For my Political Science 250 class I have a midterm project which deals with reading a book the professor has approved of and writing a review. For the review, I chose to read Joseph Siglitz’ Making Globalization Work. I have not read it yet, but Siglitz is predictable in regards to what his views are and whatnot. In the review, I plan to critique it from the perspective of a free-market libertarian (the professor already knows my political ideologies, so it won’t come as a surprise). I am trying to look for books that deal specifically with globalization from the free-market perspective (does not have to be “Austrian”, as long as it is free-market biased). I tried using Adrían Ravier’s Globalization and Peace: A Hayekian Perspective, but his bibliography does not suggest any books that are obviously on topic.
I think you’re already aware of Hernando de Soto’s works (The Other Path and The Mystery of Capital)
Some other writers you might want to check out would be Tyler Cowen (Creative Destruction), Jagdish Bhagwati (In Defense of Globalization, Free Trade Today, The Wind of the Hundred Days, Protectionism), Mancur Olson (Power and Prosperity, The Rise and Decline of Nations). Of course, if you’re looking into development econ. from a free market perspective it’s pretty important that you check out the work of P.T. Bauer and Bill Easterly. I know the latter has plenty of papers of his online, so if you’re not looking to spend lots of money you can download those.
From a more Austrian perspective you might want to check out the papers by Coyne, Leeson, Boettke and Powell. All of them are Austrian economists who have an interest in development and the first three are all pretty prolific when it comes to papers. If you look at their homepages they’ll have links to most of their papers on the subject. (There are case studies on post war Germany, Bosnia, Russia and Japan amongst other places). Powell also has an edited collection called Making Poor Nations Rich and Leeson (Boettke too I think) have lectures on development economics over at FEE.
Thanks Giles. Apart from Stiglitz’ book, I have put Mises’ “Nation, State, and Economy” and Bhagwati’s “In Defense of Globalization” on my wish list on Amazon (to be purchased when the professor approves of my choice of Stiglitz). I will continue looking for papers by the authors you’ve specified. Thanks again!
I just ordered a book on Amazon, edited by Richard Ebeling, which seems to be a number of essays on globalization (including one by Lawrence H. White). Not sure if this is exactly what I need, but hopefully it is (apparently, the book is offered by the LvMI library in Auburn, but is not sold online).
Jonathan, you might also want to look at the work of Paul Collier, he’s an economist over at Oxford and he’s done a lot of work in development econ. He’s not entirely pro market but his works are pretty good. I’ve listened to the podcasts he has with Russ Roberts (which I would also recommend) and whilst I disagree with him he does have some interesting ideas. Dani Rodrik is another economist (at Harvard, I believe) who does work in this idea who whilst you may not entirely agree with is probably worth checking out. Books of interest by the writers would be The Bottom Billion and War, Guns and Votes and One Economics, Many Recipes and In Search of Prosperity respectively.
Jeffrey Sachs is a big name in the literature who you’ll disagree with a lot. But nonetheless, if you’re looking into it you might want to read some of the works of economists who agree with Stiglitz. There’s also Stiglitz’ other book Globaliztion and Its Discontents.
This is an area I’m pretty interested in, so if you want to discuss it send me a message over here and I’ll be more than willing to discuss it.
I got Stiglitz’ book through the mail two days ago. I’ve only read the preface so far, but that is enough to make me fume. He, for example, (not in the preface, but I forgot the page where I read this) states that the market must be created by the government. Or that political corruption is, for some reason, an inherent characteristic of Capitalism (as if there wasn’t political corruption in Communist countries). These are going to be a long 300 pages. But, if it gets me an A in my class then I have to do what I have to do. [:P]
In case anybody was interested in reading Making Globalization Work, don’t bother. I read a review here on Mises on Stiglitz’ earlier book (Globalism and its Discontents), and the author of that review said it was “thought provoking”. I’m not sure if he was humoring Stiglitz, as to not appear too hostile, or if Stiglitz’ earlier work was ten times better than Making Globalization Work (published 2006). Making Globalization Work is probably one of the worst pieces of economic theory that I have ever read (admittedly, I haven’t read much Keynesian theory apart from my textbooks and a few other books), and really consists of him setting up a straw man, proving it wrong and also incorrectly applying the word “liberalization” to what really isn’t. Despite being a “Nobel laureate” (OK, the prize in economics is not really a Nobel prize, but let’s put that aside), his grasp on economic theory seems to be pretty loose.
I wrote a small piece (Liberalized Capital Markets and Poverty) on the first part of his second chapter. I have to write a book review, ultimately, for my class (it will also be posted on that blog), and I already think I’m going to have trouble addressing all the inconsistencies in a single review (which is impossible, which is why I decided to write small critiques on specific parts of his books as I read it).
After I finish Stiglitz’ book, I plan to read Bhagwati’s In Defense of Globalization. Hopefully, Bhagwati’s book is more enjoyable. Ultimately, on the subject, I also bought In Defense of Global Capitalism, by Norberg. I just ordered Making Poor Nations Rich by Benjaminn Powell (ordered it off Borders for 30% off, which saved me pretty much the shipping).
The Powell collection looks good, I’ve been looking to buy it for some time. As regards Stiglitz’ work, I’m pretty sure that Globalization and Its Discontents is aimed at the general population, so I’m not sure it’s an accurate reflection of his general ability. I mean, it’d be like saying that The Conscience of a Liberal is an accurate reflection of Krugman’s knowledge of international trade, which isn’t true either.