The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 007144291X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE INTELLIGENT ASSET ALLOCATOR Praise for The Birth of Plenty: "Bill Bernstein has given us a compact and immensely readable economic, political, military, and institutional history of our civilization that is a tour de force. Put everything else down. Take a deep breath. Open The Birth of Plenty. And prepare to be amazed. --John C. Bogle, Founder and Former CEO, The Vanguard Group "The Birth of Plenty is a brilliantly written, whirlwind account of how the modern world was formed. It is a hugely enjoyable read, full of vigor and liveliness, and a book every American should possess--at least those who treasure our abundant life and care about our future." --William Schultheis, Author, The Coffeehouse Investor "Put simply, this is my favorite economic history book. It gathers what is interesting about economic history to draw important lessons." --Ed Tower, Professor of Economics, Duke University "William Bernstein scrutinizes the research literature, distills it with originality and insight, then shares the results with classic Bernstein clarity and wit. Ideologues on both political wings should prepare to have their assumptions challenged." --Bernard Sherman, Host, Talk of Iowa - Focus on Finance radio show A daring look at the development of human prosperity--how it was created, and where it's headed In the breakthrough spirit of Against the Gods, William Bernstein's The Birth of Plenty has the topical uniqueness and storytelling panache to literally create its own category and reader. Based upon the premise that mankind experienced virtually zero economic growth from the dawn of time until 1820, this provocative, bigpicture book identifies the four conditions necessary for sustained economic progress--property rights, scientific rationalism, capital markets, and communications and transportation technology-- and then analyzes their gradual appearance and impact throughout every corner of the globe. Filled with bestselling author William Bernstein's trademark meticulous research and page-turning writing style, The Birth of Plenty explores: Where the world economy could be headed next Implications of the book's thesis for today's society How the absence of one or more of the conditions continues to threaten beleaguered regions Rare is the book that proposes an entirely new premise, validates that premise with inarguable research and analysis, and then explains beyond question both the relevance and the implications of its premise to the reader and the world at large. The Birth of Plenty is just such a book. From its unique, topical subject matter to its tremendous review potential, this insightful book will be one of the most talked-about volumes of the publishing season.

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 007144291X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book Here

Book Description
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE INTELLIGENT ASSET ALLOCATOR Praise for The Birth of Plenty: "Bill Bernstein has given us a compact and immensely readable economic, political, military, and institutional history of our civilization that is a tour de force. Put everything else down. Take a deep breath. Open The Birth of Plenty. And prepare to be amazed. --John C. Bogle, Founder and Former CEO, The Vanguard Group "The Birth of Plenty is a brilliantly written, whirlwind account of how the modern world was formed. It is a hugely enjoyable read, full of vigor and liveliness, and a book every American should possess--at least those who treasure our abundant life and care about our future." --William Schultheis, Author, The Coffeehouse Investor "Put simply, this is my favorite economic history book. It gathers what is interesting about economic history to draw important lessons." --Ed Tower, Professor of Economics, Duke University "William Bernstein scrutinizes the research literature, distills it with originality and insight, then shares the results with classic Bernstein clarity and wit. Ideologues on both political wings should prepare to have their assumptions challenged." --Bernard Sherman, Host, Talk of Iowa - Focus on Finance radio show A daring look at the development of human prosperity--how it was created, and where it's headed In the breakthrough spirit of Against the Gods, William Bernstein's The Birth of Plenty has the topical uniqueness and storytelling panache to literally create its own category and reader. Based upon the premise that mankind experienced virtually zero economic growth from the dawn of time until 1820, this provocative, bigpicture book identifies the four conditions necessary for sustained economic progress--property rights, scientific rationalism, capital markets, and communications and transportation technology-- and then analyzes their gradual appearance and impact throughout every corner of the globe. Filled with bestselling author William Bernstein's trademark meticulous research and page-turning writing style, The Birth of Plenty explores: Where the world economy could be headed next Implications of the book's thesis for today's society How the absence of one or more of the conditions continues to threaten beleaguered regions Rare is the book that proposes an entirely new premise, validates that premise with inarguable research and analysis, and then explains beyond question both the relevance and the implications of its premise to the reader and the world at large. The Birth of Plenty is just such a book. From its unique, topical subject matter to its tremendous review potential, this insightful book will be one of the most talked-about volumes of the publishing season.

