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The "commanding heights," according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin and international business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, are those dominant enterprises and industries that form the high economic ground in nations around the globe. In their analysis of the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World, they examine "the individuals, the ideas, the conflicts, and the turning points" that are responsible. And by considering events such as the ongoing Asian monetary crisis, they suggest what the ultimate interconnection of financial markets might mean in the future.
Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize joins a leading expert on the global market place to present an incisive overview of the risks and opportunities that are emerging as the balance of economic power shifts around the world between government and markets.
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The Commanding Heights is about the most powerful political and economic force in the world today -- the epic struggle between government and the marketplace that has, over the last twenty years, turned the world upside down and dramatically transformed our lives. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize joins with a leading expert on the new marketplace to explain the revolution in ideas that is reshaping the modern world. Written with the same sweeping narrative power that made The Prize an enormous success, The Commanding Heights provides the historical perspective, the global vision, and the insight to help us understand the tumult of the past half century. Trillions of dollars in assets and fundamental political power are changing hands as free markets wrest control from government of the "commanding heights" -- the dominant businesses and industries of the world economy. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw demonstrate that words like "privatization" and "deregulation" are inadequate to describe the enormous upheaval that is unfolding before our eyes. Along with the creation of vast new wealth, the map of the global economy is being redrawn. Indeed, the very structure of society is changing. New markets and new opportunities have brought great new risks as well. How has all this come about? Who are the major figures behind it? How does it affect our lives? The collapse of the Soviet Union, the awesome rise of China, the awakening of India, economic revival in Latin America, the march toward the European Union -- all are a part of this political and economic revolution. Fiscal realities and financial markets are relentlessly propelling deregulation; achieving a new balance between government and marketplace will be the major political challenge in the coming years. Looking back, the authors describe how the old balance was overturned, and by whom. Looking forward, they explore these questions: Will the new balance prevail?
Customer Reviews:
Capitalism won. Socialism lost........2007-08-13
That's the central message of this book. But to know why it happened, how it happened, and the geographic extent of this outcome, you need to read this fascinating book.
Now if we can just get our own federal government to realize this . . .
Also read what could be a good companion book: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
Good Primer But Authors Show Shallow Understanding.......2007-06-19
This book offers a good historical review of the struggle between free market and government controlled, socialist economies, the ideas behind the struggle, the main characters and the intellectuals who shaped the struggle.
Nevertheless, the book makes it look like market controlled economies have achieved the ultimate triumph when the case is far from that. The so called 'capitalist' economies of today are more controlled by government that they ever were and they have been rather re-regulated than deregulated.
The book would make a good reading for those interested in history but I wouldn't subscribe too much to its premise that Capitalism has triumphed.
Not critical enough; offers one perspective and does not back it up.......2006-11-18
This book was rather fun to read but I am not convinced that the authors have as deep an understanding of the phenomena they are writing about as they would like the readers to believe. The book reads like a narrative, full of assertions that are not backed by rigorous analysis of hard evidence. The authors do not critically explore causal relationships, nor do they talk about research that has done so. They present only one particular perspective on the unfolding of events, and they do not defend this perspective against potential criticism.
My experience with economics has always reinforced the idea that causality can be difficult to establish, and can often operate in unexpected ways. An economist must proceed skeptically, being careful to explore alternative explanations and being prepared to defend assertions with theory and data. The authors do not seem to share this view, taking instead a more naive approach.
Maybe I was expecting too much; after all this book is meant to be accessible to non-economists. However, making a book more accessible does not necessitate a lack of rigour or the absence of critical thought; the authors could have removed some of the redundancy in the book (their writing is far from concise!) and replaced it with explorations of alternative perspectives. The book would be greatly enriched by adding more discussion of research that supports (or opposes) their views.
Very Good Review of 20th century political economy.......2006-11-07
This is as painless an education on world 20th century political economy as possible. It is very interesting, providing a lot of good intellectual background to the major events and excellent descriptions of the events themselves. The book places excessive emphasis on Hayek, who was an important figure representing a strong "pro-market" voice in economics, but probably less important than Friedman and no more important than several others. The "conflict" bewteen Hayek and Keynes is somewhat overstated. However, this is an excellent book and the corresponding DVD is also very good.
an excellent report of the world economy.......2006-02-13
Public sector economy or market economy, this is the epic quest of the twentieth century. In a time of unemployment and global markets, everyone is looking for an answer to get growth and employment high. Daniel Yergin examines the twentieth century under the aspects of political and economic point of views.
