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	Name:	MartiniMan -
	Subject:	Interesting book to read
	Date:	1/15/2010 2:46:56 PM

I am a third of the way through a very interesting book by a couple of economic historians that you would enjoy. Called "From Poverty to Prosperity: Intangible Assets, Hidden Liabilities and The Lasting Triumph over Scarcity". Their basic thesis is that conventional economics do not adequately describe why economies fail or succeed. That there are hidden liabilities and assets (what the authors call software) that dictate success that have little to do with the abundance of natural resources or other hard capital (what the authors call hardware). Think the success of Hong Kong with no natural resources versus Russia with vast natural resources and a large manufacturing base. That is why sending money or building manufacturing in developing countries with dysfunctional governments for example will not have the desired effect unless and until they resolve their software problem. Haiti is a great example of this when compared to the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Interestingly, two of the factors that they say are common to successful economies are the rule of law (specifically contract law) and individual property rights. Both of which are under attack by our government today. They do not argue for no government but they do argue that government only do what cannot be accomplished by the free markets (along with reasonable regulations to ensure that the free markets perform reasonably well).

Another interesting point they make is that while natural resources are finite the various combinations of those resources is infinite. That is why we can't just look at real income as a measure of improving our standard of living. You also need to look at how many hours of work it takes to purchase certain goods and services. It is amazing the growth in prosperity in this country (i.e., the number of hours you have to work to buy say a gallon of milk) since the industrial revolution and the acceleration of oue learning.

I am not through the book as yet but so far it seems to make sense to me when you look at the world around us.

Other messages in this thread:

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Brooks agrees with Rush - MartiniMan - 1/15/2010 12:47:57 PM

Brooks agrees with Rush - wix - 1/15/2010 2:21:17 PM

Interesting book to read - MartiniMan - 1/15/2010 2:46:56 PM

Brooks agrees with Rush - widgethater - 1/15/2010 5:11:47 PM

Brooks agrees with Rush - MartiniMan - 1/15/2010 6:23:41 PM

Brooks agrees with Rush - MAJ USA RET - 1/17/2010 9:47:42 AM

Brooks agrees with Rush - MartiniMan - 1/18/2010 8:49:11 AM

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