Book Description
In the Origin of Wealth, Eric Beinhocker offers a thorough and convincing new way to think about economic growth and business management. The author begins by exploring the roots of modern economic theory and ultimately declares it outmoded and wrong. Instead, he suggests, markets and growth can best be explained by drawing on the emerging field of complexity economics: the study of markets and social systems as complex adaptive systems. Although biological metaphors in business have become familiar (i.e., organizations are living organisms), Beinhocker moves beyond metaphor to explain the revolutions in science that will inevitably change the way we think about economics, competition, and business. The Origin of Wealth raises important questions such as: How can one create strategy in uncertain and fast moving environments? Why is it hard for large organizations to be innovative and how should we organize for better results? What role should governments play in this new era?
Customer Reviews:
Evolution, a recipe for innovation.......2007-10-14
The author has carried out a tremendous amount of work to study the latest developments in many different fields clustered around the concept of "complexity economics". The two most interesting ideas for me were about innovation and strategy development. I was amazed to learn how you can generate new insights and innovations in products , systems and organisation by computer simulations where "agents" compete in the way the evolution works. That is those features, and organisms, survive that successfully adapt to changes in the environment. These "agents" are simplified computer models of human beings, of a system or of a component. The characteristics of these agents change at random, similar to mutations in evolution. The agents compete in a computer. At the end of a simulation round the best performers engage in "computer sex" leading to new generation of more competent "agents". After many rounds innovations develop "automatically"
The second interesting area is about innovation strategy. Luck remains a factor, but its influence can be reduced by having a portfolio of innovative projects. Microsoft with its Windows strategy is a fascinating example.
The purpose in these simulations is important. On page 280 it says that the goal of a business is making a profit. This is what many people in society at large also think. It is not what the most read management gurus like Peter Drucker, and Jim Collins think. Their view is that profit is a condition for survival and a measure of success. Interestingly on page 411 the first view is corrected where it states that "profitability is not an objective in itself but a fundamental restraint that must be met". The cause of this contradiction may be the almost total absence in the book of the subjects of ethics, values, corporate citizenship and CSR. May be it is difficult to create synthetic "agents" with values other than greed. That should be possible though and would be a very interesting development.
Modern Classic.......2007-09-25
I would classify Eric Beinhocker's book as an instant classic. Although it is more of a survey of broad spectrum of economic studies, it is extremely well put together and well written. I promised myself that this is a book that requires a more detailed review but since I have not had time to write that yet, I want to at least share the following with the would be readers of this book:
Buy this book! The primary focus of the book is analysis of how emergence (no pun intended) of complex dynamical systems is changing the fundamentals of economics. Book does an excellent job of giving historical account of how mathematical foundations of economics was developed and influenced by the math/physics of the time: math of systems in equilibrium. Afterwords it methodically studies the complex dynamical systems, their impact on agent based modeling of complex phenomenon and how this development in mathematical thinking is already impacting economics. Last couple of chapters also provide ponderings of complex dynamical systems analysis and its impact on policy making and international relations.
Book is clearly written, well researched with excellent bibliography and captures some of the most throught provoking research in the industry in a simple and conherent fashion.
If I get time I promise to write a longer and more deserving review of this book.
Eye-popping paradigm shift in economics unveiled.......2007-07-14
On the subject matter...
Ever wonder why macro-economics didn't make sense?
Want to know more about how economies and markets really work?
On the writing...
The author provides a simple, compelling narrative which debunks a large portion of economics as it has been taught for the last 200 years. It then goes on to synthesize broad swaths of recent economic research into a cohesive vision of economics as an evolutionary open system and that observable macro-economic patterns are largely a product of the evolutionary algorithm at work.
If a high level understanding of the workings of economies or markets is of interest to you -- or you just want to unlearn a lot of false theory -- The Origin of Wealth is for you!
Must have for anyone who gave up on economics... like me.......2007-07-02
If you ever tried to read a book on economics, you probably loved the classics (Adam Smith, Shumpeter, Keynes...) but then you probably had an uneasy feeling about people trying to use some kind of Maxwell equation to explain the workings of the economy. That's where you probably decided that this science was either too complex for you (in fact, it is the world that is too complex for traditional economics) or that scholars were probably more interested in masturbating their brains than truly explaining the world. That's usually where a science needs a paradigm shift in order to stay alive in the world, and not just in academia.
Hopefully, things have changed and economists are now introducing concepts that gracefully embrace the nature of the subject : evolution, non-linear functions, psychology, sociology, and intelligent mathematics (the one that tries to fit with the actual world, not the opposite)
This book is a must have... The kind of book that makes you feel intelligent not because it's full of obscure concepts that you think you can loosely fit together, but because it is fact-based, well written, sometimes surprising, and most of all it feels right... which is truly groundbreaking.
Just like in nuclear physics, this science finally takes off the very moment it stops trying to fit the world in an a+b=c equation. Instead of having a precisely wrong theory, we now have something that accounts for the inherent complexity of the economy and unveils new and fascinating territories for us to discover.
