23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

378 Pages·2010·1.22 MB·English

by  Ha-Joon Chang

23 Things They Don’t Tell
You about Capitalism
HA-JOON CHANG

ALLEN LANE
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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First published 2010
Copyright © Ha-Joon Chang, 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
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or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this
book
ISBN: 978-0-141-95786-9
To Hee-Jeong, Yuna, and Jin-Gyu

7 Ways to Read 23 Things They
Don’t Tell You about Capitalism

Way 1. If you are not even sure what capitalism is,
read:
Things 1, 2, 5, 8, 13, 16, 19, 20, and 22
Way 2. If you think politics is a waste of time, read:
Things 1, 5, 7, 12, 16, 18, 19, 21, and 23
Way 3. If you have been wondering why your life does
not seem to get better despite ever-rising income and
ever-advancing technologies, read:
Things 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, and 22
Way 4. If you think some people are richer than others
because they are more capable, better educated and
more enterprising, read:
Things 3, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, and 21
Way 5. If you want to know why poor countries are
poor and how they can become richer, read:
Things 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, and 23
Way 6. If you think the world is an unfair place but
there is nothing much you can do about it, read:
Things 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20, and 21
Way 7. Read the whole thing in the following order …

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Thing 1 There is no such thing as a free market
Thing 2 Companies should not be run in the interest
of their owners
Thing 3 Most people in rich countries are paid more
than they should be
Thing 4 The washing machine has changed the world
more than the internet has
Thing 5 Assume the worst about people and you get
the worst
Thing 6 Greater macroeconomic stability has no
made the world economy more stable.
Thing 7 Free-market policies rarely make poor
countries rich
Thing 8 Capital has a nationality
Thing 9 We do not live in a post-industrial age
Thing 10 The US does not have the highest living
standard in the world
Thing 11 Africa is not destined for underdevelopment
Thing 12 Governments can pick winners
Thing 13 Making rich people richer doesn’t make the
rest of us richer
Thing 14 US managers are over-priced
Thing 15 People in poor countries are more
entrepreneurial than people in rich countries
Thing 16 We are not smart enough to leave things to
the market
Thing 17 More education in itself is not going to
make a country richer
Thing 18 What is good for General Motors is not