by Peter Foster ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2014
Lucid, thoughtful defense of free market competition.
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Philosophical defense of capitalism combined with a psychological critique of its detractors.
Foster is no stranger to contentious economic dispute. A veteran financial journalist, he’s also the author of Self-Serve: How Petrocan Pumped Canadians Dry (1992), which won Canada’s National Business Book Award. In his latest effort, he ambitiously attempts a rehabilitation of capitalism, both as a motor of prosperity and as a moral account of human relations. While the book begins polemically, criticizing the populism of President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, it is far more historically and philosophically oriented than centered on contemporary political debate. Foster aims to revive the spirit of Adam Smith, who, in the 18th century, defined our understanding of capitalism as a “system of natural liberty.” Astutely, the author fleshes out the basic theoretical underpinnings of capitalism, often oversimplified in public discourse, and explains the intended meaning of the notorious “invisible hand” of market decision-making. Foster also tries to explain the motivational psychology behind the vehement resistance to capitalism despite its global success as well as the persistence of those who, following the likes of John Maynard Keynes, remain devoted to the view that government intervention is the primary stimulant of economic growth. Sometimes his accounts of those opposing capitalism can seem reductive, belying the book’s overall rigor: “Income and wealth gaps are inevitably the object of envy, a moral sentiment that evolved to express disapproval of, and motivate action against, those thought to have more than their ‘fair share.’ From this perspective,” he says, “envy of those who grow wealthy in relatively free capitalist societies through their success in serving others amounts to a cognitive ‘error.’ ” Overall, though, the book is admirably free of ax-grinding political allegiances; it isn’t often such an unabashed endorsement of free markets also includes reservations about Ayn Rand.
Lucid, thoughtful defense of free market competition.Pub Date: April 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0992127602
Page Count: 503
Publisher: Pleasaunce Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014
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
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by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019
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
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