The case for classical liberalism in the twenty-first century
"Lal bases his case on a historical account of the rise of capitalism and globalization in the first two liberal international economic orders: the nineteenth-century British, and the post-World War II American."--Jacket.
This wide-ranging and innovative book synthesizes the findings of a major international study of the political economy of poverty, equity, and growth. It represents an ambitious interdisciplinary attempt to identify patterns in the interplay of initial conditions, institutions, interests, and ideas which can help to explain the different growth and poverty alleviation outcomes in the Third World.
Deepak Lal outlines and assesses the validity of a set of beliefs about third world economic development that underlies the thinking of many politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and academics in both developing and developed countries.
The author, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, argues that "efficient economic growth is the only means to alleviate the ancient structural poverty of the Third World, and that if countries grew rapidly, with per capita income growing above 3 percent a year, the much derided 'trickle down' would rapidly diminish structural poverty."--Introduction.