How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and Why Poor Countries Stay PoorPublicAffairs, 2019 M10 1 - 432 pages A maverick economist explains how protectionism makes nations rich, free trade keeps them poor---and how rich countries make sure to keep it that way. Throughout history, some combination of government intervention, protectionism, and strategic investment has driven successful development everywhere from Renaissance Italy to the modern Far East. Yet despite the demonstrable success of this approach, development economists largely ignore it and insist instead on the importance of free trade. Somehow, the thing that made rich nations rich supposedly won't work on poor countries anymore. Leading heterodox economist Erik Reinert's invigorating history of economic development shows how Western economies were founded on protectionism and state activism and only later promoted free trade, when it worked to their advantage. In the tug-of-war between the gospel of government intervention and free-market purists, the issue is not that one is more correct, but that the winning nation tends to favor whatever benefits them most. As Western countries begin to sense that the rules of the game they set were rigged, Reinert's classic book gains new urgency. His unique and edifying approach to the history of economic development is critical reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and what to do next, especially now that we aren't so sure we'll be the winners anymore. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 87
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... Industrial wages set the wages for the rest of the economy: purchasing power of a median salary in the farming sector compared to the industrial sector in ten countries, 1928–36 8 Learning curve of best-practice productivity in medium ...
... Industrial wages set the wages for the rest of the economy: purchasing power of a median salary in the farming sector compared to the industrial sector in ten countries, 1928–36 8 Learning curve of best-practice productivity in medium ...
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... industry and new technology, e.g., producing a space race.16 Up until and including the gradual integration of Spain into what was then called the European Economic Community during the 1980s, European policy was extremely focused on ...
... industry and new technology, e.g., producing a space race.16 Up until and including the gradual integration of Spain into what was then called the European Economic Community during the 1980s, European policy was extremely focused on ...
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... industrial activities with the characteristics of the right side of the graph. The loss of high-growth/growing-employment industries on the left side of the graph is – from Greece to Mexico – a main reason for migration. Cold War ...
... industrial activities with the characteristics of the right side of the graph. The loss of high-growth/growing-employment industries on the left side of the graph is – from Greece to Mexico – a main reason for migration. Cold War ...
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... industry yet could protect it, countries that had a poor climate could protect their agriculture. Pragmatism – as opposed to ideology – ruled. In my own country, Norway, in the early twentieth century, a very conservative economist who ...
... industry yet could protect it, countries that had a poor climate could protect their agriculture. Pragmatism – as opposed to ideology – ruled. In my own country, Norway, in the early twentieth century, a very conservative economist who ...
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... industrial policy that followed, the country would have been better prepared for the present situation. Recognizably worrying trends recurring Apart from free trade waning – which at this point in time seems natural – there are worrying ...
... industrial policy that followed, the country would have been better prepared for the present situation. Recognizably worrying trends recurring Apart from free trade waning – which at this point in time seems natural – there are worrying ...
Contents
Against | |
How the Poor Get Even Poorer | |
Red Herrings at the End of History | |
Why the Millennium Goals are a Bad Idea | |
Get the economic activities right or the Lost Art of Creating | |
David Ricardos Theory of Comparative Advantage | |
Frank Grahams Theory of Uneven Development | |
Philipp von Hörnigks Nine Points on How to Emulate the Rich | |
About the Author | |
Notes | |
Other editions - View all
How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor Erik S. Reinert No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith agriculture argued assumptions capital Carlota Perez century colonies comparative advantage core costs created David Ricardo deindustrialization diminishing returns dynamic economic activities economic development economic growth economic policy economic structure economic theory economists emulation England English Erik Reinert Europe European export factors free trade Friedrich List globalization herders history of economic human imperfect competition important income increasing returns activities industrial policy industrial sector innovations international trade London manufacturing industry manufacturing sector Marshall Plan mechanisms Mongolia Morgenthau Plan neo-classical neo-classical economics Norway paradigm Peru political poor countries poverty problems productivity explosions protection qualitative raw materials real wages Ricardian rich countries Saami Schumpeter Schumpeterian social society Standard Canon standard economics standard textbook economics Starting point strategy synergies tariffs technological change tend Third World today’s trade theory type of economic understanding United Washington Consensus Washington institutions wealth welfare World Bank