In Defense of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg (PDF)

Description

In Defense of Global Capitalism is the first book to rebut, systematically and thoroughly, the claims of the anti-globalization movement. With facts, statistics, and graphs, Norberg shows why capitalism is in the process of creating a better world. The book is written in a conversational style with an emphasis on liberal values and the opportunities and freedom that globalization brings to the world’s poor.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a great little book, just brimming with facts and figures, statistics and upbeat anecdotes that make it clear that the world is (as John Lennon foresaw), “Every day, in every way, …getting better and better.” So often pro-capitalist books are written by stogy and conservative seeming old men who, while often correct, seem to be speaking to and about an older century. This book by Johan Norberg, a relatively young Swede (born 1973), is remarkable in being for and about a younger generation of humans, which is overall healthier, wealthier, freer, better educated and more equal than any in history. It is about real positive change from the ground up (via the free market) instead of from central planners. Besides surveying the improving state of the world today Norberg also covers a wide range of topics that relate to capitalism, globalization and free trade (as well as simply and clearly defining them).This is the perfect book to encourage an optimism in those just getting started, an optimism sorely lacking in most media, political and academic accounts of life on Earth in the 21st century. This 2003 Cato Institute edition was originally written at the turn of the century and published in Sweden in 2001, and my only caveat in praising it is that it could use an update. A lot has happened in the past 11 years and it would be good to see (in the facts and stats and, Norberg’s more mature attitude of today) how it continues to be positive for the majority of humans. It’s this overall perspective that is so easy to lose track of – especially given the widely covered economic upheavals and sectarian military conflicts which have for many defined the first decade of this century.Life in the 21st century is full of serious challenges (and Norberg acknowledges these, while documenting how they are generally ameliorated by democracy and capitalism), but we’re fully capable of meeting them and adapting and resolving and even, yes, thriving with them. The key word here is “we” – the global group of freely choosing individuals – that is the 100% which is easy to miss in the heated partisan debates. This 100% is what the inherently dynamic (creative/destructive) capitalist market nurtures and is nurtured by. The 21st century will either be the century of individual liberty (which the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries began recognizing and valuing, but only partly delivered), or it’ll be much worse than anything we can imagine… My vote is for optimism.

⭐Johan Norberg has written a book destined to become a classic. He provides major solutions to what are the major discussions in economics and politics today. These include why some countries are wealthy and why some are impoverished, with numbers to support the results. A necessary read for anyone who is honestly looking for workable moral answers. The solutions are not generally his discoveries,

⭐but Norberg organizes them in an entertaining way that will keep you reading. More importantly, the solutions are not political at all, but explain how politics invariably interferes with economic prosperity and the pursuit of human happiness.

⭐Norberg makes a compelling case for free trade and capitalism. Clearly written without jargon or dogma. He belongs in a reading list with Henry Hazlitt (Economics in one short lesson) and Thomas Sowell ( Basic Economics), and Lawrence Reed (Excuse Me Professor …)

⭐If you’re tired of using philosophical arguments to justify liberalized markets, this book is for you. Norberg does a bang up job pointing out how the people we should care the most about (the poor) are the most helped with liberalized markets.I often recommend this book to my progressive friends or for people interested in learning more about free-market capitalism. At times, the book is a bit cumbersome with so many statistics, but its a great reference.

⭐I really enjoyed reading this book. It shows an uncommon perspective of capitalism and its virtues, and proves its statements with accurate data both from the past and the present. In my opinion this is a must for everyone willing to understand today’s world, in which trade between all countries is unavoidable and hugely positive, especially for poor countries.

⭐An exceedingly well crafted and cogent volume, Norberg supplies a collection of essays that each discuss in researched detail the benefits and costs of a freemarket economy. Norberg carefully examines and measures truths and falsehoods associated with all views of the topic at hand. He also does so with a understanding of the different scales of time and geography and population upon which freemarkets act. This book would well serve to be a textbook in secondary, advanced, and also post-graduate education.

