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A review by hikemogan
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
5.0
Ha-Joon Chang's Bad Samaritans picks apart what has become dogma in the Western world: free trade and free markets always ultimately produce economic development. Western economists from the Chicago School to the IMF and World Bank tell countries to drop all protections, implement "structural adjustments", and restrictions to entry for wealthy established foreign corporations. The underdeveloped country is promised -- after a possible rough patch oftentimes-- that Western-style affluence and industrialization will be their reward. All of this is necessary, the IMF proclaims, because in order to compete in today's globalized economy there needs to be a "level playing field." Chang points out however that a level playing field still is still unfair when the players on the developing country's team are outmatched by the awesome power, money, influence and technology of the Western world.
Thus, the United States and Europe tell the "third world" to drop all labor standards, all state support for fledgling industries, and all environmental protections, even when one would be hard pressed to find this systematic vulnerability and trust in capitalism where the United States' and Europe's own industries are concerned.
Using the United States as an example: government protection and investment led to the development of the internet (via military spending and research in ARPANET), a large portion of the pharmaceutical industry in that country (a wide range of vaccines developed through university and federal funding), space travel, nuclear power, and a wide range of other technologies. At some point, the private sector took each of these over and ran with the ideas first developed via government spending. But the genesis of these ideas was with government investment and protection of infant industries. Even for industries which weren't uniquely American, the government there protected and financed everyone from farmers to weapons manufacturers, and continues to do so today with its banking, auto, and energy sectors.
Yet after an industrial and digital revolution which served the West so well, Ha-Joon Chang points out that the West's prescription through the IMF and World Bank is for underdeveloped countries to do the exact opposite. Chang notes that this prescription rarely alleviates the poverty and brain drain that plague these countries, indeed it often worsens these issues.
Thus, the United States and Europe tell the "third world" to drop all labor standards, all state support for fledgling industries, and all environmental protections, even when one would be hard pressed to find this systematic vulnerability and trust in capitalism where the United States' and Europe's own industries are concerned.
Using the United States as an example: government protection and investment led to the development of the internet (via military spending and research in ARPANET), a large portion of the pharmaceutical industry in that country (a wide range of vaccines developed through university and federal funding), space travel, nuclear power, and a wide range of other technologies. At some point, the private sector took each of these over and ran with the ideas first developed via government spending. But the genesis of these ideas was with government investment and protection of infant industries. Even for industries which weren't uniquely American, the government there protected and financed everyone from farmers to weapons manufacturers, and continues to do so today with its banking, auto, and energy sectors.
Yet after an industrial and digital revolution which served the West so well, Ha-Joon Chang points out that the West's prescription through the IMF and World Bank is for underdeveloped countries to do the exact opposite. Chang notes that this prescription rarely alleviates the poverty and brain drain that plague these countries, indeed it often worsens these issues.