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An important look at why some countries and ethnic groups are better off than others, and the role that cultural values play in the shaping of nations' and peoples' political, economic and social performance. Prominent scholars and journalists ponder the question of why, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world is more divided than ever between the rich and the poor, between those living in freedom and those under oppression.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's great to invite subject matter experts to participate in such an interesting but difficult discussion.
What makes the book so great is that there is no attempt to seduce you by OPIONS. The discussions are broard and
enligthen the subjects from different angles.
An intellegent book, Thanks
What makes the book so great is that there is no attempt to seduce you by OPIONS. The discussions are broard and
enligthen the subjects from different angles.
An intellegent book, Thanks
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
52 reviews
59 of 66 people found the following review helpful
It Certainly Seems to Matter
23 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
It certainly seems to matter. Why, after all, should Japan have been be rich while Taiwan was poor, if culture did not matter? Or Denmark been a nation of farmers while Holland held dominion over the trade routes of the world? And why, as is asked in one of the most frustratingly tentative essays in this very variable volume, do different immigrant groups to the United States have such very different careers? Of course, it is unfashionable to ask such questions lest someone believe that to say culture matters is to imply that race matters: ie that members of wealthy races are inherently superior to members of poor races. Perhaps that is why the most compelling essays in this book are by an African development economist and a Latin American journalist who exclaim impatiently that of course culture matters and insist that the thing their nations need is to discover the cultural components of economic success and import some. Even more refreshing is the essay by Ronald Inglehardt who brings - gasp - actual measurable data to this debate. Not that anything is quite settled. We are still left with the big questions, like: Why Europe? Why not China? and What was so special about eighteenth century England? On those questions, permit me to recommend two other new books. Nathan Pomeranz's THE GREAT DIVERGENCE, which bends over backwards to prove that China could equally well have given us the industrial revolution, but for a few chance occurances that have nothing to do with culture. And BULLOUGH'S POND by Diana Muir, which, in the course of discussing a number of other things, does lead one to wonder if there may have been something about those Calvinists after all.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
thought provoking
20 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
Agree or disagree, you have to admit that there is food for thought in this collection. After all, if culture doesn't matter why is Singapore rich while Banglsdesh starves? The problem with this sort of thing is that it is so hard to pin down. Jared Diamond, after all, can tell us exactly how many domesticable plants there were per square mile on any given coast, and a phalanx of econometric historians tells us how taxes or wages impacted growth at given points in the past. By comparison culture is a slippery customer. Still, this is an interesting read. As a companion volume, I recommend Diana Muir's Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a dazzling little volume that plays out the culture wars on the ground.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Uneven, but ultimately revealing and rewarding
1 Jan 2001
Format:Hardcover
The essays in this book are uneven. Some go nowhere, while others soar. Generally, the essays toward the beginning of the book -- those by David Landes, Michael Porter, and Carlos Montaner, especially -- are outstanding. In contrast, the essays toward the end of the book are, generally, uninspired and uninspiring.
The theme of the volume is that culture matters. The best half-dozen essays in this book (along with the nice Introduction by Lawrence Harrison) make a powerful case that culture does indeed matter. It remains true that a generally accepted and precise definition of culture remains elusive; certainly, doing useful quantitative analyses of cultures is, as of now, only far off on the horizon. But the imprecisions that still mark discussions and analyses of culture should not prejudice scholars against recognizing the large role that culture plays in determining economic outcomes.
Anyone who believes that economic outcomes are strictly determined by the laws and regulations enforced by a sovereign state should read this book. He or she will have an almost-impossible task defending that position.
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