A must for economics students!.......2007-07-01
I am an undergraduate student of economics and was always critical about the Traditional Economics theories that were presented in class. I never just accepted the textbook's mathmatical models as the ultimate truth and always looked for more. I read books from a wide range of areas, all supporting my view that there was something more to our economic life than what professors told us in class, but never making a clear connection to economic theory. I bought this book by chance before a long flight and can't say how happy I was when I realized what Beinhocker was saying. I could not stop reading and finished it in about a week. Beinhocker showed me how to break through the mathmatical barriers of traditional economics and think about economics in an exiting and liberating new way. His introduction to Complexity Economics (as he calls it) has given me new hope for economics and enthusiasm for my studies. I am already diving deeper and deeper into work mentioned in the references and a whole new world is opening in front of me! A. J. Sutter makes many valid points in his lengthy review above. I still think Beinhocker managed to write a book that is groundbreaking in its range of topics covered and its comprehensive overview of Complexity Economics.
No student of economics who has not at least heard about the topics mentioned in this book can say that he knows the subject he is studying.
Book Description
For years, financial planners have focused on helping their clients accumulate wealth for retirement. Now, as millions of those boomer clients head into retirement, there is little quality information on how to manage that wealth in retirement. Evensky and Katz, two of the nation's best-known financial planners, asked leading experts to give advisers a toolkit and roadmap to the new landscape. Included are valuable insights and practical approaches for increasing retirement cash flow, withdrawal strategies, longevity insurance, creating portfolios with low volatility, and decision making. Each of the 26 contributors offers fresh research and solutions for forecasting income needs, evaluating client needs, and communicating effectively with clients. Armed with these more effective approaches to distribution and improved methodologies for planning, financial advisers and wealth managers will be able to make their clients? golden years shine ever more brightly.
Customer Reviews:
Money Well Spent.......2007-08-16
I have read over two dozen books on investing and retirement planning and this is among my favorites. First, there are few books which talk to the subject of distribution (as opposed to accumulation) strategies. Second, the authors have chosen to allow other experts to contribute to their book - 25 of them to be precise. So you are not just getting the advice of one or two people, but the opinions of over two dozen renowned experts in the field. There is a tremendous amount of wisdom contained in the chapters.
As anyone who is a student of investing and retirement planning will know, Harold Evensky is quoted routinely and widely recognized as an expert in his field. Simply getting his advice is more than worth the price of admission. An example is the Evensky & Katz Cash Flow Reserve Strategy (E&KS) which is discussed in chapter 11. I have no doubt I will use this strategy in my own distribution planning.
Also not to be missed in the work of Bill Bengen on sustainable withdrawals, which is presented in chapter 13. Anyone who is contemplating managing their own cash flows in retirement (and even those who entrust this to others) should not miss Bill's views and opinions. He is arguably the leading expert on sustainable withdrawal rates in the financial planning business. I would highly recommend that you also consider purchasing his book, Conserving Client Portfolio's During Retirement, in addition to this fine work. Fortunately that book has recently become available on Amazon so it is now easy to find and obtain. I purchased my copy about 9 months ago and had to order it directly from the Financial Planning Association.
While you may not agree with every opinion expressed in this book, it will certainly get you to thinking (perhaps outside the box) and pressure testing what you think you know.
I'm sure I will use it as a constant guide in managing my own finances.
Excellent source of advice.......2007-08-04
I have been reading retirement and investment books extensively over the past 2 years (Graham, Gibson, Slott, Stein etc.) and while some have touched on saving for retirement, few have touched on withdrawal strategy. In this book, Harold has gone to great length to spell out the retiree's psychological and economic needs, and offers up excellent options to address both. That section, plus the other fine chapters by other authors, make this a must-have book for the enlightened counselor.
Excellent Technical Discussion.......2007-03-10
As a recent retiree, who is not a professional financial planner, I found this book very helpful in understanding the "technical" details of various financial planning tools. I was particularly interested in Monte Carlo analysis (which I use) and how this tool can be used to objectively (albeit not in the most easily understandable form for a lay person) quantify my investment portfolio risk.
It was also very interesting in how the Monte Carlo tool is being misused to evaluate risks other than simple investment portfolio risk. I would agree with the authors conerns about how certain financial planners are trying to use Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate risk far beyond the investment portfolio.
Traditional financial planning advice would suggest an ultra-conservative investment strategy high in fixed income securities. For those willing and able to accept the variablity of the stock market, a significantly higher level of income can be generated with little additional risk. Monte Carlo is the tool (properly used) to evaluate investment strategies.
An Important Book for Financial Advisers.......2006-05-24
This collection of twenty essays on retirement planning shifts the focus of much of the current literature from the accumulation of assets to their distribution. "Retirementality" - how we think about and live out retirement (Anthony) - is being redefined by a generation who are living years longer than their predecessors. Indeed, "longevity risk" is one of the central themes of this book. As defined benefit pension plans disappear and the viability of social security is debated, the net reality is that longer living retirees are left with fewer streams of guaranteed life-time income. Making that nest egg last is a challenge. Failure to do so is "the probability of ruin" - to use Milevsky's indelicate phrase.
