The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

From the author ofDay of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan's economic policy ("Every citizen should read it," saidThe New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that economic growth provides far more than material benefits. In clear-cut prose, Benjamin M. Friedman examines the political and social histories of the large Western democraciesparticularly of the United States since the Civil Warto demonstrate the fact that incomes on the rise lead to more open and democratic societies. He explains thatgrowth,rather than simply a high standard of living, is key to effecting political and social liberalization in the third world, and shows that even the wealthiest of nations puts its democratic values at risk when income levels stand still. Merely being rich is no protection against a turn toward rigidity and intolerance when a country's citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead. With concrete policy suggestions for pursuing growth at home and promoting worldwide economic expansion, this volume is a major contribution to the ongoing debate about the effects of economic growth and globalization.

Benjamin M. Friedman is the William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy and former chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught for more than three decades. His book Day of Reckoning: The Consequences of American Economic Policy Under Reagan and After received the George S. Eccles Prize, awarded annually for excellence in writing about economics. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Review of Books. Most recently he was the 2005 recipient of the John R. Commons Award, presented in recognition of achievements in economics and service to the economics profession. He and his wife, Barbara, and their two sons live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


From the Hardcover edition.