Poverty From The Wealth Of Nations

M. Shahid Alam presents an analysis of the evolution of global disparities that goes beyond the earlier neo-Marxist critiques of global capitalism. He inserts two additional asymmetries into the global economy—those created by "unequal races" and unequal states. The author analyzes not only the power of markets, but the powers that shaped these markets. More importantly he demonstrates that loss of sovereignty retarded industrialization, human capital formation, and economic growth.

An analysis of the disparities in the global economy brought on by not only by disparate power of markets but also the imbalance of powers that shape these markets, considering the often ignored effect of 'unequal races' and unequal states.

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Alam (economics, Northeastern U.) does not attribute global disparities to the unbalance of economies alone, but to "unequal races" and "unequal states" as well. Alam argues that global inequality really emerged after 1800; that the concentration of manufacturers, capital and technology in the "advanced" countries was not the result of market forces alone; and that the industrialized countries used military power to colonize the non-industrialized countries, extract rents from them and acquire exclusive control over their markets. "Lagging" countries in Europe and Latin America, asserts Alam, escaped colonization because of the population's racial affinities with Europeans. Alam constructs a four-part taxonomy of sovereignty (sovereign countries, dependencies, quasi-colonies, colonies) which helps illustrate that a loss of sovereignty promoted integration, but retarded manufactures, human capital formation, and economic growth. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

M. Shahid Alam is Professor of Economics at Northeastern University.