Global Collective Action [Paperback]

Todd Sandler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0521542545 | ISBN-13: 978-0521542548

Although the global community has achieved some success in endeavors such as eradicating smallpox, efforts to coordinate nations' actions in others--such as the reduction of drug trafficking--have not been sufficient. Identifying the factors that promote, or inhibit, successful collective action for an ever-growing set of challenges associated with globalization, Todd Sandler applies them to promoting global health, providing foreign assistance, controlling rogue nations, limiting transnational terrorism, and intervening in civil wars.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Todd Sandler has a reputation in his field for being a thought-provoking and innovative thinker, and his latest book does not disappoint. ... this is a fascinating, innovative and thought-provoking tome, which explores some of the most serious problems facing the world today from a fresh and rigorous economic perspective. Global Collective Action is extremely well-written, readable, lively, and even at times entertaining. This book comes highly recommended, both for professional economists and the interested lay person. It would also be suitable for post-graduate or possibly advance undergraduate students.' Economic Issues

Book Description

This book explains why the global community has been successful in correcting some recent large-scale problems, but has failed in addressing others. The book discusses challenges drawn from the fields of global health, security, the environment, and governance. The analysis reaches from antiobiotic-resistant microbes to greenhouse gases, from civil wars to international terrorism, and from the polluted atmospheres of cities to the depths of outer space. In the process, the reader learns what ties together seemingly different problems, and what distinguishes seemingly similar concerns. The book is intended for a wide audience drawn from the social and policy sciences.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521542545
• ISBN-13: 978-0521542548
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important contribution, February 22, 2008

By 

Anomaly (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Global Collective Action (Paperback)

In Global Collective Action, Todd Sandler uses the tools of economics and game theory to illuminate global challenges ranging from pollution to pandemics. Since virulent microbes, suicidal terrorists, and environmental pollutants don't respect borders, economists increasingly struggle to discover how we might use incentives to reduce global threats without undermining individual autonomy or market economies. Global Collective Action is a welcome contribution to this field, and one that is readily accessible to non-specialists. It is, nevertheless, a bit dry in places, especially in later chapters.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Which Global Problems Can be Solved?, January 13, 2005

By 

Keith Sargent (Rockville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Global Collective Action (Paperback)

"What factors promote or inhibit successful collective action at the regional or global level?" This is the question the author seeks to answer. Where his previous book, "Global Challenges" ends, this book begins.

Why is it that some treaties and world organizations "have achieved so much while others have accomplished so little?" The answer hinges on the type of problem being addressed. For example, although chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) are both air pollutants that easily circulate around the globe, why is it that the international treaty dealing with CFCs has been widely credited with reducing the destruction of the ozone layer, but the Kyoto Protocol, for reducing GHGs, appears to have accomplished very little?

Twelve chapters analyze a host of global collective action problems, including orbiting satellites, transnational terrorism, AIDS, Smallpox, the United Nations, and nuclear proliferation.

1. Future Perfect
2. "With a Little Help from My Friends": Principles of Collective Action
3. Absence of Invisibility: Market Failures
4. Transnational Public Goods: Financing and Institutions
5. Global Health
6. What to Try Next? Foreign Aid Quagmire
7. Rogues and Bandits: Who Bells the Cat?
8. Terrorism: 9/11 and Its Aftermath
9. Citizen against Citizen
10. Tales of Two Collectives: Atmospheric Pollution
11. The Final Frontier
12. Future Conditional

Although the author writes in a dry, academic style there are occasional flashes of humor, and the book is filled with numerous charts, graphs, tables and figures that clearly illustrate his points. In addition he brings sharp insight and clear thinking to publicize important subjects that often end up being buried in dusty journal articles sitting on library shelves.

Full Disclosure: In 1997 the author oversaw my Ph.D. dissertation and some of our work is cited in the text.