Consumption Must Be Curtailed to Sustain the Human Race?

Jared Diamond, in a January 2 op-ed in the New York Times, argues for a political solution to what he sees as a looming “consumption crisis” facing humanity. He notes that the current consumption of many resources, such as oil and metals, is roughly 32 times higher in the developed than in the developing world [...]

Book Reviews – December 2007

• Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World
  
  by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu Reviewed by Andrew P. Morriss
  
• Econospinning: How to Read Between the Lines When the Media Manipulate the Numbers
  by Gene Epstein Reviewed by Joseph Coletti
  
• The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How Americas Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World (and Change Your Life)
  by Carl J. Schramm Reviewed by Frederic Sautet
• The Green Wave: Environmentalism and Its Consequences
  by Bonner Cohen Reviewed by George C. Leef
  

Imports, Exports, and Nonsense

The Commerce Department (whose idea was that?) said recently that 2006 was another record year for the U.S. “trade deficit.” The value of imports beat the value of exports by $764 billion. That makes five record years in a row. China’s trade surplus with us hit $233 billion. Ordinarily, I would ignore this nonstory because, [...]

Adam Smith in China

James Dorn is a China specialist at the Cato Institute and professor of economics at Towson University in Maryland. A shorter version of this article first appeared in the Times of India, January 24, 2007. China’s transition from plan to market since 1978 has not only increased prosperity but also has led to a new [...]

The History of “Underdevelopment”

Perhaps the most important feature of the modern world is its sustained, intensive economic growth. This produces most of the other distinctive features of modernity. Although there were earlier episodes of such economic efflorescence (to use Jack Goldstones term), it was only with the industrial revolution of late eighteenth-century Britain that it became a permanent and prominent feature of the world economy. Following the advent of this transformative process, questions soon arose elsewhere. The first was that of how to achieve the same kind of growth and dynamism. Soon this led to further questions: why other parts of the world did not show these qualities and why their attempts to do so ended in failure.

It’s Always Something

Our economy is in the middle of an extraordinary run of success. Unemployment is low.Personal wealth is near an all-time high. Real wage growth sometimes appears less robust, but when benefits are included, real compensation is healthy. And even with the cries from some that economic mobility
isnt what it once was, legal and illegal immigrants continue
to flock to the United States. Evidently being poor here beats being poor elsewhere by a long shot.

Thirty-Six Years After Neil Armstrong

“The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but we cannot live forever in a cradle.” —KONSTANTIN E.TSIOLKOVSKY, 1911 Thirty-six years ago men could walk on the moon. Today they can’t; the only moon rockets on this planet are serving as lawn decorations in Huntsville and Houston. Is this because 21st-century technology is less advanced [...]

China’s Historic Error

Last time I wrote about the dynamic and innovative economy of Song China. Had China continued to develop as it did under that dynasty we would undoubtedly be talking now of “the Industrial Revolution of the fourteenth century.” However, this did not happen. Instead China gradually lost the dynamism and inventiveness that for so long [...]

A Capitalist Party in China?

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is struggling to reinvent itself. At the 16th National Congress in Beijing last November, the party approved policies intended to make it appear more connected with China’s rapidly liberalizing society and economy. After a week of introspection and political reorganization, party members seemed serious about reclaiming their position at the [...]