A number of these contributors see annuities as integral to generating a guaranteed life-long stream of cash. Carey and Dellinger (and Milevsky elsewhere) maintain that investment returns produced by an annuity will always be superior to identical investments outside an annuity because of the "mortality credits" from other terminated annuity policy holders which are factored into the projected income. A chapter on reverse mortgages presents an evenly balanced discussion of this additional source of income for retirees. Considering that half the population who reach 65 may need some form of expensive institutional care (Greenwald), supplemental streams of income may also prove useful to pay for a long-term care insurance policy.
"Sustained Withdrawals" (Benge) seeks to determine a "safemax" - the maximum, annual withdrawal percentage rate from a retiree's accumulated wealth during this "decumulation" (Katz) phase. Determining this rate is another key theme in this collection. The rub is that relying solely on historical average rates of return and conservative withdrawal percentage rates mean little to a portfolio's survival if the sequence of market returns is negative in the early years of retirement. Benge's research looks at different withdrawal rates, asset mixes, various timing strategies, and adjustments to the withdrawal rate when it is a goal to leave nest egg assets as a bequest. Meanwhile, Stanaslovich in "Creating Portfolios With Lower Volatility" raises the bar with a gloomy projection of low returns for a variety of asset classes into the next decade.
This book should be read by financial planners, brokerage advisers working with retiring clients, and informed investors who want to manage their own affairs.
Amazon.com
Ever feel like you just can't get ahead with the bills? You're not alone. More than half of Americans believe the American dream has become impossible for most people to achieve. And two-thirds think this goal will be even harder for the next generation. (One reason for the gloominess--average full-time income has fallen 15 percent since 1975.) All this has Benjamin Friedman worried. In his hefty, 549-page tome, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the acclaimed Harvard economist and advisor to the Federal Reserve Board says economic stagnation is bad for the moral health of a nation. Friedman, a former chair of Harvard's economics department, argues that economic growth is vital to social and political progress. Witness Hitler's Germany. Without growth, people look for answers in intolerance and fear. And that, Friedman warns, is where the U.S. is headed if the economic stagnation of the past three decades doesn't soon reverse. It's not enough for gross domestic product to rise, he says. Growth also has to be more evenly distributed. The rich shouldn't be the only ones getting richer.
Friedman's arguments are provocative but at times lack rigor. In his comparisons of various countries, he offers no objective data to measure their levels of social progress, relying instead on his own--sometimes selective--interpretation of historical events. He glosses over the fact that China, where the economy has grown sevenfold since 1978, has seen little political change in that time. He also acknowledges that the Great Depression--which brought Americans together to achieve great social and political progress--tends to disprove his theory. Friedman makes a good case that the economy sometimes influences social movements, but the jury is still out on exactly when and how that happens. --Alex Roslin
Book Description
From the author of Day of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan’s economic policy (“Every citizen should read it,” said The New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that broadly distributed economic growth provides benefits far beyond the material, creating and strengthening democratic institutions, establishing political stability, fostering tolerance, and enhancing opportunity.
“Are we right,” Benjamin M. Friedman asks, “to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?” To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies—particularly of the United States since the Civil War—distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence.
Friedman also delineates the role of economic growth in determining which developing nations extend the broadest freedoms to their citizenry. He makes clear that growth, rather than just the level of living standards, is key to effecting political and social liberalization in the third world. But he also warns that the democratic values of countries even as wealthy as our own are at risk whenever incomes stagnate for extended periods. Merely being rich is no protection against a society’s retreat into rigidity and intolerance once enough of its citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead.
Finally, Friedman shows us why, if America is to strengthen democratic institutions around the world as a bulwark against terrorism and social unrest, we must aggressively pursue growth at home and promote worldwide economic expansion beyond what purely market-driven forces would create. And for the United States, he offers concrete suggestions for policy steps to achieve those objectives.
A major contribution to the ongoing debate on the effects of economic growth and globalization.
Customer Reviews:
The Chicken or the Egg?.......2007-02-06
Since the rise fascism and Bolshevism in the 1920s there has been the question of how political rights and civil liberties correspond to economic rights and growth. Amartya Sen has argued that the political rights and civil liberties should not be divorced from economic process (Development As Freedom). Sen's normative approach of equating economic rights to the freedoms one achieves with guaranteed civil liberties is one that many can respect.
Benjamin Freidman has taken a more positivist to the same issue. In doing so he asks, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" Does economic growth in a capitalist setting require democracy and civil liberties or visa versa? Friedman's study looks back not only over all to this question in modern economic history. But, he also takes specific case studies from the United States, Germany, France and others to see the over all trends of the problem.
From this he develops a matrix on the issue. In times of growth political rights tend to expand. In times of stagnation they tend to contract. What is interesting his not how Friedman arrives at this basic framework, but his look into the exceptions of this common sense rule. Why in the 1930s was the political openness of the New Deal accepted, but the recent economic stagnation in France caused the rise of the right-wing Le Pen party?
Friedman is one of the foremost experts on the political economy. He has held a seat at Harvard since 1972. Yet, in this work for public consumption his writing is more along the lines of an historian. He does not delve too far into the economics or the political science of the issue, which many academics tend to - even for the lay reader. Instead, he sees to it that the main ideas are gotten across.
