Book Description
Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has delivered as promised. The problem is not the failure of economics, William Easterly argues, but the failure to apply economic principles to practical policy work.
In this book Easterly shows how these solutions all violate the basic principle of economics, that people--private individuals and businesses, government officials, even aid donors--respond to incentives. Easterly first discusses the importance of growth. He then analyzes the development solutions that have failed. Finally, he suggests alternative approaches to the problem. Written in an accessible, at times irreverent, style, Easterly's book combines modern growth theory with anecdotes from his fieldwork for the World Bank.
Customer Reviews:
Yes indeed "People respond to incentives".......2007-06-19
Unlike Jeffrey Sachs in "The end of Poverty," who calls for a large-scale investment in the Third World countries and paying only scant attention to the importance of prior government commitment and endogenous (indigenous) policy reforms, Dr. Easterly strongly emphasizes domestic variables in shaping growth. His book highlights why growth have failed in most developing countries:"people respond to incentives." It is a must for anyone trying to understand the multidimensionality of growth. Orthodox elixirs have their limits....
Very interesting easy to read, light on solutions.......2007-04-21
Easterly's book in general does a very good job at simplifying the economic language and is easily accessible to all readers. The book also flows well and is an interesting read. He does a good job at describing and analyzing the problems with various economic growth policies. However, his solutions and paths to move forward are vague and simplified.
Elusive Fantasies on Global Prosperity.......2007-04-20
The persistence of poverty and underdevelopment in African countries after the independence of these countries might lead one to reevaluate the validity of the entire discipline of development studies. William Easterly does so from an institutional point of view. He argues that African countries' failure was partly a result of fictitious "panaceas". Albeit a bit more comprehensive, Easterly's method is not very different from the panaceas that failed, however: It is technology, stupid, not machines (p. 51).
Easterly argues that panaceas such as international aid, investment, education, and population control failed because they were not panaceas in the first place. He adamantly tries to show that there is no historical or statistical relationship between these "panaceas" and economic growth. His second argument as to why these methods failed to result in economic development is that they were not coupled with "right incentives". According to Easterly, governments, donors, and individuals respond to incentives; therefore, policies that do not create any incentives for either of these three are doomed to fail. Other than these policy issues, Easterly views technological advancement as the most concrete factor that determines the development of countries. Thus, rather than investment in machines, Easterly prescribes for poor countries investment in R & D. Given the absence of incentives for private parties to invest in R & D in poor countries, he suggests that the governments of poor countries should subsidize investment in new knowledge (p. 168).
Problems, Problems, Problems...
Putting the "people respond to incentives" motto aside, there are two primary problems in Easterly's evaluation of "panaceas". The first one is that he incorrectly discredits the crucial elements of development. To start with, Easterly believes that increases in investments -or machines- has no theoretical or empirical relationship with growth. However, we know no country that has developed without an increase in savings, investments, and machines. (Indeed, for Stiglitz, the East Asian "miracle" was simply a result of saving heavily and investing well). As such, the relationship between machines and economic growth needs a clarification: machines are necessary, though not sufficient, element of an economic growth. Yet Easterly does not think that machines are even a necessary component of growth. Testing this necessary argument, he finds that high rates of investments are not related to high rates of economic growth. The problem with Easterly's test, however, is that it is based on the assumption of a linear relationship between increases in the number of machines and economic growth. Yet no one would argue that "the more machines, the more growth" relationship holds forever. "Machinization" is not immune to the law of diminishing returns. The first couple machines increase the output enormously, later ones increase output less, and later ones more less, so much so that after a point increases in machines virtually decreases productivity because the return from investment in machines does not even matches its costs. Thus, in the absence of an improvement in technology, the relationship between the number of machines and growth is either log linear or curvilinear (`n' shape). (The classic case of high output growth without much productivity growth was that of the Soviet Union in the 1950s and early 1960s. Soviet economy was growing only because of massive mobilization of labor and huge rates of investment and total productivity was growing slowly, if at all. This implied that the growth had to slow down first, and die down later. This is indeed what happened.) For this reason, the relationship between machines and technology is a complementary one. Machines start economic growth and technological advancements maintain and further it. I do not understand therefore why Easterly mystifies the importance of technology for developing countries and downplays the equal importance of investment in machines for these countries. After al technology is applied on machines; or in other words, technological advancement means improvement of machines.
