Colin Read

The Rise and Fall of an Economic Empire

With Lessons for Aspiring Economies

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

While many authors have documented empires maintained through military strength, power derived solely from economic might is a more modern phenomenon. These different sources of power share one important characteristic, though. There is an inevitability to the decline of empires that rest on either foundation. There are also lessons to learn from every empire.
Just as earlier empires based on military or colonial power experienced spectacular ascendancies and subsequent declines, modern economic empires are no less fragile. The overextension, overconfidence, and underinvestment that lead to the demise of military or colonial empires have their analogies in economic empires. An economic superpower grows based on its strengths, is fueled by its successes, but declines as its values are transformed and economic arrogance dilutes its hegemonic powers.
Colin Read describes the various factors that give rise to economic empires, and documents how these same forces eventually lead to their downfall. By analyzing the successes of each factor and the reasons why each falters, he offers insights into ways to sustain economic relevancy. He also offers lessons to aspiring economies so that they may best leverage and manage their growth and avoid the problems that beset less carefully designed economies.
In doing so, Read gives us an interesting and provocative glimpse into the current global dynamic in which the United States, the world's first true economic empire, struggles to maintain its global economic supremacy in the face of a rapidly growing China that shall soon challenge it as the world's largest economy.
Colin Read shows that the very strengths that allow new global superpowers to dominate through economic rather than military prowess eventually give way to forces that create their own economic demise

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan / Palgrave Macmillan UK / Springer Palgrave Macmillan
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 978-0-230-27370-2
• 2010
• Seitenzahl: 294
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. September 2010
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 163mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 610g
• ISBN-13: 9780230273702
• ISBN-10: 023027370X
• Artikelnr.: 29984947

Autorenporträt

COLIN READ is a columnist and the author of a number of books for the academic and popular press on economic issues. He is a Professor of Economics and Finance at the State University of New York, USA.  He has worked in Indonesia for the Harvard Institute for International Development, and at the Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Housing Studies. This is his fourth English language book. His previous titles include: Global Financial Meltdown - How We Can Avoid the Next Economic Crisis; The Fear Factor - What Happens When Fear Grips Wall Street and co-edited and co-authored The International Taxation Handbook.   

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction PART I: FROM 10,000 B.C. TO 1776 - THE DISCOVERY OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE An Economic Prehistory to Economic Emperors Barter, Economic Emperors, and the Decentralized Marketplace Specialization and Surpluses The First Industrial Revolution Colonialism Puts Sugar in Our Tea PART II: A SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION A Declaration of Economic Independence An Economic Bill of Rights Dominance Through Economics Private Solutions to Public Problems PART III: THE NEW MERCANTILISTS The Consumer as King A New Colonialism Dependency Economics PART IV: ASPIRING NATIONS Transfer of Technology Economic Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery Heckscher, Ohlin, and Two Billion Hungry and Willing to Work for Change PART V: GROWING PAINS Complex Economic Systems Herding Cats and Chaos Theory Too Big to Fail Private Property Gives Way to the Public Good The Winner's Curse PART VI: A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER The Politics of a Consumption Economy Gradual economic Marginalization A New Economic Order Convergence PART VII: FROM WHERE HAVE WE COME, AND WHERE WILL WE GO? The Dance of Demographics Steady State and Sustainability Economic Darwinism and Dinosaurs Prescriptions for Relevance Conclusions

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Introduction PART I: FROM 10,000 B.C. TO 1776 – THE DISCOVERY OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE An Economic Prehistory to Economic Emperors Barter, Economic Emperors, and the Decentralized Marketplace Specialization and Surpluses The First Industrial Revolution Colonialism Puts Sugar in Our Tea PART II: A SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION A Declaration of Economic Independence An Economic Bill of Rights Dominance Through Economics Private Solutions to Public Problems PART III: THE NEW MERCANTILISTS The Consumer as King A New Colonialism Dependency Economics PART IV: ASPIRING NATIONS Transfer of Technology Economic Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery Heckscher, Ohlin, and Two Billion Hungry and Willing to Work for Change PART V: GROWING PAINS Complex Economic Systems Herding Cats and Chaos Theory Too Big to Fail Private Property Gives Way to the Public Good The Winner's Curse PART VI: A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER The Politics of a Consumption Economy Gradual economic Marginalization A New Economic Order Convergence PART VII: FROM WHERE HAVE WE COME, AND WHERE WILL WE GO? The Dance of Demographics Steady State and Sustainability Economic Darwinism and Dinosaurs Prescriptions for Relevance Conclusions