In Defense of Global Capitalism and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
In Defense of Global Capitalism
 
 
Start reading In Defense of Global Capitalism on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

In Defense of Global Capitalism [Paperback]

Johan Norberg (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

List Price: $12.95
Price: $10.08 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.87 (22%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, January 31? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $7.19  
Hardcover $22.95  
Paperback $10.08  
Unknown Binding --  

Book Description

July 31, 2003
Marshalling facts and the latest research findings, the author systematically refutes the adversaries of globalization, markets, and progress. This book will change the debate on globalization in this country and make believers of skeptics.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity $14.34

In Defense of Global Capitalism + Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity


Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is a young man's book, addressed to the idealistic young." -- Rosemary Righter, The Times of London

From the Inside Flap

"Johan Norberg's book is a stunningly insightful, brilliantly detailed refutation of the crank theories of the anti-globalists. In Defense of Global Capitalism is a shining example of what a gifted mind can do working with the truth to advance the cause of capitalism, which in the end is the cause of every decent man and woman." --Ben Stein

Product Details

  • Paperback: 330 pages
  • Publisher: Cato Institute (July 31, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1930865473
  • ISBN-13: 978-1930865471
  • Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Johan Norberg is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a writer who focuses on globalization, entrepreneurship, and individual liberty. Norberg is the author and editor of several books exploring liberal themes, including a history of liberal pioneers in Swedish history. His book "In Defense of Global Capitalism", originally published in Swedish in 2001, has since been published in over twenty different countries. He is also the author of "Nar manniskan skapade varlden", 2006 (When Mankind Created the World), the coauthor of "Ett annat Sverige ar mojligt", 2006 (Another Sweden is Possible) and "Global rattvisa ar mojlig", 2001 (Global Justice Is Possible), and the coeditor of "Frihetens klassiker", 2003 (The Classics of Freedom), all of which are available only in Swedish at this time. His personal website is http://www.johannorberg.net/.

Norberg's articles and opinion pieces appear regularly in both Swedish and international newspapers, and he is a regular commentator and contributor on television and radio around the world discussing globalization and free trade. Prior to joining Cato, Norberg was head of political ideas at Timbro, a Swedish free-market think tank, from 2003 to 2005. He then served as a senior fellow for the Brussels-based Centre for a New Europe during 2006. Norberg received his master's degree from Stockholm University in the history of ideas.

 

Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 108 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Globalization as capitalism without borders, January 2, 2004
By 
This review is from: In Defense of Global Capitalism (Paperback)
Having lived and come over from the left, Norberg makes a compelling case for globalization as a model for success. Contrary to the negative review from the Swedish "assassin", globalization works. The assassin's list of dysfunctional democracies is, even at its worst, a list of democracies and, contrary to his opinion, examples of good progress towards economic and political freedom.

Globalization has become capitalism without borders. Capitalism means the right to own and the right to trade -- freely. The problems have more to do with what can and can not cross borders in a world economy where geopolitics and terrorism limit the rights or possibilities of people to move freely. There is still a strong urge to maintain national integrity and the natural defense of one's borders and culture. And, given the choice, people head for countries with greater economic and political freedom, not just where the natural wealth and resources exist. People are now the world's greatest resource and they are more mobile than ever.

Norberg pulls together multiple, massive statistical studies of real progress in the world resulting from greater political and economic freedom. They go hand in hand. They serve the liberation not only of countries and cultures, but also women who, one hundred years ago left any country short on its claim of true democracy by prohibiting them the ballot and/or the right to economic freedom and ownership.

David Landes' "Wealth and poverty of nations" made this case from an historic perspective. Countries and their people and institutions need to be able to produce things of value, educate their young, innovate in their methods, emulate success, discriminate based on merit, and allow people the right to retain (some or much of) the fruit of their labor. Globalization and capitalism, like democracy, are the worst of all possible forms of economics, except, as Churchill advised, for all other forms of economics that have been tried from time to time.