Education has long been treated as another "necessary but not sufficient" element of economic development. Easterly counters this argument as well. He argues that there is no empirical evidence for the positive relationship between investment in formal schooling and growth rates. His argument is based upon primary and secondary level education, however. I do not think that Easterly would still find a nonexistent relationship between post-high school education and growth. What is important here is that investment in technology, which Easterly views as the crucial element in growth, cannot take place without substantial investment in upper level education. In such a case, developing countries will continuously have to import their scientists and engineers from the developed world, which would perpetuate their dependence on rich countries. (Is it just a coincidence that the four Asian countries that have maintained astonishing levels of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China) are also the top four countries that send most students to American universities?)
Finally, Easterly's conclusion on the irrelevance of population growth to economic growth is based on his incorrect interpretation of the historical relationship between the two. He argues that historically population growth and economic growth followed the same pattern in industrialized nations: both were slow until the 19th century, and then both accelerated at the same time. Thus, "it is hard to reconcile this fact with the idea that population growth is disastrous to growth," (p. 92). But the parallel trends in population and economic growth in the 19th-century Europe was simply due to economic growth's positive impact on social health. Economic growth meant less infant deaths, less diseases, and more disease treatment. This is exactly the case in today's poor countries. Therefore, the reason why economic growth and population increase go hand in hand in poor nations is not that population increase helps economic growth, but rather that economic growth causes population growth by reducing deaths due to curable diseases. (Interestingly, in the introduction of the book Easterly articulates why economic growth is important for poor countries: "Poverty is not just low GDP; it is dying babies, starving children, and oppression of women and the downtrodden," (p. 15). I do not understand, therefore, why he fails to see that this is exactly why economic growth in poor societies has a population-increasing effect.) To me, population growth is detrimental to economic growth especially for countries that has low capital-to-labor and land-to-labor ratios. Population growth may not be harmful for nations who has high capital-to-labor ratio (e.g. Belgium) because they have enough resources to invest on each additional individual. Similarly, population growth might not be necessarily detrimental for countries with a relatively high land-to-labor ratio (e.g. Brazil), for they can employ new members at least in the agricultural sector. But for a country like Bangladesh, which has low capital-to-labor as well as low land-to-labor ratio, population growth harms growth in two ways. First, it increases the number of mouths that are to be fed with the scarce capital; second, it depresses the wage down by increasing demand for the already scarce jobs.
I agree with Easterly that none of these factors are "panaceas"; nevertheless, they are essential elements of growth policies in developing countries.
To me, the fundamental problem in Easterly's approach to economic development is his misreading of history and his failure to understand the dynamics of a capitalist growth. Easterly attributes rich countries' richness to their technological advancement and implementing right governmental policies. This approach has two inexcusable problems: first, it assumes that all countries can be rich if they employ right policies; second, it assumes that development is a national phenomenon. Like most economic liberals, Easterly shares Rostow's (1959) naïve belief that development has a path to be followed and "any and every" country that follows this path will become a rich country. This argument is simply against the scarcity of vital resources of the world. Today each inhabitant of the North consumes ten times as much energy, nineteen times as much aluminum, fourteen times as much paper, and thirteen times as much iron and steel as someone in the South. Thus, it would take ten planets the size of this one for poor countries to consume as much as rich ones do (Galeano 2000, p. 216). Given the scarcity of vital resources, what poor nations can achieve at most is to alleviate (or maybe eliminate) poverty, not to get rich. And even this cannot be done with their own efforts solely.
