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Summary: Great Book - Let's Remember the Lessons Learned
Review: Growing up in the sixties I heard constantly about the inevitable triumph of socialism and the compromise of private ownership. LIke most child I believed what I was taught. In fact, a great deal of the socialist agenda has come about. However, the results and effects of central planning in private and public affairs came to bother me a great deal.I began to find that there were voices raised opposing this "progress". It was not easy to find them at first, but there was an icreasing number of voices pointing out the problems and flaws in central planning. Finally, the tide began to turn in the mid-seventies and as central planning ebbed and private enterprise flooded in with the prosperity of the eighties and nineties it appeared that capitalism was finally triumphant. Millions of us were happy at what we viewed as true progress. However, I recognize that millions more were true believers in the other doctrine and viewed this as a dark time. But I am glad of the progress that was made and continue to work for more. And this wonderful book documents the story of the unfortunate but understandable rise of socialism in post World War II Europe and how it fell out of favor. The story of the rise of individual initiative and privatization is wonderful to me, however, it might cause pain and anxiety to others. The point is that this is a very important story told of our own time (until a few years ago). And for those who think that capitalism is the bane of humanity I would recommend this book even more strongly because it is important to not forget the misery central planning brought the world for decades in the 20th century. There is a recent video presentation of much of this book and it is quite good, but the book has more information and I think it is even more compelling. So, I recommend both, but the book even more strongly. The story contained in this book is still open to multiple interpretations. I have mine and you may well disagree with me. What is key, I believe, is that this story be understood and remembered. Otherwise we doom ourselves to repeat the pain of these lessons yet again to the pain and suffering of millions.
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Summary: This is not another "The Prize".
Review: I was disappointed by this book, but then my expectations were very high after reading Yergin's earlier work on the history of the oil industry (5 stars!). Early on, the authors present us with a historical dilemna: the post World War II nations are distrustful of market economies and experiencing prosperity under centralized, planned economies. Yet market economies take over in a matter of decades. The authors use the strategy of a broad, global view to explain why and how -- with most of the emphasis on how. As a result, the reading is quite repetetive. The thesis is clear: market economies work best. There is almost no discussion on the limitations of market economies -- or of their social consequences. Worse, for those like myself with no background in economics, the implications of the emerging global free-market economy is virtually untouched. My advice... read "The Prize".
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Summary: fascinating sweep of economic/geopolitical history
Review: I'm a few pages from the end and I've loved every page of this book. A wealth of historical and economic data is lightened with personal anecdotes about or from key players on the world stage in this century. The reader from Hong Kong, presumably more familiar with Chinese history than some of us, understandably may find the China section lacking but I found the insights into the struggles for power within the CCP enlightening. This book put together information I was mostly familiar with from other sources, but weaving it all together in a balanced way, adding anecdotes and colorful details, is tremendous added value. I'm familiar with at least the titles of many works of economics mentioned and was pleased to find little-known (in the U.S.) but key works mentioned such as Hernando de Soto's El Otro Sendero. Should be required reading.
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Summary: Resource Allocation and the Battle of Economic Ideals
Review: In Carl Sagan's "Contact," the unknown entity encountered by Arroway after her journey into the wormhole delivers a scathing critique of the human condition, and goes on to express his concern about Earth's "astonishingly backward economic systems." "Commanding Heights" is a comprehensive account of those "backward" economic systems and chronicles the seemingly amaranthine battle between governments and the marketplace for control of the most important elements of the global economy. The discussion centers on the economic events of the second half of the twentieth century, sandwiched between the establishment of the British welfare state at the conclusion of the Second World War and the Asian financial contagion unfolding at the time of the book's publication. The theme of "Commanding Heights" is the superiority of resource allocation via free markets vis-Ã -vis resource allocation by means of government control of strategic business undertakings. Along this free market-government control continuum, there are three fundamental, ideological positions concerning the workings of an economy: economic totalitarianism, strategic intervention, and non-interventionism. Given this backdrop, the second half of the twentieth century is depicted as a colossal experiment in wealth creation and redistribution. Advocates of neoclassical economics such as Friedrich von Hayek pitted their ideas against Keynesians and supporters of the command-and-control system. World War II and its concomitant cost in human lives and shattered economic potential served as the catalyst for a remaking of the global economic order. Policymakers and politicians began questioning the effectiveness of a purely laissez-faire market system in mitigating the impact of macroeconomic failures and in addressing the issues of equity, poverty, and unemployment. Keynes provided a blueprint for the emergence of the so-called mixed economy, advocating government intervention through fiscal and monetary measures. Nationalization of strategic industries, central planning, and direct regulation were some of the tools made available to administrators. By the time of the oil shocks of the 1970s, it became increasingly clear that this system of state control over essential economic activities was ill-equipped to deal with market shocks, and that regulatory capture rendered direct government supervision of natural monopolies and fundamental services ineffective and untenable. At the end of the 1980s, concerns about market failure started to give way to belief in the superiority of the market in allocating resources and ensuring that economic actors adhere to the principles of equity and fair play. Government began to take a back seat from managing the commanding heights of the economy, and privatization, deregulation, and liberalization became the norm. The authors are unabashedly in favor of laissez-faire economics; this is shown by the recounting of recent economic history as a set of multifarious journeys undertaken by various countries that nearly invariably leads to the adoption of neoclassical economics as the sole logical solution to the ills caused by big government. Ultimately, whether the experiment with 'enlightened' free enterprise and the continuing retreat of government will succeed or not in the long term will depend on a host of factors, such as: (1) is the pursuit of pure profit by erstwhile government-owned entities detrimental to public welfare? (2) will liberalization ensure a fair distribution of wealth? (3) does internationally mobile capital impinge on national sovereignty? (4) is the marketplace inherently superior in price determination, especially in the short term? and (5) will the "balance of confidence" turn out to be in favor of free markets?
