As an MBA student at a top 20 US program, I came across Chang's "Kicking Away the Ladder" by accident a year ago when looking for a fresh, unorthodox perspective to supplement what I was learning in my international economics course. After all, one cannot let schooling get in the way of one's education! This book did not disappoint. It made earning top marks (a solid "A") easier and more interesting in what is normally a dry, esoteric subject.
By "Kicking away the ladder," what Chang is arguing is that today's wealthy countries, like the US and UK, recommend and enforce a standard set of economic policies (like deregulation, free trade, patent/copyright protections) onto many poorer countries (in South America, sub-Sahara Africa) under the mistaken belief that these free market and free trade policies were how they (the US, UK, etc...) eventually matured into economic powerhouses. In other words, rich countries, through the IMF and World Bank, tell poorer countries "do as we preach, not as we actually did ourselves." Unfortunately, since the 1980s, these policies, often adopted as a precondition for trade agreements and aid during financial crises (i.e. 1997 East Asia) from wealthy nations, has brought about more social inequality and macroeconomic instability instead of the promised goal of sustained growth. Yet despite the failures, these policies are still preached and prescribed just the same, as an article of economic faith.
This book offers a refreshing antidote to this textbook orthodoxy by highlighting and analyzing the historical evidence of many wealthy and poorer countries in light of effects of current economic policy prescriptions (at least as of 2003). Chang's argument is fairly easy to follow, carefully nuanced in that it addresses various subtle counter-arguments to his perspectives, and is well researched--nearly a fourth of his book is devoted to bibliography and detailed footnote references.
My only criticism of this work is really a petty complaint: it could have been written for an even wider, more general audience. International development economics is Chang's specialty but sometimes as an expert, it's difficult to remember what it was like to not intimately know the material. His work is still more readable than a typical textbook or academic article on the subject. He offers a great unorthodox perspective to an important issue, but it needs to be made more accessible to an audience that may not have taken prior graduate economics courses. For example, throughout it's taken for granted that the reader will know what "trade liberalization" means. That being said, I still highly recommend this book and give it five stars in the hope that Chang will continue to offer his fresh insights and analysis with a wider audience in mind.
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ME
Great, but be carful if you dont have background in econs
Reviewed in Germany on May 12, 2020Amazon Customer
Not what I expected...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2017