A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 1555848435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
A Financial Times and Economist Best Book of the Year exploring world trade from Mesopotamia in 3,000 BC to modern globalization. How did trade evolve to the point where we don’t think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Birth of Plenty, traces the story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. Journey from ancient sailing ships carrying silk from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly on spices in the sixteenth; from the American trade battles of the early twentieth century to the modern era of televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, and T-shirts from China. Bernstein conveys trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an ever-evolving historical constant, like war or religion, that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species. “[An] entertaining and greatly enlightening book.” —The New York Times “A work of which Adam Smith and Max Weber would have approved.” —Foreign Affairs “[Weaves] skillfully between rollicking adventures and scholarship.” —Pietra Rivoli, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

Essential Goals in World Politics

Essential Goals in World Politics PDF Author: Jisi Wang
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811605629
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
This book presents a unique effort to apply political philosophy to realities of the world. Among numerous objectives that states, politicians, and individuals try to reach, some are vague, like power, interest, and happiness. Some others, like democracy, order, and rule of law, are ways and means to serve more fundamental purposes. While national reunification is seen as prerequisite on the political agenda of the People’s Republic of China and both South and North Koreas, and religious purity is regarded as essential to many Muslim communities, these are not universally accepted principal goals in the world. The author identifies and defines security, wealth, faith, justice, and freedom as five ultimate goals in world politics and explains why they are central. Without jargons and using many cases in China and other countries, the author illustrates that different countries at different times have varied priorities in their national politics, but they must provide security, sustain economic growth, set up a value system, maintain social justice, and secure personal freedom for their citizens. Although the world today has been relatively peaceful and accumulated much more wealth as compared to the past centuries, vacuums of faith and morality, conflicting beliefs, and lack of social justice are threatening mankind. In theory, the five ultimate goals should be reached simultaneously and reinforce each other. However, in practice they are often in contradiction. For example, national security might be strengthened at the expense of prosperity, and industrialization for economic growth has sacrificed nontraditional security interests such as the environment. The accumulation of wealth often results in its unequal distribution and grievances about injustice, and freedom and equality are regarded by some political thinkers as “natural enemies” to each other. A virtuous state should be able to reach all the five goals, while a bad state may not have even one of them. Looking around the world today, Denmark in Europe and Japan in Asia are closer to a virtuous state than most other countries despite their own deficiencies, but they are generally homogeneous in terms of ethnicity and culture. Singapore, with its ethnic diversity, has to limit freedom to obtain other goals. This book compares the development paths of China, the United States, and some other countries to demonstrate their advantages and disadvantages in becoming a better polity.

The Objectification Spectrum

The Objectification Spectrum PDF Author: John M. Rector
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019935541X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The Objectification Spectrum draws upon timeless wisdom to propose a new model of objectification as a spectrum of misapprehension running from mild to extreme manifestations. Utilizing compelling historical examples, the author explores dispositional and situational factors contributing to the problem, and also presents objectification's antidote--the enlightenment spectrum.

The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law

The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law PDF Author: Peter Muchlinski
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191552364
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1352

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbooks series is a major new initiative in academic publishing. Each volume offers an authoritative and state-of-the-art survey of current thinking and research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned essays from leading international figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law aims to provide the first truly exhaustive account of the current state and future development of this important and topical field of international law. The Handbook is divided into three main parts. Part One deals with fundamental conceptual issues, Part Two deals with the main substantive areas of law, and Part Three deals with the major procedural issues arising out of the settlement of international investment disputes. The book has a policy-oriented introduction, setting the more technical chapters that follow in their policy environment within which contemporary norms for international foreign investment law are evolving. The Handbook concludes with a chapter written by the editors to highlight the major conclusions of the collection, to identify trends in the existing law, and to look forward to the future development of this field.

