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Ferraris for All
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Ferraris for All

In defence of economic progress

Daniel Ben-Ami
Policy Press, 2010
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Well Structured
  • Visionary

Recommendation

If you’ve ever felt guilty about the accoutrements of life in the developed world – plentiful cars, abundant food, cheap energy – economics and finance journalist Daniel Ben-Ami says to stop. He contends that society’s elites are afflicted with wrongheaded ideas about how to improve the world. He argues that underprivileged countries desperately need capitalist growth to improve their people’s lives, and that developed nations should try to help them boom, not weigh them down with self-denial programs. Ben-Ami’s thinking and writing is spotlessly clear but unbendingly hard, and every once in a while he wanders off the path of logic. Nonetheless, he makes a formidable, controversial case. getAbstract suggests his book to corporate managers working on global outreach, economists, and big thinkers who want to ensure the invisible hand is outstretched for a leg up, not a slap in the face.

Summary

Life Is Good...Or Is It?

Life is immensely more enjoyable and considerably longer today than it was before the Industrial Revolution. Technological and medical advances have brought clean water, abundant electricity and the near-eradication of once-dreaded diseases. But for much of the developed world, progress is a cause for alarm, not celebration. Fears of exhausted resources, a ruined climate and a populace choking on consumerism have some serious thinkers proposing that the developed world scale back its living standards. Society’s elites believe that excessive greed is to blame for global fiscal collapse and the looming ruin of the physical world. But, on the contrary, humanity’s best hope lies in “greater affluence.”

The Problem of “Growth Skepticism”

The idea of economic expansion as a societal good dates back to the Enlightenment. Adam Smith, David Ricardo and François Quesnay all saw increases in wealth as harbingers of progress. This was a radical concept since, until about 1800, humanity’s basic lot had not improved appreciably from its earliest days. Industrialization changed all that for the better, but concerns about the benefits of wider prosperity...

About the Author

British journalist Daniel Ben-Ami has covered economics and finance for more than 20 years. He is the author of Cowardly Capitalism and the editor of Fund Strategy, a London investment newsletter.

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