He begins with the New Deal; in witch Roosevelt tried to regulate the liberal free market. The Anti-Trust- Rules were the first step in a modern regulated market. A neoliberal market constitution was introduced by the German economists. Walter Eucken, Mueller-Armack and Roepke were the person who introduced the „Ordoliberalismus"(Freiburg school of economists) into the economic policy. Yergin and Stanislaw discussed the transformation of the socialist states from a socialist market condition into a free market, after the Soviet Union broke down. These new economies of the Warsaw Pact states troubled with the release into the capitalist world. They showed how these transformation works, especially in Poland. Against this transformation they show how the Old Europe had problems with the expansion of the market into the east. In Western Europe the unemployment rate rose to an unknown high and the social problems of the welfare system rose too.
Yergin and Stanislaw explained the economic policy of Margaret Thatcher and the third way of Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder.
Beyond this political point of views Yergin and Stanislaw explains the theoretical background of the modern economics. The Chicago school by Milton Friedman, Alfred Kahn economic of regulation and Keynesianism is discussed.
The future lies in the Asian markets and the growing Indian market. They explain the population problems of these countries and how the World Bank gets further with it.
I think it is an excellent book for the economist. It shows how the theoretical background is applied. There are good examples to explain it to the reader who are not familiar with the economic thinking.
Book Description
The Transformation of Wall Street offers an in-depth look at the history of the SEC's origins, accomplishments, and failings since its creation in 1934. Each chapter in the book takes historical look at the tenure of the various SEC chairmen. The first edition, published in 1977, covered the SEC through the Nixon-Ford presidential administration. A revised edition was published in 1995, updating the book through 1992. Now, the third edition continues the history until 2001, the end of Arthur Levitt's Chairmanship, with a treatment of auditing issues through the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (July 2002). In this revised edition, author Joel Seligman draws on unpublished SEC files and extensive personal interviews to provide a comprehensive examination of the origins, accomplishments, and failings of the SEC and its leaders, from the creation of the SEC in 1934 to the present The new material, among other things, will address: • The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which has had a significant impact on private securities litigation after its passage in 1995; • The structure of the securities markets (which are in an important transition because of Electronic Communications Networks; decimalization; international competition; and the continuing evolution to greater institutionalization of our markets as well as the growth of several new products, most recently security futures products); • Municipal securities markets (which were largely ignored before the recently resigned Arthur Levitt); • Several issues with respect to the accounting profession (most notably auditor independence and the independence of accounting standard-setting boards). In addition, the work will focus on Chairman Levitt, whom the author believes was one of the most accomplished of the post World War II chairs, and had the challenge of being a Chair appointed by a Democratic party president during a period when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress as well as a period of extraordinary ferment in the securities market.
This book offers a rare perspective into the work of corporate finance and capital markets through the eyes of one of the most respected and prominent members. His unique involvement with Louis Loss and the history, theories and legislation and regulations of this complex area offers the reader great insight.
Book Description
An acclaimed historian offers a radical new history of the links between politics and economics, one that draws unsettling conclusions about the future of both capitalism and democracy Does money make the world go round, as Cabaret's Master of Ceremonies sang to us? In The Cash Nexus, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson offers a radical and surprising answer-No. Conventional wisdom has long claimed that economic change is the prime mover of political change, whether in the age of industry or the Internet. In our own time Paul Kennedy has claimed that economics provided the key to international power, while Francis Fukuyama and others have argued that capitalism doomed socialism and ensured the victory of democracy. Small wonder politicians are obsessed with the economy: the Clinton campaign motto-"It's the economy stupid"-sums up a central tenet of modern life. But is it the economy? Ferguson thinks it is high time we re-examined the link-the "nexus," to use Thomas Carlyle's term-between economics and politics, in the aftermath not only of the failure of socialism but also of the apparent triumph of American-style capitalism. His central argument is that the conflicting impulses of sex, violence, and power are together more powerful than money. In particular, political events and institutions have often dominated economic development. A bold synthesis of political history and modern economic theory, The Cash Nexus will transform the landscape of modern history and draw challenging and unsettling conclusions about the prospects of both capitalism and democracy.
