23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang
(click here for author website)
Edition: Penguin, 2010 (and Kindle)

From the title, one can guess right away that this will be a polemic.  The most interesting, perhaps, is that the polemic is decidedly not anti-capitalist.  Professor Chang, in fact, is famous as a 'heterodox economist'--meaning many things but chief among them the fact that he still views himself as a 'capitalist.'

The book  is really, really well organized.  In addition to the conventional table of contents it has an alternative list of 'ways to read this book' which makes selection from the 23 chapters to focus a reading around a question or conviction.  For example:

"Way 1. If you are not even sure what capitalism is, read: 
Things 1, 2, 5, 8, 13, 16, 19, 20, and 22
Way 2.  If you think politics is a waste of time, read: Things 1, 5, 7, 12, 16, 18, 19, 21, and 23"

Six such alternatives are listed and the useful organizational tactics continue in the chapters ("things") themselves.

Each chapter begins with "What they tell you"--an introductory segment that explains the received wisdom about contemporary capitalism with clarity, precision, and honesty.  Immediately following this is "What they don't tell you," in other words, Chang's response contradicting the received wisdom.  Chang's claims are then substantiated with whirlwind tours of 19th century economic history, contemporary case studies (rendered rhetorical palatable for the general reader), and no-nonsense explanations of the logical composition and economic consequences (actual and potential) of each chapter's point/counterpoint conflict.

At bottom, Chang's book believes, and would have readers believe, in the perfectable nature of capitalism.  Those who know me well know that I am not necessarily in that camp.   But, I can go along with the rest of Chang's project: to recognize the call for open education of the history, theory, and practice of capitalist political economy.  Chang wants to confirm our suspicions about the superficial advantages of capitalism and expose some of the hidden (more often not-so-hidden) disadvantages of capitalism.  The goal, in the end, is moderate-progressive: once we understand the history and the basic concepts, we will be much more capable of weighing in on the 'right' side of contemporary economic policy debates which is, for Chang, a sort of post-national, regional, protectionism.

Surely, this is over-simplifying his views, but a clear theme of the book is the hastiness of contemporary ideas (and the policies that follow from them) about globalization, post-industrialism, technological revolutions, and international capital.  Chang would have us sit still and quietly consider that we all--laborers, capitalists, producers, and consumers alike--still live, act, and think in this or that locality and hence economies should be conceived, nurtured, and protected accordingly.

If you don't have time for the book right now, check out this video to get the essence of chapter 1, "There is no such thing as a free market."