- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; First Edition edition (23 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0199291993
- ISBN-13: 978-0199291991
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 959,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Capitalism Unleashed : Finance, Globalization, and Welfare
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Review
This is by far the best economic history of how capitalism developed since the end of World War II and in particular since the 1970s oil shock. It is full of valuable information and should be required reading for students, as it tells clearly the issues and problems that motivate current economic research and debate. (Richard B. Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University and Director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research )
For those of us who wish to work towards a juster world, despondent whining and wishful thinking are of little use. What we do need is a rigorous, well-documented, intellectually honest analysis of how and why capitalism has been tightening its grip over the world in the last few decades. Andrew Glyn's Capitalism Unleashed offers such an analysis. But it does more. It shows how this development calls for radical reforms different from those traditionally envisaged by capitalism's critics, and how it may well make them possible - at least if we prove persistent enough to keep pushing and clever enough to understand when and how. (Philippe Van Parijs, University of Louvain and Harvard University )
A dominant orthodoxy requires intelligent critics. Capitalism is today's dominant orthodoxy; Oxford University's Andrew Glyn is that critic. In this short, lucid and penetrating book, he examines how and why a free market economy came to be restored over the past two and a half decades, while condemning many of its consequences. The free market has, he argues, not only failed to deliver accelerated growth, but has worsened inequality and undermined economic security. Supporters of market economies must not ignore such criticisms. In particular, they must recognise the compatibility of a dynamic market economy with an intelligently designed welfare state. (Martin Wolf, Financial Times )
This short book, which is written by one of Britain's foremost political economists, Andrew Glyn, is a gem. It is vintage Glyn - carefully and scrupulously documented, accessible, and to this reviewer, thoroughly convincing. This book provides a thoughtful and profound analysis of contemporary capitalism. (Ajit Singh, Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge )
In lucid prose, and with striking graphs and vivid quotes, Andrew Glyn lays out a concise economic history of developed countries in the last decades of the twentieth century. As he explains, there was a decisive and unexpected return to 'business as usual', but the economic and social benefits of this shift are much less clear. (Adrian Wood, Professor of International Development, University of Oxford )
For those of us who wish to work towards a juster world, despondent whining and wishful thinking are of little use. What we do need is a rigorous, well-documented, intellectually honest analysis of how and why capitalism has been tightening its grip over the world in the last few decades. Andrew Glyn's Capitalism Unleashed offers such an analysis. But it does more. It shows how this development calls for radical reforms different from those traditionally envisaged by capitalism's critics, and how it may well make them possible - at least if we prove persistent enough to keep pushing and clever enough to understand when and how. (Philippe Van Parijs, University of Louvain and Harvard University )
A dominant orthodoxy requires intelligent critics. Capitalism is today's dominant orthodoxy; Oxford University's Andrew Glyn is that critic. In this short, lucid and penetrating book, he examines how and why a free market economy came to be restored over the past two and a half decades, while condemning many of its consequences. The free market has, he argues, not only failed to deliver accelerated growth, but has worsened inequality and undermined economic security. Supporters of market economies must not ignore such criticisms. In particular, they must recognise the compatibility of a dynamic market economy with an intelligently designed welfare state. (Martin Wolf, Financial Times )
This short book, which is written by one of Britain's foremost political economists, Andrew Glyn, is a gem. It is vintage Glyn - carefully and scrupulously documented, accessible, and to this reviewer, thoroughly convincing. This book provides a thoughtful and profound analysis of contemporary capitalism. (Ajit Singh, Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge )
In lucid prose, and with striking graphs and vivid quotes, Andrew Glyn lays out a concise economic history of developed countries in the last decades of the twentieth century. As he explains, there was a decisive and unexpected return to 'business as usual', but the economic and social benefits of this shift are much less clear. (Adrian Wood, Professor of International Development, University of Oxford )
Product Description
Free enterprise is off the leash and chasing new opportunities for profit making across the globe. After a turbulent century of unprecedented social and technological change, Capitalism has emerged as the dominant ideology and model for economic growth in the richest, most developed countries. But only thirty years ago economic growth was faltering, inflation rising and the Left were arguing for greater state intervention in industry. How did this remarkable transformation happen? And what price have we paid in the process? This accessible and persuasive book challenges the notion of our capitalist destiny. It provides a clear and concise history of the problems facing the economies of Europe, Japan and the US during the latter half of the twentieth century and questions whether capitalism has really brought the levels of economic growth and prosperity that were hoped for. Andrew Glyn then looks at the impact the rapidly developing economies of China and the South are likely to have on the older economies of the North. As the race is on to maintain growth and protect competitive advantage, Glyn asks: is the 'race-to-the bottom' inevitable as the anti-globalisers predict, with welfare states being dismantled to meet competitive demands? Or is there an alternative model which sees a strong commitment to welfare provision as essential to economic growth? Can we afford not to tackle inequality at home as well as abroad?