Customer Reviews:
War as Investment.......2007-05-18
This book is a fascinating read for everyone who is interested in the application of economic theory to world history. Reviewing and rejecting economic determinist theories like marxism, the political business cycle and imperial overstretch, Ferguson advances his own argument. It is war that brought us modern finance, bureaucracy and democracy. The outcome of war cannot be predicted with accuracy, but the nation that can finance it at least costs has a comparative advantage. Ferguson skillfully applies modern expectations theory to his historical account. He argues that military hegemony can spread good institutions around the globe as happened under British rule. You can disagree with his plea for benevolent imperialism in an age in which nations want to determine their own future. Moreover, it is questionable whether war `pays', since the costs of war exceeded revenues in most cases as Ferguson points out. But, this did not stop nations and groups from waging war.
Niall Ferguson, in his element.......2007-01-24
I originally picked up this book to see how Ferguson's economic views relate to his views of imperialism (Colossus, and Empire). What I discovered was little different than I expected; that the burden of warfare and imperialism on national treasuries in Europe actually HELPED to develop today's financial systems. This financial system (i.e. the bond market) gave these powers, such as Britain, the ability to extend their power, resulting in world supremacy. In putting forth this theory, he seems to overlook, or at least withhold, alternative ways that the financial sector developed.
With viewpoints and summaries aside, the book was a laborious read. It does, of course, cater to the reader interested in economics, but it is hardly a popular read that the average layperson would want to pick up. Yet while his economic theories - and history - are masked in complicated research and developed theories, the suggested agenda is less objective: it sends the message that overstretch is a myth, that warfare is not totally negative, and that world supremacy depends on a flexible financial apparatus. These implications, certainly, are open to debate, and as the opener to this angle of the debate, it is valuable.
a mixed book.......2006-08-21
Niall Ferguson is a professor of political and financial history who has written other well-received, albeit controversial, books. My feeling after reading this book was rather mixed.
[..]
This, I think, is where things become more complicated than the book suggests. Did England found the Bank of England and establish the other institutions that allowed the United Kingdom to become the global hegemon in order to become a global hegemon? Or did Parliament and the Bank of England etc. arise to meet other needs, and prove far more useful than originally foreseen? I strongly believe the latter to be true: Britain, as an island nation, had no neighbors, and was an (after 1066) invasion-proof distance from France. These factors almost certainly allowed the United Kingdom to generate a merchant class far more influential than its counterparts on the continent, engage in more maritime trade, and devote less to military spending than did land-locked nations that faced war at any time. In time, this merchant class, and the practice of dividing risks and participating in syndicates to conduct foreign trade almost certainly led to the culture and institutions that led to the Bank of England. Of course, if the Bank of England and the like did not arise as much from conscious policy decisions as from circumstances, it would seem more expedient to focus on the circumstances that led to the BofE and Britain's broad and deep credit markets, rather than on arcane policy decisions.
The rest of the book is an exhaustively documented look at the relationship between the health of various states and various financial indicators, such as debt, the presence of the gold standard, unemployment and the like. Some of the ideas may be provocative to some, but are very well-founded, and well worth reading, others less so. They are, however, not presented in a focused manner, and many of them are more advanced as "working hypotheses" than exhaustively proven. I believe that case studies examining multiple variables would have been more informative than attempts to reduce complex situations to a single variable.
Somewhat jarring is that some of the Ferguson's facts are wrong: in Chapter 12 he suggests that Switzerland succumbed to the Nazi tide, three pages later we learn that the opposite happened. To emphasize the importance of bullion he goes into the details of the movie based on Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger," but gets them wrong: the idea was not to sneak off with Fort Knox's gold - a logistical impossibility - but rather to render it radioactive and hence untradeable. At least one somewhat complicated book that Ferguson endorses is so flawed that its own author has repudiated it; this shouldn't happen in a polemic whose credibility is based on the author's ability to get his facts straight.
To sum up, parts of this book are quite interesting and stimulating, other parts less so. Having read this book, I personally would not choose to read it again.
