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.
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