How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade

Amazon.com

Hoover Institution economist Melvyn Krauss provides an easy-to-understand primer on why international markets serve national economies well. Protectionism in all its forms takes a beating on these pages. Krauss goes after environmentalists who opposed NAFTA, human rights activists worried about child labor, and consumer advocates concerned about safety. Closed economies do not advance any of these interests, says Krauss. His arguments occasionally proceed through straw men (a newspaper column by Anna Quindlen is the centerpiece of one section), but they are sound and persuasive. We all want fair trade, but Krauss shows that we're not likely to get it unless we have free trade first.

Book Description

There can be no doubt, writes economist Melvyn Krauss, that the prosperity of the industrial nations since the Second World War has been due largely to global specialization and interdependence. No one country does all tasks today -- products are designed in one country, produced in another and assembled in a third. The increased standard of living resulting from global specialization in turn has led to the growth of the modern welfare state, including an increased demand for economic security and social measures which guarantee politically-determined minimum consumption standards for citizens. Ironically, says Krauss, as the debate over the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the recently established World Trade Organization demonstrate, today's welfare state has evolved into a protectionist state. U.S. consumer advocates (Ralph Nader) see free trade as a threat to consumerist legislation. U.S. environmentalists (Jerry Brown) see free trade as a threat to environmental legislation. U.S. human rights advocates (Anna Quindlin) see free trade as a threat to human rights abroad. In How Nations Grow Rich, Krauss argues there is no inherent reason why the growth of the welfare state in the Western industrial countries should conflict with free trade that is, there is no inherent reason for the welfare state to be protectionist. Exposing fallacious "welfare state" arguments for protection, Krauss makes a powerful case for free trade in general, and NAFTA in particular, as mechanisms for raising U.S. living standards. Americans are made better off through a reallocation of U.S. productive resources from lower-to-higher productivity uses--from textiles to computers, for example. Moreover, by raising wages in Mexico relative to the U.S., Krauss expects NAFTA to help reduce both legal and illegal immigration. Were states like California to reduce their generous social services and affirmative action programs, labor immigration from Mexico would fall to politically acceptable levels. Krauss' novel insight that migration and foreign trade are alternative means of effectuating international exchange is used in this lively and informative book to shed light on a host of important policy issues. By the very act of restricting textile and apparel imports, the U.S. virtually compels foreign textile workers to migrate to the U.S. The European Union's tariff against East European exports provokes a flood of Eastern workers to Western Europe. In How Nations Grow Rich, Krauss dispatches both traditional and newer arguments for protection with unusual verve and clarity. Addressing the belief that protectionism boosts employment, he points out that import restrictions can destroy U.S. jobs when imposed on materials we use as parts. For example, in 1991, Apple and Toshiba suffered a dramatic increase in their production costs as a result of a 63% tariff on imported Japanese flat-panel display screens. This "protect-America" policy backfired, causing these two mega-companies to move their production facilities abroad. In response to protectionist demands that the U.S. close its markets until Japan reduces its trade barriers against U.S. goods--that trade be fair before it can be free--Krauss points out that in a market economy where consumers are kings, only a consumer-based equity standard is valid. Thus what the "fair trade" protectionist argument really comes down to is the nonsensical proposition that because foreign countries damage their consumers by foolish protectionist measures, equity demands the United States follow suit. This wide-ranging and stimulating book clarifies such important and often inaccessible issues as development policy, foreign aid, trade sanctions, child labor, human rights trade linkages, immigration, European Monetary Union and affirmative action trade policies. How Nations Grow Rich is must reading for anyone concerned with public policy and international economics.

Customer Reviews:

Useful Introduction.......2000-08-27

A reasonable quick introduction to free trade from someone who is obviously much in favour of it. Doesn't go deeply into things and is heavily based on fairly recent US-orientated examples. It appears to be reasonably well researched and the author backs up his points well but the book does not really grip or inspire you.

Poorly written, Badly Organized and Factually Incomplete.......2000-02-04

This book presented an immensly skewed version of the realities of free trade's impacts on global society at large. It glossed over very real arguements against free trade and instead inflated what was obviously a predetermined and subjectively biased agenda in favor of the standard free trade dogma that has become so prevalent in corporatized American thinking. A must read for those who haven't yet read the typical free trade drivel, but a snoozer for those that have begun to see beyond it.