Understretch or Overstretch?.......2006-05-08
Niall Ferguson has written an excellent book from a generally objective point of view full of intriguing arguments backed up by extensive statistical analysis. The part that seems to have received the most attention is his discussion of great power "overstretch" and it is the part that also caught my attention especially since I read it with the benefit of hindsight.
He wrote this book in the year 2000, just before 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. In the last chapter of his book he argues that great powers do not fail because they are overstretched but rather because they are overly reluctant to wield their enormous power.
He says that "there is no economic argument against" a policy to establish democratic institutions where they are lacking even if "by military force" since it would not be "prohibitively costly." In particular, he mentions the desirablity to violently overthrow Saddam Hussein using the war against Germany and Japan and our subsequent successful imposition of democratic institutions on these two countries as examples in support of his thesis.
His final sentence is this: "Perhaps that is the greatest disappointment facing the world in the twenty-first century: that the leaders of the one state with the economic resouces to make the world a better place lack the guts to do it." Meaning the use of military intervention where needed.
Judging from what happened after Ferguson's book was published, someone in the future Bush administration must have read it.
When we invaded Iraq, we showed the world that we have the guts but the results have been morally and economically dismal. The invasion has certainly been and continues to be very costly and we seem to be in cul-de-sac from which there is no good way out. And Iraq is not the world. It was just one country among many in dire need of radical transformation.
One point Ferguson seems to have missed is that all countries are not like Germany and Japan.
Are our problems in Iraq because the idea of an invasion was good but the execution was incompetent; or was it a bad idea to begin with; or is it actually going well? Is this feeling of "overstretch" just an illusion?
I, for one, would certainly like to hear what the author has to say now that six years have passed.
Highly Recommended!.......2005-04-12
It would be a mistake to emphasize the word "cash" in this book's ambivalent title without giving equal weight to the word that follows, "nexus." A nexus is the bond between two disparate things and, indeed, this is a book about the intersection of power and money. Its thesis, to the frustration of economic determinists everywhere, is that while money matters, other things matter more, at least when it comes to the cultural chessboard of international politics. One might quibble that author Niall Ferguson underemphasizes the extent to which competition for economically vital scarce resources leads to war. The other caveat is that he refers to the U.S.'s reluctance to go to war with a pre-Iraq state of mind. Yet, the author is an accomplished historian who capably supports his arguments. He manages overall to portray economic history in all its rich nuance, detail and complexity. His premise that war, not economics or politics, is the great engine that has driven the evolution of the modern welfare state is as enlightening as it is chilling. We highly recommend this book to the lay reader with a developed interest in history, politics and, especially, economics. However, a warning is in order: Those who only read the headlines may find this just a little too deep.
Average customer rating:
- Puts some respect into a four-letter word
- The dean of spin reveals the secrets
- A must read to prepare to successfully deal with a crisis.
- Excellent book!
- A must read to prepare you to deal with crisis management.
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Spin : How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage
Michael S. Sitrick , and
Allan Mayer
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing
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WORDS THAT WORK: IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT'S WHAT PEOPLE HEAR
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ASIN: 0895264110 |
Book Description
Mike Wallace calls. What do you do? Put him on hold and call Michael Sitrick.
Customer Reviews:
Puts some respect into a four-letter word.......2001-12-23
As the title suggests, Michael Sitrick is unabashed by the four-letter word that even most public relations professionals wince when hearing: Spin. With all of its negative implications, thanks to the media and entertainment industries who disdain the thought that they can be used to help attain an organization's objectives, Sitrick shows how he built a career and his own business by knowing how to use these industries to his advantage. What's more, he demystifies the process with nine basic rules that have guided his own success. These rules, however, are certainly not trade secrets and are in fact second nature (or at least should be) to any truly successful PR person who has dealt with crisis communication. Overall, the book is very entertaining and filled with many examples of how Sitrick has made a name for himself. For the un-indoctrinated into the world of spin, he makes it clear that this is not about misleading people or falsely manipulating the media, but rather about ensuring the perspective you want is effectively presented to the media and, thereby, considered by the public when forming opinions. For those who work in the field of PR, it reinforces concepts that every professional should have acquired, which isn't to say every professional is capable (or willing) of applying them. In fact, from my own experience, that person is extremely rare and difficult to groom within an organization, since they are often blinded by their own organizational culture and hierarchy from finding the root of the problem or becoming the driving force to overcome a crisis. This is the real beauty of Sitrick's book, since he tells you enough of how he goes about fixing problems to make you realize that you need that kind of PR focus as well during a crisis, but if you want it done right you're going to need someone with his expertise. The consummate PR professional, his book will leave you wondering how you could ever get along without him and his company.
