Wealth, Poverty and Politics

June 1, 2015
Hoover Institution economist Sowell (Intellectuals and Race) minces no words in his hard-hitting survey of global wealth and poverty. He first considers the effects of geography on economic history before moving on to culture, comparing trust, human capital, and attitudes toward education and work in different societies. Dwelling on race, a familiar Sowell theme, he looks skeptically at liberal explanations for lingering black poverty, which he attributes to fatherless families and welfare. The latter, in Sowell’s view, creates dependent populations managed by self-interested bureaucrats. A prominent figure among African-American conservatives, he criticizes black community leaders for fomenting hostility toward other racial groups, and multiculturalism for enshrining “ghetto
culture.” To what extent are “external barriers” significant, he asks, when
questions about “internal deficiencies
in knowledge, discipline, values” are “kept off the agenda?” For cures, Sowell disputes the rich-getting-richer, redistributionist themes pitched by Thomas Picketty, Paul Krugman, and others, noting fluxes in incomes and turnover
of wealth over time. His compelling survey of what generates success and failure worldwide will challenge committed progressives. Sowell concludes, “If there is any common thread in these varying outcomes, it seems to be human capital.” Open-minded readers will find Sowell’s directness, honesty, and common sense refreshing and often wise.

June 15, 2015
A provocative analysis of the universal causes of economic success and failure. Rather than stating a thesis at the outset, Hoover Institution senior fellow Sowell (Intellectuals and Race, 2013, etc.) starts by describing disparities in the prosperity of societies around the world throughout history. In plain language tailored for general readers, he traces these differences to variations in geography, culture, society, and politics, each of which he cogently describes and analyzes in some detail, concluding that it is senseless "to reasonably expect equal economic outcomes...when the things that go into creating those outcomes vary so greatly." If any factor is markedly determinative of economic progress, it is the accumulation of "human capital," including education, job skills, intact families, honesty, and a strong work ethic. Never one to be cowed by political correctness, the author bluntly maintains that some cultures have values like these, which are conducive to the creation of wealth over generations, and some do not. It gradually becomes clear that Sowell is mounting an assault on the redistributionist approach to alleviating poverty, both domestically and internationally. Indeed, he blames the burgeoning welfare state in the United States and Britain for regressions in education and economic standing among blacks and working-class whites over the past 50 years. The author raises many inconvenient facts that should trouble advocates of diversity and cultural relativism, and he effectively refutes progressives' excuses for why their approaches to eliminating poverty have too often produced government dependence and social breakdown. Ironically, given his argument from complexity, his conclusions too often suffer from an oversimplification of causes, failing to take sufficient account of factors that do not contribute to his occasionally tendentious politically conservative argument. While Sowell offers no pat solutions, his implied argument that cultural considerations must inform any serious attempt at improving the economic prospects of an underperforming nation or group merits serious consideration.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2015

In an Aristotelian schema, substance and accidents are a prime consideration. In Sowell's (Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy, Hoover Institution, Stanford Univ.; Intellectuals and Race; Economic Facts and Fallacies) book, the accidents frame the structure for a global perspective on world cultures. Why do some people and places advance more than others? While luck and good fortune may play some role, Sowell posits that fundamental characteristics such as geography, climate, and intelligence are the real determinants. Sowell's investigation is, in many ways, a microcosm of the television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Scholars in the fields of geography, demographics, anthropology, and economics will find points here upon which to quibble. Much as Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve and Thomas L. Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree raised controversy, at the same they also raised consciousness. VERDICT A worthwhile read. Had such an approach been available in this reviewer's student days, his understanding of the world would be that much better.--Steven Silkunas, Fernandina Beach, FL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
Sowell, a senior fellow at a think tank considered politically conservative, reports that disparities have existed in all of recorded history between the standards of living in nations described as poor and backward and those attaining outstanding human achievement at the time. In the modern world, economic disparities are also common among nations, and there are large economic disparities among people within a given country. These disparities have extended beyond wealth to the things that create wealthincluding the knowledge, skills, habits and discipline that have developed unequally in different geographic, cultural and political settings. The author also seeks explanations of disparities in the production of wealth, through the transfer of wealthwhether through conquest or enslavement in the past or through the welfare state domestically or foreign aid internationally today. Challenging contrasting views of prominent academics, including Nobel Prizewinning economist Joseph Stiglitz, Sowell throws down the gauntlet to his peers with differing positions. This challenging book will enhance and promote ongoing and important debates and discussions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)