A related problem in Easterly's approach is its negligence of the relationship between economic and political power in the world (well, according to Gilpin, this is a common problem among economists). Thanks to its richness, the West (led by the US) enjoys economic, political, and military hegemony over the rest of the world. Any threat to this hegemony will preoccupy the Western countries. The US has already started to preoccupy with the Chinese economic growth, even though Chinese GDP per capita is still around $1000 only. How would be the power relations in a world in which Brazil, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, and China had GDP per capita levels above $10000? Would the powerful countries of the world welcome such a world? Interestingly, Easterly fails to apply his motto onto world politics: What "incentives" does G-7 have in the enrichment of poor countries?
Great Themes and Practical Views.......2007-01-12
I was impressed with Easterly's objective viewpoint as well as his clarity of expressive economic ideas. It was great to read about historical progress on the poverty of nations and what ideas have not worked in the past. It is a great broad overview and it is presented in a very orderly and easy to understand way. I was entertained as I read as well with his personal experiences, metaphors and humor.
It is a good educational read.
Fresh Approach.......2006-11-03
The setting and structure are atypical and a sense of humor is added for enjoyable reading. More important there is an element of hope for the dismal science.
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.
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Global Sustainability: Bending the Curve (Routledge/Sei Global Environment and Developmentseries, 3)
G. Gallopin , and
Paul D. Raskin
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415265924 |
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Unprecedented levels of wealth, technology and institutional capacity can forge a just, peaceful and ecologically resilient future. However, the authors argue, social polarization, geo-political conflict and environmental degredation are threatening the long-term well-being of humanity and the planet.
Book Description
Though competition occupies a prominent place in the history of economic thought, among economists today there is still a limited, and sometimes contradictory, understanding of its impact. In Competition and Growth, Philippe Aghion and Rachel Griffith offer the first serious attempt to provide a unified and coherent account of the effect competition policy and deregulated entry has on economic growth.
The book takes the form of a dialogue between an applied theorist calling on "Schumpeterian growth" models and a microeconometrician employing new techniques to gauge competition and entry. In each chapter, theoretical models are systematically confronted with empirical data, which either invalidates the models or suggests changes in the modeling strategy. Aghion and Griffith note a fundamental divorce between theorists and empiricists who previously worked on these questions. On one hand, existing models in industrial organization or new growth economics all predict a negative effect of competition on innovation and growth: namely, that competition is bad for growth because it reduces the monopoly rents that reward successful innovators. On the other hand, common wisdom and recent empirical studies point to a positive effect of competition on productivity growth. To reconcile theory and evidence, the authors distinguish between pre- and post-innovation rents, and propose that innovation may be a way to escape competition, an idea that they confront with microeconomic data. The book's detailed analysis should aid scholars and policy makers in understanding how the benefits of tougher competition can be achieved while at the same time mitigating the negative effects competition and imitation may have on some sectors or industries.
Customer Reviews:
Highest Importance Empirical Studies with robust theory support.......2007-03-31
P. Aghion is one of the most important economists nowadays. With a solid background in mathematics, his studies are focused on relevant aspects of modern economics. One of this issues is the relationship between competition and innovation. There are microeconomic and macroeconomic issues to discuss. Traditional neoclassical economists are frequently naive when they try to link macroeconomy and innovation using the their oversimplified models. Exchange and interest rates behaviour are enough to prescribe policies that often lead to terrible results. One the other side, Heterodox economists always overestimate the importance of tacit knowledge and learning, without showing any concern with the link between development, education standarts and competition.
Aghion give us many clues about these complex issues. I strongly recommend this book (and endogenous growth theory too) to economists who want to improve their capacity to formulate viable and sound policies for sustainable development.
Book Description
Inter-generational transfers are at the center of economic policy debates today. Reducing public debt; financing social security; taxing capital and bequests; and designing the education system imply substantial inter-generational transfers. The tool that economists employ to analyze these issues is the overlapping generations model, which reflects the different periods of life. When the model includes capital accumulation, it also allows researchers to formalize the development of an economy, relating its growth path to the savings behavior of young agents. The aim of this book is an in-depth analysis of this model that includes its major policy implications.
