The SQUEEZE: Neoliberal economists have offered undoubtedly a plethora of dogmas and assumptions since the age of Reagan. Their free market ideologues regarding economic thought have contributed much, in Ha-Joon Chang’s belief, to recent financial catastrophes. It is within this context that the author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism begins his examination of neoliberalists, or what Chang calls the “Bad Samaritans.” Their free market orthodoxy has affected the economy greatly over the last few decades, contributing much to the privatization of state-owned financial firms, the deregulation of the financial services industry, the liberalization of international trade and investments, and the reduction of income taxes and welfare payments. Chang suggests that there is nothing free about a market where the wages are politically-determined, where the tenets of macroeconomic stability fail to make the economy stable, and where a more educated population makes a country less richer.

Notable Endorsement: "Chang, befitting his position as an economics professor at Cambridge University, is engagingly thoughtful and opinionated at a much lower decibel level. 'The "truths" peddled by free-market ideologues are based on lazy assumptions and blinkered visions,' he charges."-Time

Common Q’s Answered by this Book:

•  How do the free market ideologues of contemporary neoliberalists contribute to the decline of economic activity?
• What are examples of free market orthodoxy that has influenced the current deregulated financial services industry?
• How does the reduction of income taxes affect the liberalization of international trade?

About the Author: A leading heterodox economist, Ha-Joon Chang specializes in the field of development economics. Chang currently serves as a Reader in the Political Economy of Development department at the University of Cambridge. Chang has authored several widely-discussed policy books, including Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002). Chang has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Investment Bank. Chang is also a fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Chang is relatively known for being an important academic influence on economist Rafael Correa, who is currently the President of Ecuador.

Book Vitals:

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press (January 2012)