American History Revised

American History Revised PDF Author: Seymour Morris, Jr.
Publisher: Broadway Books
ISBN: 0307587614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
“American History Revised is as informative as it is entertaining and humorous. Filled with irony, surprises, and long-hidden secrets, the book does more than revise American history, it reinvents it.”—James Bamford, bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and The Shadow Factory This spirited reexamination of American history delves into our past to expose hundreds of startling facts that never made it into the textbooks, and highlights how little-known peopleand events played surprisingly influential roles in the great American story. We tend to think of history as settled, set in stone, but American History Revised reveals a past that is filled with ironies, surprises, and misconceptions. Living abroad for twelve years gave author Seymour Morris Jr. the opportunity to view his country as an outsider and compelled him to examine American history from a fresh perspective. As Morris colorfully illustrates through the 200 historical vignettes that make up this book, much of our nation’s past is quite different—and far more remarkable—than we thought. We discover that: • In the 1950s Ford was approached by two Japanese companies begging for a joint venture. Ford declined their offers, calling them makers of “tin cars.” The two companies were Toyota and Nissan. • Eleanor Roosevelt and most women’s groups opposed the Equal Rights Amendment forbidding gender discrimination. • The two generals who ended the Civil War weren’t Grant and Lee. • The #1 bestselling American book of all time was written in one day. • The Dutch made a bad investment buying Manhattan for $24. • Two young girls aimed someday to become First Lady—and succeeded. • Three times, a private financier saved the United States from bankruptcy. Organized into ten thematic chapters, American History Revised plumbs American history’s numerous inconsistencies, twists, and turns to make it come alive again.

Patently Outdated

Patently Outdated PDF Author: Nuno Pires de Carvalho
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041141995
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
An economy of services largely dominates our world today, but no patent system is available to support it. All signs point increasingly to evidence that in almost all countries—and as enshrined in the TRIPS Agreement—patent rules and procedures are seriously handicapped in their incapacity to respond to current economic reality. Many inventions today are made without any materiality, yet they are nonetheless genuine inventions, such as those that arise from the banking, insurance and business consulting industries. Today’s patent system remains deeply linked to the making of things with human hands. It must evolve and adapt so that the new economy can also benefit from its advantages. This book is about that adaptation—which will come, or, rather, as the author shows, has slowly started to come. By describing details and historical events that shed light on how patent law has evolved from the pre-industrial to the industrial economy, the book manifests the need for a further evolution of patents to the post-industrial economy.

The Embrace of Capital

The Embrace of Capital PDF Author: Don Milligan
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1789048028
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
The "spectre of communism" which Karl Marx confidently evoked in 1848 is now nothing more than a ghostly and ghastly nightmare, without form or substance. This is because working people have developed a love-hate relationship with capitalism. They hate insecurity, inequality, and greed, and love civic and political freedom. They love mass consumption, and accept the logic of commerce. Barreling along through wars, revolutions, epidemics, and crises of all sorts, working people in their millions have consistently dumfounded and dismayed the left, by their refusal to countenance any alternative to the capitalist mode of life. We have to ask: Is it possible to reverse this reality, and once again talk of the necessity of communism?

The Unfree Market and the Law

The Unfree Market and the Law PDF Author: Koen Byttebier
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319973827
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book examines how legal systems and mechanisms give shape to the capitalist economic system. In this regard, it focuses on the most important of these systems, such as monetary and financial law, company law, fiscality, contract and labour law. Further, the book provides a thorough analysis of the underlying ethical values of said legal systems and mechanisms. It also gives an overview of several potentially devastating related effects, such as poverty, the increasing polarisation between rich and poor, climate change, and mounting debts at both the public and private level. The book concludes by presenting proposals for change. Given its critical analysis of legal systems and mechanisms in connection with the value choices dictated by economic ideologies, the book will be of particular interest to legal and economic academics, researchers and students, but also to policymakers, and, more generally, to anyone with a genuine concern for how the socio-economic order will evolve.

The Poverty of Nations

The Poverty of Nations PDF Author: Barry Asmus
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 143353911X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
We can win the fight against global poverty. Combining penetrating economic analysis with insightful theological reflection, this book sketches a comprehensive plan for increasing wealth and protecting stability at a national level.