How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade

Average customer rating:

How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade
Melvyn Krauss
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUF8YQ

Average customer rating:

HOW NATIONS GROW RICH: THE CASE FOR FREE TRADE.
Melvyn: Krauss
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKQAVO

Book Description

As inequalities in the world multiply, migration across national boundaries is taking ever more variegated forms. This book assembles the findings of a major study into one particular form of this modern phenomenon - the recruitment of women seeking to escape poverty in certain Asian countries, and their subsequent employment in the Middle East and elsewhere. Isolated, unorganized and lacking proper legal or diplomatic protection, these women are very vulnerable to both economic and sexual exploitation. The book's empirical investigations constitute an important contribution to our understanding of a grossly neglected situation.

Enabling Technology (DISABILITY, HUMAN RIGHTS & SOCIETY)

Average customer rating:

Enabling Technology (DISABILITY, HUMAN RIGHTS & SOCIETY)
Roulstone
Manufacturer: Open University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Culture | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Disability | Specialties | Law | Subjects | Books

Social Work | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social Aspects | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0335198015

Book Description

*What is the significance of new microchip technologies for disabled workers/job seekers?
*How is new technology enabling some disabled workers to gain enhanced access to employment and a more enabling employment?
*What are the policy implications of the research findings and the reevaluation of the role of new technology?

There is much evidence to suggest that disabled people are less likely to be afforded the same rights as able-bodied workers in accessing jobs, equal employment rights and equal access to the workplace. Using a social barriers model of disability Enabling Technology addresses the role of new technology in reducing the environmental and attitude barriers disabled people have commonly faced in the field of employment. This work is critical of established writings on disability and new technology and suggests that by adopting a medical model of disability such analyses have misrepresented the benefits of new technology for disabled people. A social barriers model views the benefits of new technology as inhering in its potential to rehabilitate disabling environments. The book addresses the urgent need to reframe policies on technology access away from a welfarist 'eligibility' model to a 'social rights' approach, one where disabled people are centrally involved in the framing, operation and review of technology access policy.

Enabling Technology is recommended reading for students and researchers in disability studies, applied social sciences and the sociology of work. It is also of relevance to those working in rehabilitation medicine and occupational therapy.

Affirmative Action at Work: Law, Politics, and Ethics (Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies)

Average customer rating:

Affirmative Action at Work: Law, Politics, and Ethics (Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies)
Bron Raymond Taylor
Manufacturer: University of Pittsburgh Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

State & Local Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Human Rights | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Social Security & Welfare | English Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0822954532

Driven Apart: Women's Employment Equality and Child Care in Canadian Public Policy

Average customer rating:

Driven Apart: Women's Employment Equality and Child Care in Canadian Public Policy
Annis May Timpson
Manufacturer: UBC Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0774808209

Book Description

Annis May Timpson demonstrates how Canadian women's calls for family-friendly employment policies have translated into inaction or inappropriate action on the part of successive federal governments. She focuses on debates, public inquiries, and policy evolution during the Trudeau, Mulroney, and Chrétien eras, contextualizing these developments with a discussion of the changing patterns of women's employment since the Second World War. Drawing on a wealth of interviews and close analysis of primary documents, Driven Apart explains why federal governments have been able to implement employment equity policies but have failed to develop a national system of child care.

Book Description

A barrage of "handbooks" and "resource manuals" aimed at employers and legal practitioners on the employment rights of people with disabilities has begun to appear. Until now, however, there has been no serious book-length scholarly treatment of how mental disorder can affect work, how work can affect mental disorder, and the role of law in addressing employment discrimination based on mental rather than physical disability. In Mental Disorder, Work Disability and the Law, the editors bring together original work by leading scholars who have studied mental disorder and work disability from the fields of sociology, psychology, psychiatry, law, and economics. The authors' contributions build upon one another to create the first integrated account of the important policy issues at stake when law deals with the rights of mentally disordered citizens to work when they are able to, and to receive benefits when they are not.

This book will be of great value to scholars in law and the mental health professions and to policy makers and the administrators of disability programs.