All these data and global views can be a bit dry at times and it should be safe to assume that English is not Norberg's first language (although he writes better than most American university students with English as their first language!) yet it is well worth the detail. He questions conventional (i.e., casual) wisdom. Anecdotes are illustrative and global.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Steam for Global Capitalism, July 9, 2004
This review is from: In Defense of Global Capitalism (Paperback)
"When I say that I mean to defend capitalism," proclaims Norberg, "what I have in mind is the capitalistic freedom to proceed by trial and error, without having to ask rulers and border officials for permission first."

He erects a barrage of facts and figures to make the case that trade is good. For example, real incomes among the top quintile of income earners have risen 75% over the past three decades and real incomes among the bottom quintile have increased 106%. Life expectancy in developing economies has increased, infant fatalities have fallen, and people living in developing economies are eating better and obtaining more education. Read the book to learn why the widening "gap" between rich and poor is a falsehood. Although most of the world is still poor compared to the West, their hardship is not because of the West. According to Norberg, "The uneven distribution of wealth in the world is due to the uneven distribution of capitalism."

Protectionists predict that capitalists will locate plants in countries where wages or environmental standards are lowest. Capitalists are not only intent on paying lower wages. "If they were," points out Norberg, "the world's aggregate production would be concentrated in Nigeria." Multinational corporations also seek "social and political stability, the rule of law, secure property rights, free markets, good infrastructure, and skilled manpower." There is evidence that the quality of the environment worsens in the early stages of development. However prosperous people can afford cleaner air and water. Norberg reports that "the turning point generally comes before a country's per capita GDP has reached $8,000." When people earn more than that, their governments adopt environmental regulations. The point is that trade and growth are the means to a cleaner environment.

In addition to trade issues and capitalism, one may also learn a lot about developmental economics and international finance. Norberg observes that people fail to appreciate global capitalism during the good times and then blame the process when the going gets tough. "Globalization will not keep moving under its own steam if no one stands up for it," he asserts. In Defense of Global Capitalism is perhaps worth a ton of coal in the engine of global capitalism.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Summary of In Defence of Global Capitalism, October 8, 2003
The first book to rebut - systematically and thoroughly - the world picture and tenets of the anti-globalisation movement has been written by a 27-year-old Swede - and former anarchist. It quickly became a bestseller in Sweden after its publication in May 2001, and now there is this English version.

For some time, opponents of globalisation have been able to spread myths about capitalism. They say that free trade and free markets make the world a more unequal place, that capitalism holds people in poverty, that economic growth harms the environment, that multinational corporations keep wages and labour standards on a low level, and that free financial markets cause crises.

This is not correct. In Defence of Global Capitalism is the book that systematically challenges and refutes the anti-capitalist assumptions. With hard facts, statistics and simple graphs, Johan Norberg explains why capitalism is in the process of creating a better world. But the book is also personally written, with an emphasis on values, and the fact that globalisation gives opportunities and freedom to the world's poor. The book illustrates this with concrete examples of people and countries that have prospered thanks to globalisation, and those that have suffered because of isolation.

Johan Norberg shows that the diffusion of capitalism in the last decades has lowered poverty rates and created opportunities for individuals all over the world. Living standards and life expectancy has risen fast in most places. World hunger, infant mortality and inequality have diminished. This is because of an economic and technological development that is the result of free market policies. The poor countries that have liberalized their economies have shown impressive results, while those that have not are stuck in deep misery. Therefore, we need more capitalism and globalisation if we want a better world, not less.

The Swedish writer, Johan Norberg, has an MA in history of ideas. He is the author of books on human rights, the history of liberalism and the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg. Johan Norberg is devoted to globalisation and individual liberty. ...

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
free trade reforms, grown fastest
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Third World, South Korea, World Bank, East Asian, Latin America, Fraser Institute, Economic Freedom of the World, New York, Freedom House, Hong Kong, Years Source, Human Development Report, North Korea, South America, World War, Saudi Arabia, World Trade Organization, United Kingdom, Soviet Union
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject