Summary: The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics
The book under analysis provides us with a situation in developing countries in the tropics as well as problems connected with their economic growth. The author also describes the way these countries attempt to fit the standards established in North America and Europe.
The leading economists conducted their assessment and assist the countries in attaining those standards. In particular, they contributed to fostering education, investing in machines, providing foreign aid, controlling population growth, and making loans to advance the reform introduction. According to the author, the failure to infuse the slightest improvement in the developing economies did not lie in the poor economic structures, but an inability to apply effective economic approaches to practical policy plan.
The book is split into three parts where the first part discloses the overall idea of the work, the second part provides specific programs initiated by the leading economists, and, finally, the third section is connected with the results and reaction to the implemented strategies. All chapters are presented in a first-person narration where the author expands on his experience while leading and working in the poor countries in the tropic. It is also worth saying that the entire book is built in the form of essays where each idea is interpreted through the author’s thoughts, feelings, and challenges he had to overcome.
The book is of great significance for future specialists in the field of the economy because the book shows how the presented solutions deviate from traditional views on basic economic principles as well as how people react to those principles and solutions. Easterly discusses the importance of growth, evaluates the development solutions, and suggests unconventional approaches to existing problems.
Summary: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
The book focuses on American history and experience in the nineteenth century, in the time when local, federal, and state laws gradually changed and evolved to cope with establishing legal criteria and land issues. The author analyzes the political and legal situation in the developing countries and devises two principles in integrating and blending informal and legal systems of property ownership. In particular, the major emphasis is placed on the essence of the legal reforms serving as the main force in establishing welfare and high-quality economic standards.
In the book, the author, first of all, touches upon political and legal changes that should be introduced as well as how those shifts will resist the changes in legal, political, and social structures. Further on, De Soto believes that there is a great need for these legal and political reforms as well as an incredible urgency in committing them to practice. While evaluating the Cold War Period and the Marxist tendencies existed at that time, the author tries to delineate the basic ideological and political grounds typical for the undeveloped nations.
At the end of the book, the author warns that the new period after the Cold War will be based on the protest against capitalism because the introduction and preservation of a free-market system will be much more beneficial for building an economically strong society. In this respect, the book is of considerable value for studying and understanding the economic history and reflecting on possible strategies for improving the current situation in the developing countries.