Philosophical and Spritual Perspectives on Decent Work

Average customer rating:

The ILO is at it again.... do as I say, and not as I do

Philosophical and Spritual Perspectives on Decent Work

Manufacturer: International Labour Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9221141551

Customer Reviews:

The ILO is at it again.... do as I say, and not as I do.......2004-07-24

The moralizing tone of this book is its principal weakness, and that too, in the glaring face of contradiction for the ILO does not uphold the standards it so easily preaches to the world about. Why a whole book was written to reiterate points humanity subscribes to in theory, is beyond logic. On crucial issues the book makes only passing reference. Instead the fault is placed squarely at the door of immoral capitalists controlling the rules of the global market game. Issues like good governance or the failure of African leadership and endemic corruption on the continent are not touched. The ILO itself is drowning in irrelevance, diverting enormous amounts of money to host high profile Summits that will in the end make little difference to the creation of decent work on the African continent. Perhaps then, it wouldn't be a bad thing for the organization to practice what it haughtily preaches to the world. Those who have passed through its Geneva HQ know all too well, the complete chaos that rules, the total lack of respect for the rights this book goes on and on about. The organization is just ripe for a Farenheit 9/11 exposure... and this book deserves to be quoted in the opening scene.

The Right to Work (European Labour Forum Report)

Average customer rating:

The Right to Work (European Labour Forum Report)
John Hughes , and John Wells
Manufacturer: Spokesman Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0851245781

Average customer rating:

From The Innovation Road Map Magazine

From the annals of FadCompany magazine...

Skim it First, then Memorize it Last

Inspirational and digestible

Insightful reading

Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance, and Create Wealth
Raymond W. Smilor
Manufacturer: Adams Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Motivation & Self-Improvement | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

ASIN: 1580624766

Customer Reviews:

From The Innovation Road Map Magazine.......2005-05-13

If you are entrepreneur, aspiring to be an entrepreneur or an employee in a company being driven to be more entrepreneurial, this is the book for you. It is chunked into small chapters, easy to read and full of wisdom gained from years of study and experience. Ray Smilor is one of the premier researchers, thinkers and advocates for entrepreneurship not only in the U.S. but the world.

When I read a book, I do what people tell you not to do. I dog-ear the pages I think contain valuable insights or important facts. This book has probably a third of its 250 pages dog-eared.

Smilor writes, "The American economy of free agency reflects Charles Dickens's famous opening line in A Tale of Two Cities, "These are the best of times; these are the worst of times." For workers, we have a tale of two economies - the big-company economy and the entrepreneurial economy.

On the one hand, many workers are experiencing enormous dislocation. Traditional values of job security, seniority, and loyalty have been jarred by demands for flexibility, productivity, and performance. Driven by international competitiveness, innovative labor eliminating technologies, requirements for new kinds of skills and more decentralized, autonomous team approaches to getting the job done, large corporations have dramatically cut employees, changed reward systems, and altered management structures. In other words, they are trying to become more entrepreneurial."

Like it or not, we will all likely be asked to operate more entrepreneurially regardless of our profession. Smilor offers his sage advice and analysis in six sections - The Soul of the Entrepreneur, Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success, Skills of Entrepreneurs, Experience of Entrepreneurship, Managing the Dark Side and Social Impact of Entrepreneurship - and 50 chapters.

In the foreword, Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com, writes, "This book is about evangelists and revolutionaries - those daring souls who envision a better world, blaze new trails in business, and upset the status quo...I've come to the conclusion that all successful entrepreneurs have the elements of both within them."

Ray Smilor comments, "...each of us owns our own dreams. These dreams give purpose to our lives. A sausage manufacturer in Kansas City beams when talking about the quality and taste of his sausage; a software developer in Austin, Texas, radiates when describing her product; and a young designer of CD-ROMs in San Diego glows when showing off his latest innovation."

"George Bernard Shaw provides the essential insight into one's purpose. He said, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mightily one." writes Smilor. But it's more than a dream; there is responsibility. "Ownership, however is a two way street. Those who own have the responsibility to perform. Fulfillment and actualization of dreams come only with performance and achievement."

If you're interested in dreaming and then actualizing your dreams, this is a good book for you. Entrepreneurship is a journey. Like the hero's journey described by Campbell, the searcher learns that it is the journey not the destination that teaches about life.

From the annals of FadCompany magazine..........2002-10-13

No disrespect intended, but I happened to have worked for one of the "daring visionaries" profiled in this book. And from my own observations, it must be said that all too often, in a quest to package and glamourize "madcap" or "wild and crazy" startup cultures and their leaders, authors such as Mr. Smilor quietly ignore the potential liabilities of this style of entrepreneurship.

Put simply, it is all too easy to confuse impulsivity and extroversion for "visionary" leadership- simply because the theatre of wild displays of energy and risktaking are by their nature dramatic and impactful. But building and growing a great company is not a performance art. And the personality given to such behaviors may as easily be simply an improvisional actor portraying the role of a crazed and daring entrepreneur.

