Frivolous utopian schemes that provide little in the way of practical remedies or moral challenges to a complex problem.
Czech, a conservation biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, pleads for an end to the American gospel of economic growth—which, he claims, is now defiling our quality of life and endangering the futures of our grandchildren.
Czech contends that neoclassical economics (the currently dominant school) has misinterpreted its own pioneers—Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo—by claiming that there are no limits to growth. While this may have seemed true in the 19th century (an era of abundant natural resources and vigorous westward expansion), it is contrary to common sense in our age of climatic change, species exterminations, and periodic regional droughts. Yet economists, the media, and politicians—notably Jack Kemp (who called for doubling the nation’s economy a few years ago)—continue to expound the notion that vigorous economic growth is good. In place of neoclassical economics, Czech calls for ecological economics—a growing body of thought that proposes physical and biological limits to economic growth. Czech is excellent at pointing out anomalies arising from neoclassical thought (such as the fact that cleanup costs for the Exxon Valdez disaster added to the gross national product), but he undermines his presentation by mentioning facts that contradict his assertions (e.g., after noting that conspicuous consumption is not a sign of creativity, he cites singers Elton John and Merle Haggard as particularly glaring examples of the “liquidating lifestyle”). Readers may also raise eyebrows when he praises The Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich, while neglecting to point out how most of Ehrlich’s dire forecasts (such as his claim, made three decades ago, that the world’s oceans would be dead by 1979) have come to nought. Czech also oversteps the bounds of both reason and common sense when he discusses limiting the number of children a couple can have and urges that men and women spurn romantic suitors who are the most conspicuous consumers.
Frivolous utopian schemes that provide little in the way of practical remedies or moral challenges to a complex problem.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2000
ISBN: 0-520-22508-2
Page Count: 206
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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