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Summary: Too lengthy given the final thesis
Review: It is a good compendium of major economic trends in the World since the Great Depression. However I found it to be very rambling and verbose at times (This review refers to the 1998 edition). The basic thrust of the book is - 1.The Great Depression and Keyne's "General Theory" , combined with the rise of communism ,led to central planning and intrusive macroeconomic policies becoming fashionable even in the free world. 2. The rest of the book details how disillusionment with command structures led to a reaction against it. 3. Then he details how economists from the Chicago school ,who believe that there can be no market failure if only the government stopped meddling, and who believe that the private sector can outsmart any macroeconomic policy thereby rendering it impotent, have been vindicated by the events. Read the book keeping in mind that it has an axe to grind, but for balance also read books like Paul Krugman's "Peddling Prosperity" just in case you run away with the impression that monetary and fiscal policies are dead or that the major prescriptions and theories of the Chicago school have been spectacularly vindicated by the economic data of the last thirty years. This is not a book about economics , in the sense that there is not one statement of economic theory , not even simple ones. It is a book about the history of economic trends. The book is best as a chronicle of the rise and fall of socialistic and command economies.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: Overall, a disappointing book but a good, albeit deceiving introduction to development economics. The book is too ambitious and improperly structured to cover the vastness of its project. Nearly every country worth mentioning is discussed: the southeast Asian tigers, Japan, New Zealand, former Cold Blocs, Latin America, Africa, and of course, the reorientation of western Europe, namely the UK, from a planned to a more market based economy. Furthermore, the authors provide a decent discussion on F.A. Hayek versus John Maynard Keynes, the freemarket economist versus the planner.
I agree with the spotlight review's characterization that the book is repetitious. Nearly every country covered aside from Western Europe followed the same plan in the same sequence: trade and price liberalization, privatization, deregulation of finance and banking industries.... The authors could have spared 200 pages by merely discussing the "Washington Consensus" which imposed this regime as a condition for foreign aid and loans. As Joseph Stiglitz, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and Nobel Prize Awardee, points out, market liberalization was greeted with near unanimous disaster everywhere. This brings me to the most troubling aspect of this book: the author's distorted discussion of why nearly every country experienced economic reversals and decline after experiencing initial success. The authors are seldom explicit about the causes of the reversal save political opposition or defects already present in the economy before market liberalization. A fuller account of why these economies bellied out is needed. Instead, the authors spend too much as cheerleaders for market liberalization. My own research on market liberalization in Russia and Eastern Europe suggests it is far more problematic than the authors acknowledge. Overall, a decent but distorted picture of market liberalization but it's a good beachhead.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: The book describes quite interestingly the development of what now has become the mainstream in political thinking, specially as to the background of the "Thatcher revolution" in the UK; the rest of the book is, however, rather thinly spread, providing a broad catalog of the changes in all regions of the world, without really providing any deep or novel insight; overall I believe the authors would have better done to focus solely on the US and the UK.
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Summary: Nothing new here
Review: The book is about the fall of socialism. However there is nothing here you won't find in numerous newspaper articles , magazine articles, media discussions. Read it if you can get it from a library, not worth spending money.
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Summary: upcoming television special
Review: The book is an excellent review of the privatization efforts that began in Mrs. Thatcher's UK. I'm looking forward to the PBS special this spring (also showing in th UK and Japan, possibly elsewhere.)
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Summary: Excellent overview of how free markets came to dominate
Review: The Commanding Heights by Yergin & Stanislaw does a great job of presenting how free markets came to dominate the post World War II world. They turn a somewhat dry subject(economics) into a fascinating tale. People rather than numbers drive this book and it makes the layman really care about economic policy. Even my high school students have enjoyed it.
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