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that a talent for such antics isn't a guarantee of anything- especially true leadership skills. From my own experience, the manic charisma of our leader was complimented with a mercurial and frequently even self-destructive personality.

Charismatic leaders often are men or women of character- and I don't mean to imply anything to the contrary. Mr. Smilor makes other points beyond his glamorization of nutty dreamers, and I do not disagree with much of the rest of his book.

But to anyone who would take from this book the author's suggestion that "the wild and crazy things you do to enhance culture form the mythology of the company" I would add simply this. If the mythology of your company isn't the truth of your company, your company is engaged in delusion (at best) and deception (at worst).

Skim it First, then Memorize it Last.......2002-04-04

When I ordered this book, I was intrigued about statement given by a reviewer explaining how "enterpreneurship is a subset of management." I also had the mind-set that reading this book was going to be a total waste of time. I got prepared to read a motivational book that would not go beyond my short-term memory.

Entrepreneurs are a special breed. I agree that anyone with the desire, training and savvy can accomplish anything once the person is committed to it. Entrepreneurs are leaders, managers, learners and followers. Leadership and management are subsets of entrepreneurship. Mr. Smilor was correct when he admonished the dean at a leading business school. Schools today are only teaching students what they ought to know when they should also be training students on what to do! Entrepreneurs inspire people, create wealth and improve society in America. These are just a few of the many topics covered in short, but very concise chapters.

May I offer a suggestion for the entrepreneur who is just getting started or for the burned-out entrepreneur who has been in the trenches too long (that's me!). Skim the book like the first class taken in a post-graduate degree program. Make this book the first step in the long and winding process. I can assure you that many issues covered will not be fully absorbed the first time. Then, before presenting the start-up to investors, carefully review the book again, as the last step, to make sure you covered all the bases. You will get a new outlook and gain an entirely new appreciation for this book.

One final point. It demands total commitment and takes the ultimate sacrifice to be an entrepreneur. It is a gut-wrenching experience...

Inspirational and digestible.......2002-01-07

Smilor has captured not only the practical intuition of entrepreneurship - but its vital inspiring essence. His organization is coherent and bite-sized; perfect for a quick pick up, a fast scan, or a page-turning read. He obviously understands the needs of the fast-paced digester, leaving the reader with both solid academic/research/theoretical underpinnings as well as real-life stories of entrepreneurial inspiration. A terrific book for anyone running, growing or starting a new venture!

Insightful reading.......2001-08-20

Daring Visionaries discusses why there is an explosion of entrepreneurs and business startups, from building family-owned businesses to erecting mega corporations. It explains how at the heart of a contemporary business is an entrepreneur who took a risk to make a great decision. It explains the thought process of the entrepreneur whom is making an economic, social, and community difference.

The author, Ray Smilor, does an excellent job of captivating the reader from beginning to end; he includes facts and stories that backup his points and research on entrepreneurship. As well, included in the book are snippets of thoughts and ideas from well-known names in the business community.

The book is well laid out; it has 50+ short chapters and can be quickly read. I found this format for this topic to be excellent. Perhaps the format follows the thought process of the entrepreneur--being able to deal quickly with a lot of things in smaller discrete tasks, but having the big picture in mind.

My only issue--and it is a small one--with the book is a statement made by the author on page 226: "I remember a discussion with the dean of a leading business school who commented that entrepreneurship is a subset of management. 'No,' I replied, 'Management is a subset of entrepreneurship.'"

To be sure, entrepreneurs practice management in their endeavors. But management is a discipline/profession whereas entrepreneurship is something wholly different--more about how we take control of our lives and provide meaning to the community. In a way, the author's comment could imply that accounting is a subset of entrepreneurship. Or being profession-specific, engineering or dentistry are subsets of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, Peter Drucker, in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, clearly states that entrepreneurship is a very special management responsibility. Thus, the author created a subset relationship between management and entrepreneurship that is questionable. I think the statement momentarily breaks the book's flow.

The bottom line is that this is a decent book on entrepreneurs, on visionaries, and what it takes to live a self-defined life.

Average customer rating:
Author Releases 14th Entrepreneur Book.(Review) (book review): An article from: San Diego Business Journal
Mike Allen
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0008HZQ3G
Release Date: 2005-06-01

Book Description

This digital document is an article from San Diego Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on May 28, 2001. The length of the article is 1934 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Author Releases 14th Entrepreneur Book.(Review) (book review)
Author: Mike Allen
Publication: San Diego Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 28, 2001
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: 22 Issue: 22 Page: 44

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books