| Daniel Ben-Ami. The Policy Press, 2010, xiii + 282 pages, £18.99.
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| It is not entirely surprising that with so much of the currently
punch-drunk world mesmerised by the fluctuating prospects for growth, a
flow of new, explanatory as well as polemical, books spawned by a
prevailing gloom is speeding off the presses. |
| The author of this one reviews the rise of growth-scepticism, whose
protagonists attract his opprobrium. He describes the global pressure
for ‘sustainable development’, justified as for the sake of the
environment, and then sets out the counter-arguments, advocating the
importance of economic growth. The decline of manufacturing is
recognised in the book, as is the corresponding growth in services; as
well as the contribution to human lives of significant extensions in
life expectancy and sharp declines in infant mortality. In support of
his case, he takes on many respected economists through the ages and
exponents of other disciplines such as sociologists who advocate the
pursuit of happiness instead of growth, globally not just in developed
countries. |
| This is an attractively readable, succinct and closely-argued
optimistic exposition. Early on he explains the book’s tongue-in-cheek
title: ‘Ferraris’ is meant to be symbolic rather than literal; he is not
suggesting that everyone would necessarily choose that particular brand
of high performance car but rather that all humanity should have access
to all that is best in the world. Half-way through the book there is an
interesting list of inventions, starting with the battery in 1800 and
ending with stem cells in 2009, and including the motor car and the Ford
model T (but not the Ferrari), that changed the world. The list
illustrates how unpredictable and erratic futurology can be. Improved
productivity has also been beneficial, though its measurement is easier
in production than in service industries. |
| An extensive bibliography of 32 pages with publication dates ranging
from 1620 via 1728 to 2009 and many years intermediately, considerably
improves the value of this book for contemporary readers seeking further
enlightenment. The book is peppered with telling statistics throughout,
which the author uses to attack environmentalists, notably the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is currently much
criticised. |
| It may seem strange in reviewing one book to combine it with
praising a rival, but we live in strange times. But it is worth also
considering a perhaps complementary, witty, debunking book, 23 Things
they don’t tell you about capitalism, by economist Ha-Joon Chang. Chang
assaults one of the central orthodoxies of his profession by commenting
that free-market policies rarely make poor countries richer. He suggests
that the washing machine changed the world more than the Internet has;
that financial markets need to become less, not more efficient; and
(perhaps most shocking to economist colleagues) that good economic
policy does not require good economists. Thought-provokingly, capitalism
is described as “the worst economic system except for all the others,”
but he expresses confidence that it can be reformed to prevent crises
like the one we have just experienced recurring, for example by banning
complex financial instruments unless they can be unambiguously shown to
benefit society in the long run – a tall order perhaps. After all, as
John Gray suggested in a review, there is not just one form of
capitalism and they are competitors. They are not just about creating
wealth, but power too. |
| Ulric Spencer |
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