Description
Book SynopsisEvolutionary economics gained acceptance for the study of industrialized countries during the 1990s but has, as yet, contributed little to the study of world income inequality.
The expert contributors gathered here approach underdevelopment and inequality from different evolutionary perspectives. It is argued that the Schumpeterian processes of 'creative destruction' may take the form of wealth creation in one part of the globe and wealth destruction in another. Case studies explore and analyse the successful 19th century policies that allowed Germany and the United States to catch up with the UK and these are contrasted with two other case studies exploring the deindustrialization and falling real wages in Peru and Mongolia during the 1990s. The case studies and thematic papers together explore, identify and explain the mechanisms which cause economic inequality. Some papers point to why the present form of globalization increases poverty in many Third World nations.
Members of the anti-globalization movement will find the explanations given in this book insightful, as will employees of international organizations due to the important policy messages. The theoretical interest within the book will appeal to development economists and evolutionary economists, and policymakers and politicians will find the explanations of the present failure of many small nations in the periphery invaluable.
Trade Review'This book offers a very interesting alternative approach to studying the impacts of globalization and would be a useful resource for researchers as well as postgraduate students (and perhaps advanced undergraduate students) of evolutionary economics, economic geography and international trade . It will also be of interest to policy makers and members of international organizations (including the so-called Washington Institutions!).' -- Dimitris Ballas, Economic Issues
Table of ContentsContents: Introduction Erik S. Reinert PART I: FOUNDATIONS OF AN ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE 1. The Other Canon: The History of Renaissance Economics Erik S. Reinert and Arno M. Daastøl 2. Natural versus Social Sciences: On Understanding in Economics Wolfgang Drechsler PART II: THE STRATEGY OF SUCCESS: NINETEENTH-CENTURY UNITED STATES AND GERMANY 3. The Views of the German Historical School on the Issue of International Income Distribution Jürgen G. Backhaus 4. Technical Progress and Obsolescence of Capital and Skills: Theoretical Foundations of Nineteenth-Century US Industrial and Trade Policy Michael Hudson PART III: THE STRATEGY OF FAILURE: LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE ECONOMICS OF RETROGRESSION 5. Natural Resources, Industrialization and Fluctuating Standards of Living in Peru, 1950–1997: A Case Study of Activity-Specific Economic Growth Santiago Roca and Luis Simabuko 6. Globalization in the Periphery as a Morganthau Plan: The Underdevelopment of Mongolia in the 1990s Erik S. Reinert PART V: TECHNICAL CHANGE AND THE DYNAMICS OF INCOME INEQUALITY 7. Technological Revolutions, Paradigm Shifts and Socio-institutional Change Carlota Perez 8. Income Inequality in Changing Techno-economic Paradigms Chris Freeman 9. Information Technology in the Learning Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries Dieter Ernst and Bengt-Åke Lundvall 10. Diversity: Implications for Income Distribution David B. Audretsch 11. Convergence, Divergence and the Kuznets Curve Ådne Cappelen Index