His prescriptions are simple. Maintain economic growth and we can maintain political and civil liberties. While Amartya Sen may find a problem with placing the chicken before the egg, after this work one must understand that economic stagnation helps noone.
Better than church: Economics, the joyful science.......2006-12-01
Economics is often considered a values-free discipline (and economists - well, a sperm cell has a better chance of becoming human). Economists have promoted this view with their emphasis on "positive" (scientific) economics. Economic theory must generate testable hypotheses which stand on their ability to predict the future and withstand the test of data. This is actually very important if economic theory is going to serve as the basis for policy. Without a rigorous and dispassionate analysis of the problems we face and their potential solutions, policy is more likely to be destructive than useful. But taken to an academic extreme, this approach makes economics rather arid, an extremely formal social science that looks more like a branch of mathematics. Indeed, some economics journals publish articles so arcane they might as well be about string theory for all the relevance they have to actual human beings.
Friedman understands that economics is much more than mathematics, that it deals directly with human happiness. It's the most optimistic and joyful of sciences, not simply a ruler by which we can measure policy. Its uses and conclusions are fundamentally moral (or immoral). Economic growth isn't just about GDP and reams of statistics, but about the expansion of opportunity, the lifting up of the poor and the powerless to prosperity and self-determination. Markets aren't just about money, but about liberty. It may be the responsibility of economic advisors to be cold, impartial and rational in their analysis and advice, but policy makers and citizens must apply moral reasoning and moral sense to the products of that analysis.
Friedman's book is a solid introduction to the moral relevance of economics. Friedman shows us that economics matters, though it doesn't matter in quite the way that physics matters. Physical knowledge may be used for moral or immoral purposes, but physics is fundamentally without morality. It also need not deal with anything that really matters to you and me. Economic theory can explain human behavior in ways similar to thermodynamic explanations of molecular motion, but humans aren't molecules. You can't simply describe the impact of globalization or tax policy on humans without a moral framework; an attempt to objectify humans as you'd objectify hydrogen molecules contains its own grim morality. It's the strength of Friedman's book that it makes clear that economic decisions and economic analysis are firmly embedded in a moral framework, no matter how hard we might try to ignore it in our pursuit of scientific and mathematical rigor.
Friedman's book isn't just a moral tract; he attempts to make a case for his moral stand. Friedman is a skilled economist, and he marshals historical data and comparisons of different nations and different periods in our own history to make his case. He provides some information useful for evaluating his thesis that economic growth is moral, he doesn't simply assert it. But herein is a weakness in his book. He doesn't provide nearly as much hard information as he should, and he scatters his supporting numbers throughout the text. It would be very helpful to the reader if data were gathered into charts and tables. There's but a single Figure in the book, no tables of data. It should also be noted that his national comparisons leave out some states (China, Singapore, Vietnam) that might contradict his thesis regarding the linkage between economic growth and political liberty. He's chosen his examples far too carefully.
Another weakness of this book is a natural danger of the type of text Friedman has written. Because he is dealing with economics as a moral issue, he takes a moral stance, one that's clearly to the political left in many ways. I have no problem with this, even though I'm somewhat to the right of him, but we should be very clear on one point. While a trained economist like Friedman is in a much better position than the average person to analyze the effects of different policies, he's no more qualified than a pastry chef to comment on the relative desirability of those different policies once their effects have been laid out in terms the pastry chef understands. Friedman makes a number of policy suggestions in his book with which I disagree. He doesn't make it sufficiently clear that their potential effects aren't unambiguously better than those of alternative policies designed to create or enhance economic growth.
My final objection to this book is its length. Friedman is clearly a well-read man of wide interests, and he brings a great deal of his erudition to this book. It strengthens his case, but I'm not sure that the marginal benefits of the 400th page exceed the marginal costs. More than once I found myself wanting an executive summary of the chapter I was reading and wishing that he would just cut to the chase. But that's really a minor complaint. I benefited from reading this book. It's an interesting and thoughtful contribution to the issue of economic growth (and by extension to international trade and economic aid to developing countries), and I strongly recommend it.
Society and Economic Growth.......2006-11-05
Friedman explains how growth is good for promoting a freer, more tolerant and open society. The author gives good reasons for defending growth as the major objective of any government.
Interesting Thesis, but overlooking some important points.......2006-06-13
Mr. Friedman's book begins with an interesting thesis, defining morality and its definition within a context of economic growth. The idea that economic growth or stagnation effects the mindsets of the people living in that time period is a logical argument that Friedman often well supports with historical facts. However, the exceptions to his argument make me wonder if he really believes in his own thesis, or if he just felt the need to write a book. Furthermore, for every chapter in the book, there seem to be at least one or more flawed arguments or points that, with a little thorough thought or research, don't make sense or can easily be disproven. With these things being the case, I find Friedman's argument a little hard to buy. The entire book seems to build up to the final chapter, which Friedman uses to make policy recommendations that would aid in economic growth; this final chapter could have stood alone from the book entirely, however, because the evidence in the book an his arguments elsewhere in the book (ie. the importance of education) do not add or support his final policy recommendations. His policy recommendations could have easily been listed by students in an economics class as responses to the question "What should the government do to promote economic growth?" They don't push the argument forward or indicate anything that hasn't already been suggested in the past, nor do they give suggestions as to how to go about implementing his policies.
