Customer Reviews

The Globalization Gap: How the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Left Further Behind

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I checked this out of my library, I was looking forward to an insightful read of a really critical topic for our time. What I found instead was a very fluffy book, long on statements, short on facts and real insights. Taking a good look at the references shows one of the problems - many of the references are from newspapers and magazines, not journals or analytical works. I can almost imagine the author sorting out a shoebox of clippings while outlining the chapters.

If you want something with some real substance to it, you'll have to look elsewhere. I don't think it's an accident that the author's picture doesn't appear on the book jacket.

I had to read this book as part of a macroeconomics course.

I go to a technical school where entrepreneurship and global business are discussed in nearly all of my classes-from World Civilization and Its Source to Macroeconomics to Data Structures & Algorithms.

I've already read a few books on globalization and I have to say Isaak's work is the worst so far. His support is often non-descript and not used in appropriate locations. Indeed, it appears as if he only put in references for the pure purpose of putting in references.

There is one underlying solution that Isaak seems to imply would benefit the world community: the rich providing social aid to the poor. He ignores charities and foundations established to provide such. Instead, it seems he advocates something more similar to Marxism. Essentially, he's calling for a redistribution of wealth in an even fashion.

I cannot suggest this book to anyone wanting to learn about Globalization. Instead, purchase The Globalization Gap only if you want a laugh at what drivel will be published.

On the flip side, I enjoyed The Virtue of Prosperity. I haven't read Money Changes Everything yet, but I hear good things.

Let me start off by saying that I am someone who believes that while globalization is not a panacea for all evils, it is a good rather than bad thing. So therefore it is only to be expected that I would not rate a book titled "The Globalization Gap: How the Rich get Richer and the Poor Get Left Further Behind" very favorably. However my rating of a single star for this volume, is in large measure influenced by the fact that it is inaccurate in places and also because of the faulty wooly-headed policy recommendations it advocates as solutions to the world's problems.

The essential precept of the book is this: In time period t=0, let's say a rich person earns $100 per month and the poor person earns $10/ month leading to a ratio of 10:1. Now let's say after 20 years, the rich person earns $250/ month while the poor person earns $12.50/ month. Now the ratio of incomes has changed to 20:1. Since that ratio has deteriorated against the poor person, globalization is at fault and therefore the cure to this "problem" is that money should be taken away from the rich person and handed out to the poor person without any thought given to what that does to economic incentives. The key fault with this logic is that the poor person's income did not increase as rapidly as the rich person is because he is outside the globalization regime and fails to benefit from it. Therefore globalization, while not the entire solution, is a part of the solution and not the problem. It is important to note that the rich person did not grow rapidly because he "snatched away" opportunities from the poor person as the author would like us to believe but because he was able to benefit from globalization while the poor person was unable to.

In addition to this, the book also suffers from factual inaccuracies. For instance, when Robert Isaak talks about how African countries suffer from high tariff rates to the richer countries, he is simply wrong. In reality, the vast majority of African countries enjoy zero (or close to zero) tariffs for their agricultural imports under the African Growth & Opportunities Act (AGOA) with the U.S. and a similar agreement with the European Union. So therefore not only he is incorrect in his diagnosis of the problem and his subsequent recommendations, he is incorrect with the basic facts too.

Overall, this is seriously an unbalanced book on the topic. If you really want to read a decent book on the topic, try reading "Globalization and its discontents" by Joseph Stiglitz. While I disagree with a lot of what is said in that book as well, at least the style is far better and the facts accurate as compared to this disaster.

Isaak's book is definately worth a read. It is well written, relatively easy to understand and contains valuable insight to corporations as well as individuals.
really liked the way both sides of the court were considered and the world economy was taken as the given driving force behind the current problems and any probable solutions thereof
I recommend this book especially to those who are already interested in the topic/ good quick read!

Robert Isaak has written a well researched and an easy to understand critique of the phenomenon of globalization. He develops in a clear and persuasive style an argument that demonstrates the numerous serious faillings of this neoliberal idea .
I teach a course on Globalization and Trade to upper level college undergraduates and I intend to use this book in addition to "Globalization and its Discontents" as a corrective to the standard books that promote neoliberalism as the only tool to promote economic growth and reduce poverty. Robert Isaak looks at the evidence and concludes that nothing is further away from the truth than these unsubstantiated arguments.Actually, the quantitative studies done at the World Bank came to the same conclusion i.e. Globalization has not reduced poverty.
"The Globalization Gap" desreves to become an integral part of the must read list for anyone who is interested in this ubiquitous phenomenon of Globalization.