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Environmental Economics for Sustainable Growth: A Handbook for Practitioners
Patrice Harou ,
Lorenzo Giovanni Bellu , and
Vito Cistulli
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
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ASIN: 1840648120 |
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Environmental Economics for Sustainable Growth is a specially designed handbook for trainers, practitioners and government advisors involved in environmental policy making. It will enable professionals to initiate and implement environmental economic studies and identify policies and investments which will ensure sustainable development in their respective countries.
The book focuses on economic tools but also encompasses ecological and sociological perspectives, all of which are essential to any successful environmental policy. The authors highlight the major issues in environmental policy making and the analysis of projects with environmental impacts.
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Inequality and Growth: Theory and Policy Implications (CESifo Seminar Series)
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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ASIN: 0262550644 |
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Even minute increases in a country's growth rate can result in dramatic changes in living standards over just one generation. The benefits of growth, however, may not be shared equally. Some may gain less than others, and a fraction of the population may actually be disadvantaged. Recent economic research has found both positive and negative relationships between growth and inequality across nations. The questions raised by these results include: What is the impact on inequality of policies designed to foster growth? Does inequality by itself facilitate or detract from economic growth, and does it amplify or diminish policy effectiveness?
This book provides a forum for economists to examine the theoretical, empirical, and policy issues involved in the relationship between growth and inequality. The aim is to develop a framework for determining the role of public policy in enhancing both growth and equality. The diverse range of topics, examined in both developed and developing countries, includes natural resources, taxation, fertility, redistribution, technological change, transition, labor markets, and education. A theme common to all the essays is the importance of education in reducing inequality and increasing growth.
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Intellectual Property, Competition and Growth (Central Issues in Contemporary Economic Theory and Policy)
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 0230500633
Release Date: 2007-03-20 |
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The multiple features of intellectual property rights and industrial competition are explored through the analytically rigorous lens of the frontier of the economics literature. The book covers a broad range of issues ranging from industrial espionage to collective property rights in cultural districts. The analyses are carried out both for advanced countries and in a North-South perspective. An appropriate protection of intellectual property rights plays a crucial role in promoting R&D activities and hence economic growth. The book explores theoretical issues and empirical evidence coming from different countries and sectors.
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The Urban Growth Machine (Suny Series in Urban Public Policy)
David Wilson
Manufacturer: SUNY Press
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Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place
ASIN: 0791442608
Release Date: 2007-08-28 |
Book Description
Harvey Molotch's "city as a growth machine" thesis is one of the most influential approaches to the analysis of urban politics and local economic development in the United States. However, the nature and context of urban politics have changed considerably since the growth machine thesis was first proposed more than twenty years ago, and recent attempts to apply it to settings outside the U.S. have revealed conceptual and empirical limitations.
This book offers a unique critical assessment of the contribution of the growth machine thesis to research in urban political economy. Written from an interdisciplinary and international perspective, it brings together leading urban studies scholars. These contributors explore three organizing themes: urban growth, discourse and ideology; new dimensions of urban politics; and the growth machine in comparative perspective. These themes not only provide the focus for the critical examinations of the growth machine thesis, but also offer exciting new ways of thinking about and researching urban politics and local economic development.
Customer Reviews:
Great Reference Point.......2001-05-04
Urban growth is pervasive. It can be as benign as following the signs to new housing tracks on weekend drives or discovering that old downtown buildings are being reused with trendy lofts. Is this growth simply the result of a free market at work or is it the result of a specific agenda created by a powerful lobby for the purpose of influencing politics? The Jonas and Wilson text explores through a compilation of scholarly essays, the urban growth machine thesis developed by Harvey Molotch over two decades ago.
It is a great reference point for practicioners, scholars, students or individuals interested in reading about one of the field's seminal arguments explaining urban economic development. As a graduate student I found a great reference point in my research. The reference section alone is worth the purchase. It is a great day for the serendipty of research when you can find a compilation of essays, both critical and supportive, of this major theme in the field of urban affairs.
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Nationalizing Mortgage Risk: The Growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Aei Studies on Financial Market Deregulation)
Peter Wallison
Manufacturer: AEI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0844771465 |
Book Description
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have aggressively used their government support to achieve extraordinarily high profitability and domination of the residential mortgage market.
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