After the New Economy [Hardcover]

It was worth the wait. Henwood starts off just where you'd expect --- poking fun at the Internet revolutionaries, the intellectual
frauds who claimed the US economy had reached a new age.

Then he gets into the numbers. Oh man, does he have numbers. Chapters two and three are all about productivity, income, and
wealth. He gives you a few statistics, he explains what they mean, and then he tells you that the numbers can't be trusted. (He has a habit of saying, "What does this all mean? Honestly, no one knows. But I'll make an educated guess.") This kind of
humility is rare among economists. He forces you to form your own opinion about the accuracy of the numbers and their
relevance.

Despite the constant caveats, a clear picture emerges. The US economy is deeply integrated into the world economy, with Third
World patterns of wealth and worker control developing right here in the First World. Although the US is still more comfortable
than, say, Colombia, it's falling behind countries like Belgium and France. Divisions of wealth, a pathetic social safety net, and weak unions keep an overworked, low-paid, insecure workforce in their place.

Then he turns to globalization. This chapter has a few problems. Henwood likes cosmopolitanism --- the social form of
globalization. And he says the international economy has been around for over a century, so we shouldn't treat it like something new. Then he picks a handful of people who don't represent the anti-globalization movement --- people from Earth First and self-appointed experts such as David Korten --- and uses their crazy quotes. But it turns out that he agrees with the
anti-globalization protesters on most issues. So why does he take this approach? Because the anti-globalization activists are using the wrong name for their movement.

That might sound like a petty basis for a chapter in a book about the New Economy. And it is.

Then he gets back on track. He finishes with a brilliant chapter on finance. Picking up where he left off in his previous book, he
shows that economists don't care how international investment or the stock market *really* works. He describes crooked stock
analysts, corrupt CEOs, and disciples of the "broadband future." He quotes former World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz
saying that the IMF can't avoid programs that bankrupt Third World countries because bankruptcy isn't in their computer
models.

By the time you're done with this book, you'll want to read it again. It's packed with small, easily-understandable charts. The
writing style is very good --- Henwood sounds like he's sitting next to you, talking to you about economics at your level. I highly
recommend After the New Economy to anyone who cares about the current state of work and money in the world.

He divides his analysis into 5 general themes:

"novelty" (economics should be viewed historically so as to identify both the old and the new, both patterns and changes);

"work" (productivity gains do not clearly show up in increased wages or increased profits and have not led to better jobs for most workers);

"income" (income and wealth disparities continue to exist and inequality continues along racial, gender and national divisions; and workers are not as upwardly mobile as we would like to believe);

"globalization" (a concept about as fuzzy as the "New Economy," whether used by its advocates or its enemies, that often obscures thoughtful consideration of the long-standing and long-increasing international reach of the economy); and

"finance" (the increase in the number of financial assets and especially the increaed speed at which they trade in the financial markets may have less to do with smart investment in productive activities than in benefitting financial managers and top executives and in increasing profits of already-financed companies).

Henwood suggests that the bursting of the New Economy bubble is likely to have long-term effects that will lead to continued polarization of income/wealth, insecurity, etc. However, he also sees reason for optimism because of continued calls that we can understand the world and the economy in ways that will allow us to move beyond misleading concepts such as "New Economy" and/or "globalization." To support his optimism, he points to Hardt and Negri's book, Empire; to his own belief in the power of unionized labor and domestic politics/policies to battle inequality/polarization; and even to the well-kicked New Economy's proponents' call for the democratization of ownership.

Some readers may find this book most interesting for Henwood's pulling together far-ranging economic indicators and his ability to discuss them coherently without glossing them (with concepts such as New Economy or globalization). Whether these disparate indicators can bear much analytical weight when used in conjunction with one another is a different matter, of course, but Henwood's lead-by-example optimism that we can get into the nitty gritty details ourselves to look at what our economy is doing and find a way to improve things is compelling.