The dean of spin reveals the secrets.......1998-08-29
Mike Sitrick's "SPIN" reveals the secrets and demonstrates that the media is not something to be "managed," as in the days of JFK. The author's examples are fascinating and provide ample proof to all of Corporate America that public relations is not what they might think it is. It's important to note that to handle a crisis in today's glare of intense media takes planning far in advance of that moment, as Sitrick points out so well. The examples he offers are obviously only the few he can talk about as his career indicates he's handled hundreds of confidential crises. This is an inside look at the work of an expert in a zone of the press people don't even know exists. After you read it you will ask yourself, "How many news stories influenced by experts?" Certainly, as Sitrick's book points out, the most famous bankruptcy in the history of this country, the Orange County Bankruptcy, was effected by the task force of Sitrick's company. There is no higher level of the media than that of "60 Minutes" and its unique primetime domain. This book is essential to a 90's understanding of the press and how it effects everyone. If you're in business, you should read it and then you should read it again. If you're not, read it twice.
A must read to prepare to successfully deal with a crisis........1998-08-06
Sitrick's book is a must read to prepare you to successfully deal with a crisis. Sitrick's book is a common-sense guide to navigating what crisis managers know to be a tricky, hazardous road. In the real world of business, where mistakes impact the survival of companies, reputations and livelihoods, Sirick's methods are dead-on. I found the book entertaining, educational and highly intriguing. Gaining a through understanding of the concepts and approaches presented in Sitrick's book is invaluable. As CEO, I have successfully lead turnarounds of several companies and during a period of crisis being prepared with a well thought out and executable crisis management plan may be the difference between success and failure. My experience has taught me that many people claim to be crisis managers but Mike is the proven master. I strongly recommend the book, its an investment that may provide you and your company with the tools to survive a crisis.
Excellent book!.......1998-08-01
I read Sitrick's book, as well as Greg W.'s review. Either he is talking about a different book, or this is the worst case of petty jealousy that I have ever seen. The book is great, the cases some of the biggest news stories of the decde, and the thinking and strategy are phenomenal.
A must read to prepare you to deal with crisis management........1998-08-01
To prepare you to properly manage crises or sensitive situations, this book is a must read. Sitrick's book is a common-sense guide to navigating what crisis managers know to be a tricky, hazardous road. In the real world of business, where mistakes impact the survival of companies, reputations and livelihoods, Sitricks methods are dead-on. In summary, I found the book entertaining and highly intriguing. In reading greg.w@hug.co.nz from New Zealand's review of "Spin," it is clear that his view of public relations is different than mine. Gaining a thorough understanding of the concepts and approaches presented in Sitricks book is invaluable. As CEO I have successfully lead turnarounds of serveral companies, during a period of crisis being prepared with an executable crisis management plan may be the difference between success and failure. Many people claim to be crisis managers but I am not aware of any who are in Mike's league. I strongly recommend the ! book.
Book Description
In this provocative, important study, Dali L. Yang examines a wide range of governance reforms in the People’s Republic of China, including administrative rationalization, divestiture of businesses operated by the military, and the building of anticorruption mechanisms. The author also analyzes how China’s leaders have reformed existing institutions and constructed new ones to cope with unruly markets, curb corrupt practices, and bring about a regulated economic order.
Though still a work in progress, Yang arugues, taken together these reforms have improved the institutional environment for economic development and altered the landscape for China’s ongoing struggle against rampant corruption. These measures are also likely to have important implications for the exercise of governmental authority and for China’s future political development. As China’s role on the world stage expands, the way the State conducts itself assumes increasing importance not just for those concerned about the welfare of the Chinese people but also for those interested in China’s role in regional and world affairs.