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We all had the feeling it could come apart in quite a serious way. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
We all had the feeling it could come apart in quite a serious way. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Capitalism Unleashed" is a sober, meticulously-researched and ultimately quite convincing analysis of what has happened to the global economy over the last 50 years.
Author Andrew Glyn's rhetorical starting point is the cosy days of the 1950s: the so-called "Golden Age" of western capitalism when there was plenty of work to go around and the economic cake was shared out relatively equally thanks to generous welfare states.
Somewhere between then and now we ended up with deregulated labour markets, welfare state retrenchment, workplace insecurity and - worst of all in Glyn's view - an enormous ratcheting up of social inequalities. Most economists agree that the culprit in all this is globalisation (defined as the growing internationalisation of capital with the threat of exit). What this book tries to do - and succeeds, in my view - is show how the results of this process were conditioned by specific government responses to globalisation in terms of the economic policies they chose to pursue.
In other words, Glyn's point is that, while globalisation is probably inevitable, governments don't have to respond to them by slashing welfare safety nets or allowing multinationals carte blanch to do as they like. This, unfortunately, is how a number of countries have responded, to a greater or lesser degree, and Glyn shows how this is as much a result of governments and multilateral institutions' willingness to swallow neo-liberal economic dogma as any reasoned analysis of the situation.
The book is divided into topical chapters dealing with, among other things, growth policies, labour markets, welfare states, the emerging Asian economies and financial regulation. Each chapter is laced with statistics and, while the jargon is kept to a minimum, readers will find some acquaintance with economics concepts useful.
Glyn is an Oxford economics don, and former advisor to the National Union of Mineworkers - so he is plainly not without an agenda. Fortunately, he makes he case through rigorous analysis and careful marshalling of the facts rather than the vacuous posturing and childish conspiracy theories which characterise much of the rest of the Left's critique of globalisation.
Author Andrew Glyn's rhetorical starting point is the cosy days of the 1950s: the so-called "Golden Age" of western capitalism when there was plenty of work to go around and the economic cake was shared out relatively equally thanks to generous welfare states.
Somewhere between then and now we ended up with deregulated labour markets, welfare state retrenchment, workplace insecurity and - worst of all in Glyn's view - an enormous ratcheting up of social inequalities. Most economists agree that the culprit in all this is globalisation (defined as the growing internationalisation of capital with the threat of exit). What this book tries to do - and succeeds, in my view - is show how the results of this process were conditioned by specific government responses to globalisation in terms of the economic policies they chose to pursue.
In other words, Glyn's point is that, while globalisation is probably inevitable, governments don't have to respond to them by slashing welfare safety nets or allowing multinationals carte blanch to do as they like. This, unfortunately, is how a number of countries have responded, to a greater or lesser degree, and Glyn shows how this is as much a result of governments and multilateral institutions' willingness to swallow neo-liberal economic dogma as any reasoned analysis of the situation.
The book is divided into topical chapters dealing with, among other things, growth policies, labour markets, welfare states, the emerging Asian economies and financial regulation. Each chapter is laced with statistics and, while the jargon is kept to a minimum, readers will find some acquaintance with economics concepts useful.
Glyn is an Oxford economics don, and former advisor to the National Union of Mineworkers - so he is plainly not without an agenda. Fortunately, he makes he case through rigorous analysis and careful marshalling of the facts rather than the vacuous posturing and childish conspiracy theories which characterise much of the rest of the Left's critique of globalisation.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found Capitalism Unleashed very stimulating and interesting and would recomend anyone interested in recent economic history. Well written and clearly explained this was truly every bit as good as the reviews made it out to be.
Format:Paperback
Glyn has done a lot of excellent research. He shows that prtivatisation doesn't work. Even the OECD admits that privatisation has brought `job loss, ... longer hours, decreased job security and union power' (Privatising state owned enterprises, 2003).
He compares Sweden's social- democratic model to the Anglo-Saxon model, and show how Sweden's economy performs far better. Sweden's productivity in manufacturing grew 6 per cent a year between 1990 and 2003, while the USA's grew only 5.2 per cent and Britain's 3.2 per cent.
Sweden's ratio of R&D spending to GDP was half as big again as Britain's. The Swedish state's share of GDP was 59.8 per cent, but there was no great loss of competitiveness, no great exodus of capital or of skilled people.
He compares Sweden's social- democratic model to the Anglo-Saxon model, and show how Sweden's economy performs far better. Sweden's productivity in manufacturing grew 6 per cent a year between 1990 and 2003, while the USA's grew only 5.2 per cent and Britain's 3.2 per cent.
Sweden's ratio of R&D spending to GDP was half as big again as Britain's. The Swedish state's share of GDP was 59.8 per cent, but there was no great loss of competitiveness, no great exodus of capital or of skilled people.
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