9781608191666

Thing 1: There is no such thing as the free market. Thing 5: The washing machine has changed the world more than the Internet. Thing 13: Making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer. Thing 22: Financial markets need to become less, not more, efficient. If you've wondered, how did we not see the economic collapse coming? Ha-Joon Chang knows the answer: we didn't ask what they didn't tell us about capitalism. This is a lighthearted book with a serious purpose: to question the assumptions behind the dogma and sheer hype that free-market fundamentalists have spun since the Age of Reagan. Chang, author of the international bestsellerBad Samaritans, is one of the world's most respected economists, a voice of sanity--and wit--in the tradition of John Kenneth Galbraith and Joseph Stiglitz.23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalismequips readers with an understanding of how global capitalism works--and doesn't. In his final chapter, "How to Rebuild the World," Chang offers a vision of how we can shape capitalism to humane ends, instead of becoming slaves of the market.

Ha-Joon Chang teaches in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge. His books include the international bestseller Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism and Kicking Away the Ladder, winner of the 2003 Myrdal Prize. In 2005, Chang was awarded the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Acknowledgements	p. x
Introduction	p. xiii
There is no such thing as a free market	p. 1
Companies should not be run in the interest of their owners	p. 11
Most people in rich countries are paid more than they should be	p. 23
The washing machine has changed the world more than the internet has	p. 31
Assume the worst about people and you get the worst	p. 41
Greater macroeconomic stability has not made the world economy more stable	p. 51
Free-market policies rarely make poor countries rich	p. 62
Capital has a nationality	p. 74
We do not live in a post-industrial age	p. 88
The US does not have the highest living standard in the world	p. 102
Africa is not destined for underdevelopment	p. 112
Governments can pick winners	p. 125
Making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer	p. 137
US managers are over-priced	p. 148
People in poor countries are more entrepreneurial than people in rich countires	p. 157
We are not smart enough to leave things to the market	p. 168
More education in itself is not going to make a country richer	p. 178
What is good for General Motors is not necessarily good for the United States	p. 190
Despite the fall of communism, we are still living in planned economies	p. 199
Equality of opportunity may not be fair	p. 210
Big government makes people more open to change	p. 221
Financial markets need to become less, not more, efficient	p. 231
Good economic policy does not require good economists	p. 242
Conclusion: How to rebuild the world economy	p. 252
Notes	p. 265
Index	p. 277
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23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

1608191664

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