Title The age of equality : the twentieth century in economic perspective / Richard Pomfret

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 283 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents The age of liberty -- War and depression -- The Soviet economic model -- Multilateralism and welfare state in the first world -- Decolonization and cold war -- The conservative reaction in the west -- The collapse of central planning -- The end of the third world -- From the age of equality to the age of fraternity Summary Alongside unprecedented improvements in longevity and material well-being, the twentieth century saw the rise of fascism and communism and a second world war followed by a cold war. Governments with market economies won the battle against these competing systems by combining growth and efficiency with greater equality of opportunity and outcome In 1900 the global average life expectancy at birth was thirty-one years. By 2000 it was sixty-six. Yet, alongside unprecedented improvements in longevity and material well-being, the twentieth century also saw the rise of fascism and communism and a second world war followed by a cold war. This book tells the story of the battles between economic systems that defined the last century and created today's world. The nineteenth century was a period of rapid economic growth characterized by relatively open markets and more personal liberty, but it also brought great inequality within and between nations. The following century offered sharp challenges to free-wheeling capitalism from both communism and fascism, whose competing visions of planned economic development attracted millions of people buffeted by the economic storms of the 1930s. The Age of Equality describes the ways in which market-oriented economies eventually overcame the threat of these visions and provided a blueprint for reform in nonmarket economies. This was achieved not through unbridled capitalism but by combining the efficiency and growth potential of markets with government policies to promote greater equality of opportunity and outcome. Following on the heels of economic reform, rapid catch-up growth in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Poland helped to reduce global inequality. At a time when inequality is on the rise in nations as disparate as the United States and Egypt, Pomfret's interpretation of how governments of market economies faced the challenges of the twentieth century is both instructive and cautionary Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Print version record Subject Economic history -- 20th century. Equality -- History -- 20th century Free enterprise -- History -- 20th century Globalization -- History -- 20th century BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic History. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- Comparative. Economic history Equality Free enterprise Globalization Wirtschaft Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2011014351 ISBN 9780674063303 0674063309

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