Book Description
Since its origins in the muddy fields of flying machines, the airport has arguably become one of the defining institutions of modern life. In Naked Airport, critic Alastair Gordon ranges from global geopolitics to action movies to the daily commute, showing how airports have changed our sense of time, distance, style, and even the way cities are built and business is done. Gordon introduces the people who shaped this place of sudden transition: pilots like Charles Lindberg, architects like Eero Saarinen, politicians like Fiorello La Guardia, and Hitler, who built Berlin's Tempelhof as a showcase for Fascist power. He describes the airport's futuristic contributions, such as credit cards, in the form of fly-now-pay-later schemes, and he charts its shift in popular perception, from glamorous to infuriating. Finally, he analyzes the airport's function in war and peace-its gatekeeper role controlling immigration, its appeal to revolutionaries since the hijackings of the 1960s, and its new frontline position in the struggle against terror. Compelling and accessible, Naked Airport is an original history of a long-neglected yet central creation of modern reality and imagination.
Customer Reviews:
Portal to somewhere else.......2005-05-29
In its early years, air travel was a thrill for the rich. Today, it is boring, necessary and commonplace. Through well-written stories and narrative history, this easy read gives a history of air travel from the perspective of the architectural structures that support it. As our understanding of air travel has changed, airport architecture has changed as well. There is now more glass and more security, painfully long passageways, more roadway than runway and, of course, acres of parking. One thing has not changed: the airport has always been a portal to somewhere else. Airports are the waiting rooms of adventure and freedom. Naked Airport gives insight into the challenge of making these waiting rooms less purgatorial.
I share the opinion of the other reviewer who says that the last part of the book is not as strong as the first. For example, there is no discussion of important recent developments such e-ticket kiosks and wireless networks. Even with this shortcoming, I still recommend this one.
Naked Airport - Good Book.......2005-04-09
As an Architect, I found Mr. Gordon's book to be a very accessible read. This is not a coffee table book with glossy photographs and difficult to comprehend architectural theory. Instead he gives a very clear overview of the development of the airport building type, much like The Architecture of Diplomacy by Jane Loeffler does. He uses simple and tasteful photographs and graphics pared with a well written history. I would give this book a high mark and recommend it for both architects and non-architect. Thank you, Alastair Gordon for a nicely written book.
Gregory Knoop
Oudens + Knoop Architects
Airport Reverie.......2005-03-16
Alastair Gordon is at his best describing airport construction from the mid-1930s WPA era through the early 1960s. At one point, in fact, he says, "It would be nice to imagine a brief period, a golden moment, somewhere between say 1958 and 1963 ... when advanced technology and American-style marketing produced a perfect, jet-setting age of travel." Instead of devoting energy to a new preservationist movement for airports built during that period (for example, Saarinen's TWA terminal at JFK), Gordon bathes in reverie from this point of the book all the way to the end.
We are doomed to anonymous, repetitive styles in airports, he says, and promptly contradicts this assertion with descriptions of attempts to humanize airports constructed or refitted within the past five years. I can understand him being in love with airports of the late 50s and early 60s, since I am too. But this should not preclude his being fair with the newest efforts to make airports wonderful today. And some of these efforts are really impressive.
Be fair, Alastair! We keep flying; new passenger planes are more comfortable and more efficient (like the 777). Airports are improving, too. Don't lose your sense of wonder and leave your readers dehydrated...the best is yet to come.
A must for even the most expert traveler.......2005-01-04
Even for the most expert traveler, the Naked Airport will shed light on many facets of airports domestically and abroad. For instance, did you know that there are over 200 old bank safes in the landfill at Newark (EWR)? The history is layed out cronologically, but woven with social, political, economic and business history, such that it is any interesting narrative rather than a dry recitation of facts.
Alastair Gordon has done it again!.......2004-11-09
Through the pages of Naked Airport, Alastair Gordon examines the history of the world's most diverse structures. Going well beyond the architecture, this book explores airports in their historical and cultural context, defining well known edifices by identifying their place in the 20th century timeline.