Puzzling.......2006-06-02
Friedman begins with a few troubling statistics, particularly the fact that except for a brief period in the late 1900s, most of the fruits of the last three decades of economic growth in the U.S. have accrued to only a small slice of the population. Further, after allowing for higher prices, the average 2004 worker in an American business made 16% less each week than 30+ years earlier. With more and more two-earner households and more individuals holding two jobs, most families' income have more than held their own. But nearly all the gain in the last three decades came only in the late 1990s. Young men entering the American job force in the 1970s started off earning two-thirds more, on average, than the generation starting out in the 1950s; by the early 1990s it was one quarter less than their parents.
Economic growth positively affects the character of the society as a whole, and because neither tolerance nor democracy is a good that private markets value, there is a role for government measures to seek growth beyond what the market would provide on its own. Improved transportation, crime reduction, safety from external attack, savings, education, and patent protection are examples of valuable government contributions.
Friedman asserts that declining investment is a problem in the U.S., and blames it on increased current consumption and government borrowing. (But what about the fact that much cheaper labor is available in Asia?) He goes on to posit that chronically large deficits' depressing effect on America's investment probably received a greater spur from change in the tax structure than the positive aspect of the tax reductions.
Friedman suggests improvement that begins with undoing the Bush administration high-end tax changes that provided 60% of the benefits to the top 10% (earning over $120,000) to reduce the deficit and improve society.
Fireman, like many others, very much wants to improve American education. He begins by focusing on improving the high school graduation rate - stable at about 90% over the last several decades - through more spending. (Friedman, however, forgets that enormous increases in inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending also occurred during this period, and that dropout rates closely correlate with race - ergo, positive home influence is probably a much more potent lever.) More government support for college education is also highly recommended because their incomes average some 70% more than those without a college degree. As for class sizes, Friedman is aware that most quality research has found reductions do NOT improve pupil achievement; nonetheless he suggests reductions would improve graduation rates, though the sources he cites seem to confound race and socio-economic status with class size as influences. He also supports competition within education, citing several inner-city positive examples such as Harlem Community Schools.
Another significant recommendation is raising the Social Security retirement age.
What is puzzling about "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth" is that Friedman does not address a major issue of today's economic growth - the impact of free trade and illegal immigration on American incomes. Also, his treatment of economic development and population growth on environmental impacts is overly optimistic. These issues seriously limit the book's contributions.
Book Description
Praise for previous editions of The State of Working America "The State of Working America remains unrivaled as the most-trusted source for a comprehensive understanding of how working Americans and their families are faring in today's economy."-Robert B. Reich
"It is the inequality of wealth, argue the authors, rather than new technology (as some would have it), that is responsible for the failure of America's workplace to keep pace with the country's economic growth. The State of Working America is a well-written, soundly argued, and important reference book."-Library Journal
"If you want to know what happened to the economic well-being of the average American in the past decade or so, this is the book for you. It should be required reading for Americans of all political persuasions."-Richard Freeman, Harvard University "A truly comprehensive and useful book that provides a reality check on loose statements about U.S. labor markets. It should be cheered by all Americans who earn their living from work."-William Wolman, chief economist, CNBC's Business Week "The State of Working America provides very valuable factual and analytic material on the economic conditions of American workers. It is the very best source of information on this important subject."-Ray Marshall, University of Texas, former Secretary of Labor
"An indispensable work . . . on family income, wages, taxes, employment, and the distribution of wealth."-Simon Head, The New York Review of Books "No matter what political camp you're in, this is the single most valuable book I know of about the state of America, period. It is the most referenced, most influential resource book of its kind."-Jeff Madrick, author, The End of Affluence "This book is the single best yardstick for measuring whether or not our economic policies are doing enough to ensure that our economy can, once again, grow for everybody."-Richard A. Gephardt "The best place to review the latest developments in changes in the distribution of income and wealth."-Lester Thurow
The State of Working America, prepared biennially since 1988 by the Economic Policy Institute, includes a wide variety of data on family incomes, wages, taxes, unemployment, wealth, and poverty-data that enable the authors to closely examine the effect of the economy on the living standards of the American people.
Customer Reviews:
the hobo philosopher.......2007-06-27
This book is exactly what I wanted. I'm a part-time journalist writing for a small town newspaper and I like numbers. Nothing is better than a percentage or a statistic to support your story. This book has them all and an explanation to support their accuracy or inaccuracy. It is a great tool. It is a must for anyone who wants to know "The State of Working America" - which I do.
Change Is Needed Now and Here's Why.......2007-04-30
If you can wade your way through the statistics, this book is enlightening and edifying, often sad. The commentary and interpretation help clarify the wealth of information. It graphically illustrates that nothing has changed after all these years of hope and promises for change: the rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poorer, poverty is endemic to our tired, unimaginative economic system, etc., etc., etc.
This book caused me to re-read Kevin Phillips' book "The Politics of Rich and Poor," published in 1990. It provides statistical and anecdotal evidence of the negative effects of Reagan-omics on our social system, much as Bush-enomics has. I even went farther back and re-read Michael Harrington's "The Other America," the seminal, monumental book of its time in 1962 about poverty in America.
