The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crises (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION) [Paperback]

Charles Maurice (Author), Charles W. Smithson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 1984 | Series: HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION

In The Doomsday Myth, Charles Maurice and Charles Smithson show that although doom merchants have been predicting imminent collapse from resource shortages as long as civilization has existed, no nation has ever fallen because of the depletion of a resource. They also show that government intervention has not been the solution to these crises. Instead, freely functioning markets with individuals acting in their own self-interest have eliminated shortages, and averted doomsday. The free market theme is the same one used by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations in 1776, but the need to restate it for new generations is urgent. The authors concluded that a resource-based doomsday will arrive only if we suspend the functioning of free markets.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In The Doomsday Myth, Charles Maurice and Charles Smithson show that although doom merchants have been predicting imminent collapse from resource shortages as long as civilization has existed, no nation has ever fallen because of the depletion of a resource. They also show that government intervention has not been the solution to these crises. Instead, freely functioning markets with individuals acting in their own self-interest have eliminated shortages, and averted doomsday.

The free market theme is the same one used by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations in 1776, but the need to restate it for new generations is urgent. The authors concluded that a resource-based doomsday will arrive only if we suspend the functioning of free markets.

About the Author

Charles Maurice (1931-1999) was a professor of ecnomics at Texas A&M University from 1967 through his retirement in 1997 and served as assoicate director of its Center for Education and Research in Free Enterprise from 1981 to 1989. He was coauthor of two highly successful college textbooks, Economic Analysis and Managerial Economics. Maurice's research was firmly based on the neoclassical paradigm; it dealt mainly with the theory of production, especially factor demand.

Charles Smithson is an economist and known expert in financial risk management. He has held positions in academe and in government before moving to the private sector as managing director in the global risk management sector of Chase Manhattan Bank, North America. He is currently president of Rutter Associates, a credit risk management firm in New York. He is the author of five books, including Managing Financial Risk and Credit Portfolio Management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press (June 21, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081797962X
• ISBN-13: 978-0817979621
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must read for the Rome Club environmentalist, October 26, 2002

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A_2007_reader (Vladivostok, Russia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crises (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION) (Paperback)

I am not an economist, nor do I want to be so labeled, but this book, with a foreward by Phil Gramm and published by the prestigious Hoover Institute (Stanford), absolutely rocks! It will turn you on to supply side economics.

Basically the premise of the book--that where there is a shortage, the price of the good will rise and cause either conservation, a search for substitutes or a search for more of what is in shortage, is basic economic theory. But how this is illustrated is absolutely fascinating--the authors look at a series of historical 'crisis', from oil (modern age) to wood for fuel (16th Century England, and the subsitution of coal, which helped make England a powerhouse, literally) to a shortage of wood timbre for ship building in ancient Greece (forced a new design for ships), to, in a specutacular climax--the shortage of flint in prehistoric man's world! (and how it was overcome, namely, either recycling or searching for more flint).

The authors score points blasting the "doomsday environmentalists" (e.g., Rome Club environmentalists) who are always preaching only limiting demand without realising that supply can be increased where there is incentive, and for being Cassandras. These doomsday types typically focus on market failures such as Tragedy of the Commons and try to generalize from that unique failure, but I digress.

My only criticism is that the book is so seemlessly written and logical you almost suspect the facts are made up or glossed over--especially the speculative last chapter on prehistoric man, where the evidence surely is sketchy. But don't let this dissuade you from reading this short and sweet book.

BTW, another economics book for non-economists that has a paradoxical message that I highly recommend is the new book by William Easterly, "The Elusive Quest for Growth".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1987 Book, But Perhaps More Relevant Today Than When Published, June 27, 2010

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Maximzodal (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crises (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION) (Paperback)

This is one of the few books I have read and purchased more than once. A book I have loaned and recommended to friends, colleagues and family over and over. It is filled with example after example of how mankind has responded to resource depletion and shortages throughout history. When a resource becomes scarce, the cost increases. When the economic burden becomes intolerable, conservation and a search for a substitute commences. "It's the economy, stupid" all over again.

In the oil patch, geologists have a saying, "We will never run out of oil. It will just get too expensive to burn." We will have to wait till then before we get serious about conserving or finding substitutes.