⭐Well written and uses footnotes. Get this book

⭐very good review of the success of free markets world wide. Capitalism may not be perfect but there is no remote second if history is any guide and of course it always is.

⭐If you are a teenage communist, or some sort of anarchist then this book might be useful to you. Otherwise I don’t see that you’re going to get much out of it.I realise this is a book that’s intended to be fighting one corner, but it is desperately frustrating that most objections to the thrust of Norberg’s argument he presents are straw men. It’s Socratic dialogie for idiots. He seems to be talking to the student anarchist he remembers being rather than any more nuanced position.Whilst the spread of democracy and capitalism have certainly been great for humanity on balance, there are some quite legitimate concerns one might have about where it’s going that Norberg seems to ignore entirely. Capitalism is well on the way to winning. It doesn’t really need a cheerleader right now- I think as a species we are mostly trying to figure out how to have all the good stuff without the bad stuff.Still, it is nice to read something that manages to be upbeat about the trajectory the world is on for a change. That’s partly what I bought it for and it did manage that. But it’s not a great book.

⭐Norberg dismantles all fallacies regarding capitalism showing how it isn’t all about greed or multi-national corporations leeching of others or how transactions are zero sum. Rather he systematically shows how capitalism has been global force for good in various fields from poverty to encouraging democratic procedure.Much of what is said currently in today’s media about free market capitalism is often conjecture and populist opinion, purporting capitalism to be a system only for the rich which leaves behind the poor. Again, Norberg shows how free market capitalism and trade has been a force for good internationally, especially in MENA and developing countries. Take Japan as an example, a country with very little natural resources managed to increase per capita income by a factor of 6 in the space of 10 years due to liberalisation of trade policy.I could not recommend this book any more. This book is for anyone who is serious in finding out more in economic theory.

⭐An excellent and succinct summary of why globalisation, capitalism and freedom are intrinsically intertwined. Some of the examples are perhaps a little bit dated; but a more updated version would find the same correlation.

⭐Dave O’Brien of the Winnipeg Free Press stated: “Norberg is Europe’s answer to our own Naomi Klein”. While I haven’t been able to track down Mr O’Brien’s full review, I assume that he did mean that Norberg sought to refute Ms Klein’s work, as there can be no doubt that was his intent.Norberg was a Fellow of Swedish think-tank Timbro and also, now, of the American Cato Institute, which published his book. You may say that this is semantics, but Norberg is therefore identifiable as an (economic) libertarian, not a (political) liberal.This is an excellent statement of the principles of economic libertarianism on a global scale. The principle of free capitalism is not undermined by the odd example of how unrestrained businesses may exploit individuals, although that does indeed happen. Even where it does, however, more people become more wealthy more quickly than in any other model for economic activity.This is a brilliant riposte to Ms Klein and the economic left. My only major concern about globalism, and this book, is that it does seem to me that conducting economic activity globally will inevitably consume more energy – and produce more CO2, etc – than more locally based economic activity. Until businesses’ economic calculations take into acount “exogenous” costs (i.e.those costs not sufferred directly by the parties to the transaction) it will, for example, remain sensible to fly mange tout from Kenya to England. Climate change is not listed in the index to this book! While I personally think that some of the MMGW “consensus” theories are alarmist (as you may deduce from some of my other reviews!), it did seem to me surprising that a book written in 2001 would ignore the issue altogether.Despite this, well worth the read.

⭐Der Autor weist nach, dass die Marktwirtschaft das beste verfügbare Wirtschaftssystem ist. Dazu werden Unmengen von Statistiken zitiert, die allesamt aus seriösen Quellen stammen. Das Ganze wird zum besseren Verständnis durch viele Grafiken aufgelockert.Dieses Buch ist eine gute Argumentationshilfe gegen Globalisierungskritiker. Sie haben zwar Recht, dass der Kapitalismus Ungleichheit schafft, aber anders als sie denken: Kapitalistische Länder sind wohlhabend, andere nicht.

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