Category: Books

What makes a nation wealthy?

Economists typically explain the wealth of a nation by pointing to good policies and the quality of a country’s institutions.  But why do these differences exist in the first place?

Professor Greg Clark of UC Davis, in his new book-length manuscript, resurrects Malthus, counters Jared Diamond (only recently has the European standard of living surpassed that of hunter-gatherer societies), shows the Industrial Revolution came only slowly, and argues that economists overrate the importance of good policy.  We can separate out the influence of policy by looking at the differential productivity on the factory floor, across regions.  The sheer quality of labor matters more than we used to think.  Quality labor attracts capital, which in turn supports good institutions. 

Here is the conclusion to my column:

Professor Clark’s idea-rich book may just prove to be the next blockbuster in economics.  He offers us a daring story of the economic foundations of good institutions and the climb out of recurring poverty.  We may not have cracked the mystery of human progress, but “A Farewell to Alms” brings us closer than before.

Clark also argues that sub-Saharan Africa is poorer than ever before, and that foreign aid worsens a zero-sum Malthusian trap.  He makes the startling claim that gains in health are the worst thing we can bring to modern Africa.  Here is the full column (by the way, I don’t write the titles or subtitles), which includes a link to Clark’s manuscript. 

The book is not yet out, but it is the best of its kind since Guns, Germs, and Steel

Which British authors were most popular in late nineteenth century India?

A sample of fourteen library catalogs, from across India, revealed that only two authors were in all fourteen: Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Sir Walter Scott.  Apparently the embellished novel was popular.

In thirteen of the catalogs were Dickens, Disraeli, and Thackeray.

In twelve of the catalogs were Marie Corelli, F. Marion Crawford, Dumas, George Eliot, Charles Kingsley, Captain Frederick Marryat, G.W.M. Reynolds, and Philip Meadows Taylor.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was in eleven.

The figures are from the new and noteworthy, The Novel: Volume 1, History, Geography, and Culture, edited by Franco Moretti; this volume is a treasure trove of information about the history and early economics of the novel.

Grab bag of books

1. Vicki Howard, Brides, Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition.  Weddings have become big business; this book tells you how and why.

2. Matthew D. Adler and Eric A. Posner, New Foundations of Cost-Benefit Analysis.  There is not exactly a new thesis here, but it is the most intelligent discussion to date of the strengths and limits of cost-benefit analysis.

3. Nation-States and the Multinational Corporation, by Nathan M. Jensen.  Rule of law and credibility, not low corporate taxes, are the key features in luring foreign investment.  You pro-tax people might think this is good news, but it probably just means that the burden of those taxes falls on labor, or on consumers.

4. The Marketplace of Christianity, by Robert B. Ekelund, Robert Hebert, and Robert D. Tollison.  This book is full of stimulating hypotheses, especially if you don’t flinch at chapters with titles like "The Counter-Reformation: Incumbent-Firm Reaction to Market Entry."  The economics of religion remains one of the most exciting fields.

5. Democratic Constitutional Design and Public Policy: Analysis and Evidence, edited by Roger Congleton and Birgitta Swedenborg.  This book offers the best minds in European public choice, Barry Weingast, and Roger.

Mindless eating

The best diet is the one you don’t know you are on.

I am not surprised to read this:

When eating in group of four or eight, light eaters ate more, and heavy eaters ate less.

Those are both from Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

Here is a New York Times article about the book; it summarizes the book’s practical tips.  Never let yourself forget how much you are eating.  You might also use smaller bowls and wrap transparent candy containers in aluminum foil. 

If you read only one book by Orhan Pamuk

The White Castle is short, fun, and Calvinoesque.  Not his best book but an excellent introduction and guaranteed to please.  Snow is deep, political, and captures the nuances of modern Turkey; it is my personal favorite.  The New Life isn’t read often enough; ideally it requires not only a knowledge of Dante, but also a knowledge of how Dante appropriated Islamic theological writings for his own ends.  My Name is Red is a complex detective story, beloved by many, often considered his best, but for me it is a little fluffy behind the machinations.  The Black Book is the one to read last, once you know the others.  Istanbul: Memories and the City is a non-fictional memoir and a knock-out.

What I’ve been reading

1. Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic, by Ray Takeyh.  A good implicit "public choice" treatment of how the different factions in the Iranian government fit together.  Surprisingly readable.

