Reclaiming Development: An Alternative Economic Policy Manual

by Ha-Joon Chang, Ilene Grabel

The authors of this book challenge prevailing ideas about free markets and globalization. They question whether globalization is a technological reality that cannot be stopped and ask if the US economy really outperformed its competitors in the 1990s. They show how in each key area--trade and industrial policy, privatization, intellectual property rights, investment and financial policies, exchange rate and currency policy, labour and social welfare --there are alternatives to neoliberal policies that the historical experience of particular countries prove really works.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics, Economic Development, Academic, Political Science

246 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean institutional economist, specializing in development economics. Currently he is a reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge.

Reviews

[Yasemin Ugur · Rating 5 out of 5]

ODTÜ’den saygıdeğer bir hocamın tezime katkısının olacağını düşünerek tavsiye ettiği bu kitap, Özellikle soğuk savaş sonrası küresel iktisadi krizlerin yaygınlaşması ile washington konsensusun revize edilmesine duyulan ihtiyacın açıkça ortaya çıktığı 2000 li yılların ilk çeyreğinde yazılmıştır. Tam da bu dönemlerde (ABD’nin tek taraflı ekonomik hamlelerinin de giderek arttığı konjonktürde) krizden en çok etkilenmiş olan gelişmekte olan ülkeler tarafından üretilen (neo-liberal iktisat politikalarına karşı) alternatif bir politika öneri demeti sunmaktadır. Kitap akışında, önce iktisadi politikaları(mali, parasal, finansal, dış ticaret...vb. alanlara ayırıp) neo-liberal perspektiften değerlendirmiş, sonrasında da karşısına daha etkin olduğunu verilerle ispatladığı kalkınmacı ve üçüncü dünyacı alternatiflerini koymuştur. Kapitalizme alternatif kalkınma politikalarının etkinliğini dayanakları ile bulabileceğiniz önemli bir baş ucu kitabı!
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[Paul Kuntze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but I don't think it is quite at the level of "23 thing they don't tell you about capitalism" by Ha-Joon Chang. It makes some concessions in the point of academic rigor to be more readable for laymen, but the arguments seem to have a little less power to convince than those in "23 things". Apart from that, the myth busting part greatly resembles that of "23 things", so it did not give me much new information.
It is the policy recommendation where this book truly shines, giving a more practical outlook on how the alternative development strategies that the authors recommend can be applied in the real world under the constraints of the present international trade regimes. I also rally like the 'recommended readings' list, which is a list of papers that support and further explore each of the policy alternatives presented in the book, which makes it much more academically usable than "23 things".

[Julien Comardelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense but so informative. Ha-Joon Chang collects an extensive heterodox(Other Canon and others) economic literature on the core problems of economic development. Chang collects a wide neoliberal literature, which provides a valuable balance to readers and allows Chang's arguments to be better understood and tempered.

Overall, read it.

[Alex Kondrashin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute must read, page-turner.

[Elias Fuentes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verry Good

[Marcel Schwarz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good suggestions on how countries should approach capitalism today to be successful. Just a bit dry both in structure and content.