Making Globalization Work by Joseph E. Stiglitz Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Making Globalization Work
Book Review: Populist guff.
Summary: 2 Stars
If people of influence and those aspiring to such a position want to ensure that the poor stay poor and wilful manipulation of trade is the norm, this book by Joseph E. Stiglitz is the one to read, to know how to maintain this inequality. Terminology abounds which panders to the common misunderstanding of such things as fairness, monopolies, natural resources and wealth, for example. He also has an annoying habit of telling us about what is bad, is going to suggest some remedy, and then skips on to the next thing to criticise.
Natural resources are, by and large, simply the raw material basis from which products are manufactured using capital and intellect in order to create things of value and subsequently wealth through trade. Crude oil and metal ores which are the significant natural resources are of scant direct value to most purchasers. Even crops such as wheat and bananas require much capital and labour inputted into their production and distribution, etc., to be of any significant value to the overall economy of a country.
There is no such thing as a private monopoly. Only a government has the ability to create and maintain a monopoly since government is the sole legitimate power which can use force and the law to prevent others from trading in the market. Microsoft is a favourite to cite, but this is totally wrong since Microsoft can not use force or the law to make computer users use their software or prevent the use of alternatives such as Linux or FreeBSD, for example.
The only fairness that is meaningful in a global economy is the freedom of opportunity which the abolition of trade barriers, government subsidies and regulation, the free movement of people across the globe and the implementation and recognition of private property rights enables. This would also have to include no government printing or minting of money, and central banking would have to be done away with, too, with private banks taking on this role. The private banks would be limited by a return to the gold standard with no fractional reserve banking permitted Simply citing example after example of how the current norm must be further regulated by tribunals and of-the-moment political expediencies such as environmentalism is of no value whatever.
For a proper understanding about what will work in a globalized economy, I would recommend: 'Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics by George Reisman'
Book Review: Another World: Making it work better
Summary: 5 Stars
Professor Stiglitz is an economics big gun - a Nobel Prize in Economic Science for 2001 is sufficient proof. A necessary proof is his scholarly guts to swim against currents, doing so repeatedly, successfully, and with enthusiasm. Such enthusiasm is evident from his two recent books: "The Roaring Nineties", and "Globalization and Its Discontents". With respect to Globalization and Its Discontents critiques have questioned whether or not by lambasting the some theories and practices behind globalization without providing substitutes Stiglitz wants to eat all his cake and save it all as well. This new book - "Making Globalization Work" - is an acceptable response.
The first two chapters describe another possible world in which globalization works better than in the current status quo (Chapter 1), and how development promises to contribute to that new world (Chapter 2). The next seven chapters are about obstacles and prospects that must be addressed to make globalization work. And how does anyone know that globalization is working? Globalization is working when and if it democraticizes the citizens of the world. Democracy is security. Security for the industrialized countries may be as simple as independence from "oil addiction"; for many developing countries it may be as mundane as freedom from hunger and diseases. The two judgments about security are interlinked in their implications for global people. These are issues Chapter 8 deals with.
This is characteristically Stiglitz. During the 1990s-early 2000s he was one of few famous economists who stood up to the Washington consensus, especially to its fundamentalist view of the godly power of markets under the guide of the Invisible Hand. Not only do markets fails to meet efficiency criteria (as when information is incomplete or imperfect); often efficiency is an insufficient condition for a good living. At the peak of their performance the socalled Asian Tigers and Dragons were not particularly efficient, but their rapid growth was accompanied by widespread equity.
"Making Globalization Work" strikes a healthy balance between normative economics and positive economics. This book is fine reading that would help the reader avoid junk economics of globalization and more. I was hooked four pages into the Preface of the book. You must read this book.
Amavilah, Author
Modeling Income Determinants in Embedded Economies : Cross-section Applications to US Native American Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
Book Review: Globalization and Democracy
Summary: 5 Stars
This new book by Joseph Stiglitz discusses many of the issues of his earlier work, "Globalization and Its Discontents." The previously described discontents have become more pressing in the interim. Stiglitz reminds us again that globalization and economic growth are bypassing a large number of people in the developing world; in fact, some of the so-called developing world is not developing at all.