I really enjoyed this book. Through a vivid and compelling narrative, Gordon manages to transport the reader to key points in time. Imagine attending the dedication of the New York Municipal Airport on October 15, 1939, where three skywriting planes circle overhead spelling out the words "NAME IT LA GUARDIA AIRPORT." The audience bursts into applause. Or picture being one of the first New York passengers in the early 1970s to walk through an electromagnetic gateway, a newly installed anti-terrorist device.
Naked Airport is perhaps the most comprehensive statement on airport architecture, history and culture to date. It is a must-read for history buffs and casual readers alike.
Average customer rating:
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The Economics of the Arts (Modern Revivals in Economics)
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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ASIN: 0751200999 |
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This book considers why institutional forms of modern capitalist economies differ internationally, and proposes a typology of capitalism based on the theory of institutional complementarity. Different economic models are not simply characterized by different institutional forms, but also by particular patterns of interaction between complementary institutions which are the core characteristics of these models. Institutions are not just simply devices which would be chosen by 'social engineers' in order to perform a function as efficiently as possible; they are the outcome of a political economy process. Therefore, institutional change should be envisaged not as a move towards a hypothetical 'one best way', but as a result of socio-political compromises. Based on a theory of institutions and comparative capitalism, the book proposes an analysis of the diversity of modern economies - from America to Korea - and identifies five different models: the market-based Anglo-Saxon model; Asian capitalism; the Continental European model; the social democratic economies; and the Mediterranean model. Each of these types of capitalism is characterized by specific institutional complementarities. The question of the stability of the Continental European model of capitalism has been open since the beginning of the 1990s: inferior macroeconomic performance compared to Anglo-Saxon economies, alleged unsustainability of its welfare systems, too rigid markets, etc. The book examines the institutional transformations that have taken place within Continental European economies and analyses the political project behind the attempts at transforming the Continental model. It argues that Continental European economies will most likely stay very different from the market-based economies, and caat political strategies promoting institutional change aiming at convergence with the Anglo-Saxon model are bound to meet considerable opposition.
Average customer rating:
- Useful to understanding the story...
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Jordan Since 1989: A Study in Political Economy (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)
Warwick Knowles
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ASIN: 1850436339
Release Date: 2005-04-21 |
Book Description
This is the first major work in political economy to study the impact of the 1989 IMF intervention and the changes that it has wrought upon the Jordanian economy. Knowles argues that the blurring of boundaries between the public and private sector has significantly affected the success of IMF and World Bank policies in Jordan which are predicated upon a clear distinction between these sectors. Furthermore Jordan's move from an economy that is dependent upon outside economic assistance to one that is dependent upon remittances has affected the power of the country's élite which hitherto depended on access to and control of aid.
Customer Reviews:
Useful to understanding the story..........2006-08-04
Jordan since 1989, as Patrick Clawson wrote, appears to be a typical academic political science tome, one dedicated to expounding obscure theoretical models of interest only within university walls. But the obligatory theoretical chapter is blessedly short--and surprisingly, the author presents his analytical point in plain English, and it actually is useful to understanding the story that follows. Knowles argues that since its creation in 1921, Jordan has always depended on gifts from abroad, but the source of those gifts increasingly shifted after 1989 from aid (distributed primarily by the state) to workers' remittances (distributed mostly by the private sector). He argues that related to this change has been a change in how the Jordanian state asserts its economic influence, shifting from direct control (such as ownership of companies such as the airline, telephone, and electricity companies) to indirect methods (such as regulation).
Knowles provides a wealth of information about foreign flows into Jordan and about the state's role in the economy, arguing that the two have been intimately linked. He shows the long history of aid dependence, climaxing during the oil boom in what Knowles describes as "dictator state, private sector dependency." Then came the 1985 oil price collapse and the related Jordanian economic crisis, culminating in what Knowles characterizes well as an economic collapse in 1989. He documents the slow climb upwards, with (using his terms) 1985-89 being the "rhetoric years," 1989-95, the "lost years," 1995-98, the "foundation years," and since 1998, "the action years." He emphasizes the role of donors, led by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, in the new policies.
Strikingly absent from this account is much discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict or of the splits in Jordanian society between Palestinians and East Bank Jordanians. Knowles tells a convincing and full story without much reference to these issues, suggesting that perhaps they are not so important to understanding what is often said to be Jordan's central challenge, namely, its weak economic base.
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