These books along with so many others make you ask, as we've asked so many times, "When will it ever change?" I guess making people aware of the problem, although it's readily apparent in everyday life, is the place to start. These books, representing 45 years of rhetoric, make you agonizingly aware that things have gone nowhere but down. So, read all of them.
Book Description
An eye-opening field guide to the wealth gap.
For every dollar owned by the average white family in the United States, the average family of color has less than a dime. Why do people of color have so little wealth? The Color of Wealth lays bare a dirty secret: for centuries, people of color have been barred by laws and by discrimination from participating in government wealth-building programs that benefit white Americans.
This accessible book—published in conjunction with one of the country's leading economics education organizations—makes the case that until government policy tackles disparities in wealth, not just income, the United States will never have racial or economic justice.
Written by five leading experts on the racial wealth divide who recount the asset-building histories of Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans, this book is a uniquely comprehensive multicultural history of American wealth. With its focus on public policies—how, for example, many post-World War II GI Bill programs helped whites only—The Color of Wealth is the first book to demonstrate the decisive influence of government on Americans' net worth.
Customer Reviews:
3/4 of the way it's really good and then..........2006-10-28
This book is a solid piece of scholarship for the most part. The last quarter, however, dissipates into more reformism. It is interesting to see statistics on the wealth differential between Whites and other Ethnic Groups and the causal factors concomitantly, e.g. racism, Ethnocentricism, greed etc. The historical analysis as to what created the divide is thorough. That said, the prescription in the end makes one wonder if the scholars' really grasped the Historical antecedents that they presented to begin with. What occured in the past to create the disparity was not accidental. On the contrary. Whites today have the same mindset as their ancestors did in regards to wealth and securing it. How can they not? It's the same continuum. The society reinforces it. Just ask Tim Wise. Whites need only be on auto pilot to maintain this unjust system. The only solution is a complete social revolution, this - in the long run - will move people of color into equality while simultaneously changing the psyches' of Whites. Anything short of that can be consigned to phantasmic thinking.
Accessible, clear, enlightening.......2006-07-24
Heavily researched, but written in a very accessible way. You will learn volumes about wealth disparities and how they got that way, and you will learn something about yourself too. Highly recommended for anyone with interests in social and economic justice, racism, and just getting ahead in America.
Breaking the Seemingly Impenetrable Racial Barriers of Wealth Accumulation.......2006-06-24
Eye-opening doesn't even begin to describe this enlightening volume about the socioeconomic divide among whites and non-whites in this country and the role the government plays in reinforcing the separation. Organized by five key members of the nonpartisan United for a Fair Economy organization based in Atlanta, the book handily dismantles the Horatio Alger myth, especially for minority members, by detailing how economic predation has persisted even as significant strides have been made in the far more discernible civil rights arena. The co-authors - Executive Director Meizhu Lui, Communications Director Betsy Leondar-Wright, current board member Bárbara Robles, past board member (until 2005) Rose Brewer, and Rebecca Adamson of the First Peoples Worldwide - have assembled not only a comprehensive history but also a fulsome, current picture of the economic discrimination that has festered pointedly against four different groups - African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.
Not coincidentally, the five women come from five different ethnic groups (including white), which allow them to compare their individual experiences and provide personal validation (and sometimes challenges) of their findings. Perhaps the most compelling fact unearthed is the substantial divide in net worth between blacks and whites. Previously, focus has been mostly on income disparity, which while significant, has been almost passively accepted. Specifically, median household income for whites in 2003 was about $48K, while for black households it was about $30K. However, looking on the balance sheet, the co-authors uncovered the revelatory fact that whites had a median net worth of $121K in 2001 versus just $19K for blacks.
This and the book's other equally invaluable findings clearly illustrate how public policy has hindered asset accumulation among non-whites, and there is also an itemized list of special advantages afforded exclusively to whites. On a more personal level, the co-authors show how such exclusionary tactics have affected the self-esteem of their families, especially among their fathers who feel they have failed them somehow. In a hopeful effort to clarify the decisive influence of government on Americans' net worth, the book is not a socialist tract but rather a realistic how-to guide on how to affect policy changes that will help future generations in their wealth-building strategies. I think this is must-read information well worth studying by those looking for a constructive means of addressing the economic inequity in wealth, not just income. This is essential reading.
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Who Gains From Free Trade: Export-Led Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Latin America (Routledge Studies in Development Economics)
Vos & Ganuza
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415770440 |
Book Description
Since the late 1980s, almost all Latin American countries have gone through a process of far-reaching economic reforms, featuring in particular trade, financial and capital account liberalization. At first the reforms seemed to be working as promised and trade expanded. However, at the turn of the century, the economies have shown unstable and rather dismal growth. Some argue trade liberalization is partly to be blamed for this.
Who Gains from Free Trade examines the extent to which trade reforms have been an important source of the slowdown of economic growth, rising inequality and rising poverty as observed in many parts of the region. This volume presents an comprehensive analysis of this important topic, utilizing research based on 16 country narratives of policy reform and economic performance; rigorous general equilibrium (CGE) modelling of the economy-wide effects of trade reform for all country cases; alongside application of an innovative method of microsimulations to assess the employment and factor income distribution impact of policy reforms on poverty and inequality at the household level.
