Fighting climate change, saving democracy, and eradicating poverty are urgent global challenges, yet the world’s leaders continue to pursue outdated policies that focus on one while worsening the tradeoffs between each of them. Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World shows how the nations of the world can achieve all three objectives.
Dani Rodrik provides a bold new vision of globalization, one in which we accelerate the green transition to achieve a sustainable planet, shore up the middle class to restore democracy’s foundations, and hasten economic revitalization in the developing world to put an end to poverty. The rising tide of authoritarianism has demonstrated our inability to alleviate economic anxieties. Economic nationalism has raised the specter of increased protectionism and deteriorating prospects for economic growth. And automation and other new technologies have undercut the advantages of low-cost, unskilled labor in manufacturing and export-oriented industrialization. Rodrik reveals how we can restore prosperity through new forms of collaborative public-private action—to promote renewables and green industries, middle-class jobs, and enhanced productivity in labor-absorbing services—even in the absence of global cooperation. He explains why this new kind of globalization must also recognize the legitimate desire of governments to pursue their economic, social, and security interests autonomously.
Turning conventional economic wisdom on its head, Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World builds on practices that work while radically transforming those that don’t, presenting a grounded, clear-eyed approach to tackling the problems that affect us all, at home and around the world.
Dani Rodrik is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. His many books include Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy (91ÌÒÉ«), Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science, and The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy.
“A remarkably incisive, original, and compelling analysis of the core economic challenges of our time. Dani Rodrik has not only dared to imagine a future that delivers prosperity, sustainability, and justice across the globe; he’s developed a suite of achievable policies to get us there. A boldly conceived and brilliantly executed piece of work.”—Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
“In a world where democracy, economic prosperity, and the climate transition are all under threat, we need to experiment in making them work together. Dani Rodrik’s excellent new book draws on both theory and practical examples to show how second-best decision making can have first-rate results, and how local initiatives can have global consequences.”—Henry Farrell, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
“The world is faced with multiple crises. Globalization, rapid automation, the oncoming AI revolution, climate change, and the troubles of democracy have all upended aspects of what people used to take for granted. This wonderful book calls us to imagine a better world by tackling all these challenges at the same time and in a synergistic manner. Rodrik’s book is uplifting in its optimism.”—Daron Acemoglu, coauthor of Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity
“Dani Rodrik, a prescient critic of neoliberal globalization, now offers a compelling alternative—less reliant on market faith and more open to public investment, less insistent on global governance and more attentive to national and local circumstances. This book is must-reading for all Democrats and Republicans willing to jettison past pieties for the sake of good jobs, shared prosperity, a workable green transition, and a strong middle class.”—Michael J. Sandel, author of Democracy’s Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times