2. The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation, by David Kamp.  Terrible title, good content, awkward writing style, terrible font, little economics, still good for foodies but only for foodies.

3. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. "Post-apocalyptic masterpiece."  Fair enough, but is it better than The Dark Tower?  I’m not sure, but even to pose that question is to favor Stephen King.  Here is the NYT review.

4. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood, by Rashid Khalidi.  Some of the apologetics and omissions really bugged me.  But as to why the Palestinians failed to construct their own state — before the creation of Israel — I learned a great deal.

5. Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses.  His best novel.  Fun from the outset, and you can test your knowledge of Bollywood and Islamic theology.  Too famous as a political dispute, too little known as a book.

Public choice and the Nazis

On average, family members of German soldiers had 72.8 percent of peacetime household income at their disposal.  That is nearly double what families of American (36.7) and British soldiers (38.1) received.

Götz Aly’s new and noteworthy Hitler’s Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State tells us how.  The sad answer is that the Nazi regime lived off the resources it stole from conquered nations, forced labor, Jews, and refugees. 

The magnitude of the theft was much larger than I had thought.  In the fiscal year 1938-9, "Aryanization" increased government revenue by 9 percent.  At its peak, Nazi theft was able to finance 70 percent of war revenues, noting that "war revenues" is a flow but the concept does not measure the real resource costs of fighting the war.  See the book’s appendix for a response to some not totally unjustified criticisms of the author and his methods (the author’s claims seem to be correct as worded but the wording has narrower meaning than might strike an ordinary reader at first glance). 

The good news, if you could call it that, is simply that the wartime Nazi regime was less stable than believed and it would have encountered very serious economic and military difficulties once the full plunder was extracted from abroad.  If you are looking for a context where the long-run Laffer Curve holds, you’ll find it here. 

What I’ve been reading

1. The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love, by Richard Restak.  A good summary of a bunch of results I already knew, but a suitable introduction for most readers.  It doesn’t cover neuroeconomics.

2. Light in August, by William Faulkner.  I am rereading this, wondering whether I should use it for my Law and Literature class in the spring.  My memory was that this is the "easy" classic Faulkner but the text is tricker than I had remembered.  Not quite as good as As I Lay Dying or Absalom, Absalom.

3. Matthew Kahn, Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment.  From Brookings, a good and balanced treatment of the intersection between environmental and urban economics.  Here is Matt’s blog.

4. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion.  I’m still at p = .05, if only because I fear such a heavy reliance on the anthropic principle.  This book didn’t sway me one way or the other.  And while I am not religious myself, I am suspicious of anti-religious tracts which do not recognize great profundity in the Bible.  Furthermore, as Dawkins recognizes, civilization requires strong loyalties to abstract principles; I’m still waiting to see a list of the relevant contenders to choose the best.  Here is Dawkins speaking.

5. Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.  I loved Liar’s Poker and Moneyball but this one did not grab me at all.  I stopped.  Perhaps the reader needs to love football.  Here is a radio interview with the author.  Here is his NYT article.

We are Iran

Here is the UK cover for a book on Iranian bloggers:
Iran1_1
Your screen is OK, the image has lots of white space.  Here is the US cover of the same book:

Iran2

Are U.S. covers in general more literal?  Here is the the source; the fascinating blog is devoted to discussing book covers.  Here is the UK-US comparison for David Mitchell’s excellent Cloud Atlas.  Here is the Turkish cover of Freakonomics.  Here is an iPod ad from the Czech Republic.
 

Live as a conservative?

  • Charlie Daniels Band—Essential Super Hits of Charlie Daniels Band
  • Clint Black—Greatest Hits II
  • Craig Morgan—Craig Morgan
  • Daryl Worley—Have You Forgotten?
  • Kid Rock—Devil Without a Cause
  • Lee Greenwood—American Patriot
  • Michael W. Smith—Healing Rain
  • Toby Keith—Unleashed

Movies:

  • INDEPENDENCE DAY
  • RED DAWN
  • DIRTY HARRY
  • THE PATRIOT
  • PATTON
  • STAND AND DELIVER
  • FORREST GUMP
  • BRAZIL
  • LORD OF THE RINGS
  • LORD OF THE RINGS:  THE TWIN TOWERS
  • LORD OF THE RINGS:  THE RETURN OF THE KING
  • The link is from Jason Kottke.