He facetiously points out that a cow in Europe earns more than half of the people on the planet. The $2 a day subsidy of the European cow is equal to the the cut-off line defining poverty, and half of the earth's inhabitants live below this level. This example illustrates the ostensible unfairness of the current system. European, American, and Japanese multinationals, and the trade negotiators who represent them, argue for freer trade yet they refuse to relinquish agricultural subsidies. This is very unfortunate for the developing world since about 80 percent of their economies are agricultural. Nothing would help them more than if the rich countries stopped subsidizing their agriculture and opened their markets to imports. Economically this is a good idea, politically the it is a non-starter. The French will not be importing Brie and the Japanese will not be importing rice.
This seems to be the case with many of Stiglitz's ideas: they sound reasonable and fair, but unfortunately fairness is not a priority for many trade negotiators.
Stiglitz's proposal for a global reserve system is another example of a good idea whose time has not yet come. Today, when countries set aside money for a rainy day, the currency of choice is the US dollar, which for the time being is relatively stable and strong. The only problem is that the US is financing these global reserves at the rate of $2 billion a day - a truly unsustainable trend. Stiglitz's solution, borrowed from John Meynard Keynes, is to create a universal currency. In good times reserves can be held in this currency and in bad times these reserves can be drawn. Sounds eminently reasonable but Uncle Sam is not going to give up the the reins.
What Stiglitz is doing is calling for greater democracy in the global trading system. Currently the global trading system is stacked in favor of the rich nations, especially the US. This is not to say that rich nations don't have their issues - they do. What is important in this book is that the poor countries should be given a better deal. Much has been writtem about bad governance in the developing world, and much of it is true; however, aggravating these problems are unfair trade agreements. Stiglitz is important because he gives a voice to the developing world's vulnerablity. For example, when poor countries are forced to open up their markets to foreign banks, their local banks are put out of business, and, as a consequence, local lending suffers. More democracy in the global trading system would go a long way in alleviating some of these unjustices. The only question is: Are the rich and powerful nations ready for more democracy and a more equitable trading system.
Book Review: must read for anyone concerned
Summary: 5 Stars
this is not only about economics, but about how the world could live together, the chapter on global warming is particularly illuminating, it exposes the hyprocrisy of u.s. politicians and businesses, and suggested effective way to combat it, WTO and other national leaders should read this chapterBook Review: ALL men are created equal, and FAIR trade instead of free trade
Summary: 5 Stars
For J. Stiglitz, it is a compelling moral case to make globalization work, especially for the poor and the developing countries.
The actual rules of the globalization game have been set by the developed countries in order to protect special individual, corporate and financial interests.
The author sees 6 areas where dramatic changes (with a huge potential of dramatic results) are necessary for the global well-being of our planet.
Poverty relief: it is a shame that billions of human beings are still living in abject conditions. Speaking of intellectual property rights in their face is a deadly joke.
Debt relief and legal help: diminish or eliminate the debt burden of the poorest countries and help the developing countries in creating environmental, judicial, anti-bribery and anti- bank secrecy laws in order to fight corruption.
Fair trade: a fair trade regime is one without subsidies and trade restrictions.
Limitation of liberalization: Markets are not perfect. Therefore, governments must have an active economic role (infrastructure, education, a sound financial and judicial system, a social safety net).
Environmental protection: measures to stop and reduce global warming
A global governance system: a new global social contract, an International Trade Tribunal, an International Bankruptcy Court, a new Global Monetary Reserve System.
The democratic deficit should be compensated by giving the developing countries more voice in the running of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. The draconic anti-Keynesian policies of the IMF should be stopped.
Overall, more transparency, less arms sales and certification of origin are needed.
All those measures should hugely benefit the developing AND the developed countries, although special interests would be hit. Hereafter, a few examples.
Elimination of agricultural subsidies would greatly benefit producers in developing countries and consumers in developed countries. Immigration would dramatically slow. There would be more legal than real fighting. And, last but not least, our planet could be saved.
J. Stiglitz stresses rightly that economic globalization outpaces the political one.
He is especially hard for his home country, `the deficit of last resort'.
This book, written by a superb free mind, should have a long lasting effect on world matters.
It is a must read for all those interested in the future of our planet.