The study finds that trade liberalization and the switch to export-led growth are not the cause of the growth slowdown in Latin America. Nor are they the cause of rising poverty and inequality. If anything, the impact on growth and poverty in general has been positive, but very small. Thus, further trade opening is neither the solution to the region's economic woes, nor should we expect any disastrous implications for aggregate poverty.
Book Description
The idea of America as politically polarized--that there is an unbridgeable divide between right and left, red and blue states--has become a cliché. What commentators miss, however, is that increasing polarization in recent decades has been closely accompanied by fundamental social and economic changes--most notably, a parallel rise in income inequality. In Polarized America, Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole, and Howard Rosenthal examine the relationships of polarization, wealth disparity, immigration, and other forces, characterizing it as a dance of give and take and back and forth causality.
Using NOMINATE (a quantitative procedure that, like interest group ratings, scores politicians on the basis of their roll call voting records) to measure polarization in Congress and public opinion, census data and Federal Election Commission finance records to measure polarization among the public, the authors find that polarization and income inequality fell in tandem from 1913 to 1957 and rose together dramatically from 1977 on; they trace a parallel rise in immigration beginning in the 1970s. They show that Republicans have moved right, away from redistributive policies that would reduce income inequality. Immigration, meanwhile, has facilitated the move to the right: non-citizens, a larger share of the population and disproportionately poor, cannot vote; thus there is less political pressure from the bottom for redistribution than there is from the top against it. In "the choreography of American politics" inequality feeds directly into political polarization, and polarization in turn creates policies that further increase inequality.
Customer Reviews:
A worthwhile read.......2006-09-03
Polarized America is a difficult, but valuable read. Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole, and Howard Rosenthal, three political scientists wrote the book for other political scientists. Nevertheless, reading and then rereading the book is time well spent. Their arguments about our current political polarization are thoughtful and detailed. I will not summarize the book beyond a list of the chapters and a follow-up sentence.
1. The Choreography of American Politics
2. Polarized Politicians
3. Income Polarization and the Electorate
4. Immigration, Income, and the Voter's Incentive to Redistribute
5. Campaign Finance and Polarization
6. Polarization and Public Policy
7. Where Have you Gone, Mr. Sam [Rayburn]
Excellent graphics and tables, which the reader should avoid the temptation to skip, illustrate the chapters.
A one-sentence summary of their thesis is that America is politically stuck and is likely to remain so until tectonic social events move the parties from the political edges back to the middle, the position from which American political institutions work best.
Book Description
What are the relative merits of the American and European socioeconomic systems? Longstanding debates have heated up in recent years with the expansion of the European Union and increasingly sharp political and cultural differences between the United States and Europe. In Inequality and Prosperity, Jonas Pontusson provides a comparative overview of the two major models of labor markets and welfare systems in the advanced industrial world: the "liberal capitalist" system of the United States and Britain, and the "social market" capitalism of northern Europe. These two models balance concerns of efficiency and equity in fundamentally different ways. In the 1990s the much-heralded forces of globalization (together with demographic changes and attendant political pressures) seemed to threaten the very existence of the social-market economies of Europe. Were the social compacts of Sweden and Germany outmoded? Would varieties of capitalism remain possible, or were labor-market and social-welfare arrangements converging on the U.S. norm?
Pontusson opposes the notion of inevitable convergence: he believes that social-market economies can survive and indeed flourish in the contemporary world economy. He bases his argument on an enormous amount of highly specialized research on eighteen countries, using national-level data for the last thirty years. Among the areas he explores are labor-market dynamics, income distribution, employment performance, wage bargaining, firm-level performance, and the changing possibilities for the welfare state.
Book Description
"Be prepared for a mind-opening experience."
-The Christian Century
"Highly readable; excellent for students. . . . A tonic and eye-opener for anyone who wants a politics that works."
-Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
"America Beyond Capitalism comes at a critical time in our history-when we all know our system isn't working but we are not sure what can be done about it. This book takes us outside the confines of orthodox thinking, imagines a new way of living together, and then brings that vision back into reality with a set of eminently practical ideas that promise a truly democratic society."
-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"Succeeds brilliantly in taking the Jeffersonian spirit into the last bastion of privilege in America, offering workable solutions for making the American economy one that is truly of, by, and for the people."
-Jeremy Rifkin, author of The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream
"The kind of careful, well-researched, and practical alternative progressives have been seeking. And it's more-visionary, hopeful, even inspirational. I highly recommend it."
-Juliet Schor, author of The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
"A compelling and convincing story of the future."
-William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
Customer Reviews:
Not particularly rousing or transforming.......2007-07-11
The author is concerned that at this point in our history our ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy have been seriously eroding as never before. By far the most relevant development given by the author is the growing concentration of wealth in the US among the richest 1 percent and thereby their immense power to control the political-economic system. In this highly tilted environment, traditional popular political approaches are largely ineffective - systemic changes are needed. However, the author's proposals scarcely go "beyond capitalism," being reformist at best, and do little to enhance the little "d" democracy that is so important in a democracy.
