23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Chang, Ha-Joon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141047976 ISBN 13: 9780141047973

Publisher: Penguin, 2011

Ha-Joon Chang's 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism turns received economic wisdom on its head to show you how the world really works.

In this revelatory book, Ha-Joon Chang destroys the biggest myths of our times and shows us an alternative view of the world, including:

There's no such thing as a 'free' market
Globalization isn't making the world richer
We don't live in a digital world - the washing machine has changed lives more than the internet
Poor countries are more entrepreneurial than rich ones
Higher paid managers don't produce better results

We don't have to accept things as they are any longer. Ha-Joon Chang is here to show us there's a better way.

'Lively, accessible and provocative ... read this book' - Sunday Times

'A witty and timely debunking of some of the biggest myths surrounding the global economy' - Observer

'The new kid on the economics block ... Chang's iconoclastic attitude has won him fans' - Independent on Sunday

'Lucid ... audacious ... increasingly influential ... will provoke physical symptoms of revulsion if you are in any way involved in high finance' - Guardian

'Important ... persuasive ... an engaging case for a more caring era of globalization' - Financial Times

'A must-read ... incisive and entertaining' - New Statesman Books of the Year

Ha-Joon Chang is a Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge. He is author of Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective, which won the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize, and Bad Samaritans: Rich Nations, Poor Policies and the Threat to the Developing World. Since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, he has been a regular contributor to the Guardian, and a vocal critic of the failures of our economic system.

Review:

A masterful debunking of some of the myths of capitalism ... Witty, iconoclastic and uncommonly commonsensical ... this book will be invaluable (Observer)

Important .. persuasive . [an] engaging case for a more cautious and caring era of globalisation (Financial Times)

Myth-busting and nicely-written . the best economists are those who look around at our man-made world and ask themselves "why?". Chang is one (Independent)

In 23 lucid, sometimes breezily didactic chapters, Chang takes apart the stricken ideology of neoliberalism. Chang's method is not to engage with the neoliberals but to knock them down with assertions. (Paul Mason, Economics Editor, BBC Newsnight Guardian)

Ha-Joon Chang is a formidable critic...and a true exponent of the art of political economy (Michael Lind Prospect)

Chang's...iconoclastic attitude has won him fans such as Bob Geldof and Noam Chomsky. (Rachel Shields The Independent on Sunday)

For anyone who wants to understand capitalism not as economists or politicians have pictured it, but as it actually operates, this book will be invaluable. (John Gray Observer)

About the Author:

Born in South Korea, No 1 International Bestselling Author Ha-Joon Chang is a specialist in development economics and Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge. In 2005, Chang was awarded the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. He is author of Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002), which won the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize, and Bad Samaritans: Rich Nations, Poor Policies and the Threat to the Developing World (2007). Since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, he has been a regular contributor to the Guardian, and a vocal critic of the failures of our economic system.