling a real gap. It surely will be contested but i found the analysis interesting and well-written. Recommended! ... Read more

Book Description

What skills will be the most valuable in the coming century? How can our country ensure that all its citizens have a share in the new global economy? The author of The Next American Frontier addresses these questions in a trail-blazing new book that is certain to guide a generation of policy makers. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

The part on kinds of jobs is good
The usefulness of this bok comes from its accurate and original analysis on the classes of jobs that exist today: Symbols analysis, in-person services, and routine laborers. Basically, any job can fit in this classification, except, for example, professional athletes (at least I am doubtful about where they would fit). As for the solutions to the growing gap between rich and poor, please note that this is a most complex problem or, better, set of problems. There is simply no clearcut recipe for abridging economic and social gaps, since each national situation is different. Some things we know that are indispensable, but not always enough: investment in infrastructure, public education, health, etc. We know that civic values are important and what investments are needed, but HOW to do it remains the core of serious political debate. Certainly, I don't think that for nations like the US, "strategic trade" might be a solution (it relays on the basic statist assumption: that a group of bureaucrats will know better than the market what to do with resources). Nevertheless, I did find the book interesting and thought-provoking, even if some of its proposals are somewhat outdated nowadays.

Incomplete but Original and Worthy of a Second Look

One reason I read only books I have bought (so that I may liberally mark them up) and tend to never discard a book, which is becoming a real problem in my basement, is because current reading will often lead one back to some gems and to a reestimation of earlier readings. Robert B. Reich's "The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism" can be read with renewed appreciation and respect if one if also now reading William Greider's "The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy" or any of the books by Herman E. Daly (e.g. "Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications").

I read Reich's "Locked in the Cabinet", but this book remains a better gauge of his value to America, and I do hope we get a chance to hear from him again. If you have not read this book, it is a real bargain as a used book and you should buy it--Reich will remain relevant for decades to come.

Excellent readable treaty on economics.
This book almost seem like a revival of Adam Smith "Wealth of Nations" that was published in 1776. Both authors demonstrate that the living standard of a country will depend essentially on how productive their respective citizens are. They also suggests that the focus on international trade position is often misplaced and does not by itself reflect the economic power of a country.

Reich develops a great metaphor for the modern worker: the Symbolic Analyst. This person is someone with a very high IQ, with the ability to manipulate symbols (letters, numbers, icons) extremely proficiently so as to develop new markets for his employer products and services. These include investment bankers, consultants, merger and acquisition lawyers, engineers, software programmers, and many other high end white collar professionals. Reich shows how these people educate and train themselves, and what they do to stay ahead of the knowledge curve. You will most probably recognize many of your colleagues and yourselves within this description.

Good definitions, incomplete discussion of the solution
I was interested in reading this book to gain some sort of understanding on the liberal-fiscal ideas bouncing around the heads of some of my democratic friends. I have to say that some of the ideas in this book, ones covering the rise of internationalized corporate webs, was stimulating and provided good cause to re-evaluate my positions on supply-side policies. However, the proposed solutions (such as taxing the life out of people at rates as high as 83%) are unrealistic and hopelessly utopian. The ideas to grow government by the sizes required to carry out the proposed public policies for aiding the poor and increasing the number of symbolic-analytic people in our society boarders on severe socialism, even communism. Those that make money should not be forced into acts of humanitarianism by excessive taxation. Also, the author never considers that in the increasingly globalized world, what is to stop those making the money from fleeing the nation that built them because the cost to stay (taxes) are too high? His only argument is that the mobility of human capital is less than corporate assets, but if living somewhere else on the planet means saving you 80% of your salary, just how mobile might wealthy symbolic-analysts become?

In the end I was disappointed because The Work of Nations spent the majority of the book defining the problem and only the last 1/5 of it explaining a solution and in no good way dealing with the tough details and hurdles of implementing that solution.

Investing in people
Robert Reich is interested in labor. Not surprising. He's a former Secretary of Labor under Clinton's administration. He begins by telling us that corporations have lost their national identity. In other words, almost all American and foreign corporations consist of employees, investors, and machinery that are located all over the world, and so the traditional view that American economic progress being directly related to the profitability of American firms is no longer valid. So what then should be the economic goals of the state?

Three types of workers exist in Reich's thinking: routine producers, in-person servers, and symbolic analysts. Reich shows evidence that the symbolic analysts, who "solve, identify, and broker problems by manipulating symbols," are the winners in this age. The workers who are educated and can use their knowl