Because wealth-holding is so central in our society, the author proposes changes in forms of ownership and the distribution of capital. He gives examples of ownership by municipalities, non-profits, and other non-government entities mostly in the areas of low-income housing and utility ownership, none of which are particularly economically transforming to the citizenry. He suggests that ESOPs are empowering to workers, yet he readily admits that most ESOPs do not even have voting rights. There have always been worker cooperatives and direct worker ownership in the US, but hardly at the level of being a countervailing force to huge for-profit corporations owned by anonymous stockholders. His suggestions to decentralize the US into regional political entities, like virtually all of his proposals, do not enhance participation for citizens.
The author notes that major crises in this nation, such as the Great Depression or WWII, have spurred the most profound changes. The author hints at the fact that it may well be the excesses of elites and corporations that will generate the next significant political-economic changes. Forces of globalization, the cheap labor afforded by immigration, growing perceptions of unreasonable inequality, a health care industry increasingly at odds with the health of the American public, the diminishment and jeopardization of retirement income, and perpetual war - all may well combine to stimulate profound changes. As the author acknowledges, it is likely that the situation may have to get worse before action is taken.
The book, though not particularly long, manages to be repetitious and tedious with excessive cataloging of various agencies, programs, and advocates. The book is hardly a far left treatise. Capitalism may get a strong rebuke, but that is the extent of it. His vaguely presented schemes to redistribute wealth are highly bureaucratic, bypassing worker control. Overall this book is a disappointment in its lack of specific suggestions for empowering citizens in all areas, public and private.
book for school.......2007-05-16
I bought this book for a class at college. I am really tired of this propoganda. I do not agree with the viewpoints.
Required reading????.......2006-09-21
The guy makes his liberal points like gangbusters. But why on earth is this type of material required reading in several colleges without an equally substantial pro-capitalist book to counter it?
Nowhere else in society are young people exposed to such raw indoctrination as they are in America's college campuses. Kids need to learn to think for themselves, not just repeat the rantings of their instructors.
The View from the Far Left.......2006-05-02
This book is an excellent summary of the thinking of the left wing of the Democratic party. He brings forth a good collection of ways that he sees our society declining. I believe the thing he laments most is that the rich are rich. From this he goes on to saying that the standard work week in the US should be shorter, there should be universal health care, the whole litany of the issues of the far left.
While many of us think that the far right wing has gone too far, the far left likewise has little appeal.
Another point that bothers me is that problems I forsee being the biggest problems that the country faces, he doesn't mention at all. For instance, we are at about the peak of oil production in the world and developing countries, especially China and India have increased their demand for oil, and the total production of oil is going to go down in the next few years.
Mr. Alperovitz is a Democratic Party activist. He doesn't though address what the Democratics need to do to be able to win on a national level. The old Democratic coalition of minorities, labor, women, the big Eastern political machines no longer has the pull it had. If he really wants to change things, how does he propose for the Democrats to counter the movement in our country to the South and West. Hint: When Kerry and Edwards left the campaign trail for a couple of days to go vote on a gun control measure they wrote off the South and West just to back up the left wing of their party.
I give the book five stars because it so clearly illustrates the feelings of the far left. As a practical plan for the future, it wouldn't rate that high.
Five Stars for Originality and Scholarship, Three for the Quality of Writing.......2005-11-12
I give this book five stars for orginality and scholarship and three for the quality of the writing.
The ideas presented here hold the key to future progressive political success. Unfortunately, most political activists on the Left are not aware of the rich history of democratic localism that progressives can draw on to win a progressive governing majority. This book is the antidote to this lack of awareness. By studying "America Beyond Capitalism" progressive thinkers and activists can learn how to develop popular policies that will earn the trust of the American electorate.
However, the quality of writing leaves much to be desired. The writing style too frequently degenerates into tiring catalogues of examples that could be easily summarized, allowing the curious reader to more easily absorb the main theme, while still having the option of researching examples by looking at the original sources cited. This is why I give it only three stars for the quality of the writing.
Overall, I give this book four stars and I highly recommend it to any progressive who is seriously interested in building a progressive governing majority in the 21st century.
Book Description
Free enterprise is off the leash and chasing new opportunities for profit making across the globe. After a turbulent century of unprecedented social and technological change, Capitalism has emerged as the dominant ideology and model for economic growth in the richest, most developed countries. But only thirty years ago economic growth was faltering, inflation rising and the Left were arguing for greater state intervention in industry. How did this remarkable transformation happen? And what price have we paid in the process? This accessible and persuasive book challenges the notion of our capitalist destiny. It provides a clear and concise history of the problems facing the economies of Europe, Japan and the US during the latter half of the twentieth century and questions whether capitalism has really brought the levels of economic growth and prosperity that were hoped for. Andrew Glyn then looks at the impact the rapidly developing economies of China and the South are likely to have on the older economies of the North. As the race is on to maintain growth and protect competitive advantage, Glyn asks: is the 'race-to-the bottom' inevitable as the anti-globalisers predict, with welfare states being dismantled to meet competitive demands? Or is there an alternative model which sees a strong commitment to welfare provision as essential to economic growth? Can we afford not to tackle inequality at home as well as abroad?
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