C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy ReviewThis book has been written with three constituencies in mind. The first is a constituency of one: this festschrift pays tribute to C. Fred Bergsten and has been written in honor of both his 65th birthday and the 25th anniversary of the think tank that he created and then led for a quarter century, the (recently renamed) Peterson Institute for International Economics. All the papers, written by the Institute' senior staff, list the many contributions that Fred Bergsten did to the field of international economic policy, both as a practician and as an intellectual entrepreneur. Indeed, the picture pages that open the book read like a who's who in international politics, with no less than four US presidents and a handful of foreign head of states posing with the (formerly bearded) think tank director.
As is expected in such publication, the contributors have many nice things to say about the birthday boy, although they are surprisingly frank about his personal biases and shortcomings. His passion for free trade does not really fall into the bias category, as it is the hallmark of the Institute and the basic orientation shared by most professionally trained economists. As an "evangelist of the open economy", Fred Bergsten is enthusiastic about globalization and the free flow of goods, services, and investments. He nonetheless tempers his commitment to trade liberalization with a concern for those who bear the brunt of adjusting to the opening of borders, and is ready to consider flexible means such as regional agreements, economic threats and sanctions, and temporary protection to attain the goal of global integration.
Aside from trade policy and the promotion of foreign direct investment, exchange rates and the functioning of the international monetary system is another area where Fred Bergsten has made major contributions to the public debate. His colleagues at the Institute are not fully convinced by his past and present positions, however. As a man who witnessed the demise of the Bretton Woods system, Bergsten has kept a nostalgia for managed exchange rates regimes, and he has led a "somewhat quixotic" (to quote the editor) crusade for adopting target zones in order to contain the variations between major currencies. As a representative of the "second generation" of international economic policy-makers, who inherited the global institutions and mechanisms put in place by the first postwar generation, he also exhibits the tendency to tinker with existing institutions like the IMF and World Bank or informal frameworks like the G8 without addressing their lack of legitimacy and accountability.
Perhaps the main criticism addressed by the authors to Fred Bergsten is that he has often been wrong: he thus predicted that many commodity cartels would follow OPEC in 1973, and that the United States and Europe risked a trade war in the 1990s. He is a regular predictor of apocalyptic "hard landing" scenarios for the world economy, of protectionist backlashes following stalemates in trade negotiations, or of major currency crashes that somehow fail to happen. But this criticism is presented in a gentle, humorous form: Fred Bergsten is a "Happy Cassandra", an exponent of "responsible excess" who cries wolf and exaggerates dangers in order to get attention and create a sense of urgency. However the policy recommendations that he then gives are generally sound, and some may have actually helped in preventing the economic disasters that he had warned against. What a Happy Cassandra formulates is therefore the reverse of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The second constituency that this book targets are past, present, and future financial contributors to the Institute. As the introductory chapter makes it clear, Fred Bergtsen and his Institute are very serious about fund raising. The IIE, a non-profit, is funded by a diversified group of philanthropic foundations, private corporations, and interested individuals. It was created with the support of a large start-up grant from the German Marshall Fund. This anniversary volume is a way to demonstrate to these benefactors that their money was well invested, and that it delivered a large intellectual pay-off.
As a policy research center dedicated to international economic and financial issues, the IIE provides a public good that is under-produced by market actors, government agencies, and academia. Its dedication to free trade and global openness helps solve a collective action problem: beneficiaries are dispersed throughout the economy and have little incentives to organize and support that cause, whereas there are powerful groups and vested interests that stand to lose from increased competition and therefore vocally oppose trade liberalization.
The reputation of the Institute for International Economics as a highly credible, independent, and non partisan think tank, and its track record of delivering timely and relevant policy analysis, therefore helps the general interest. The CEO of Caterpillar, a member of the Institute's Board of Directors, explains this very elegantly: "Caterpillar is keenly interested in global free trade. We've been a strong champion for many, many years. But if we are lobbying on that subject, we're seen as having a huge vested interest. If we can support the Institute and its economic analysis and thoughtful assessments of trade policy, and they come to the same conclusion that trade liberalization benefits our citizenry, they are much more effective at reaching Congress and helping get good legislation." In that respect, the fact that protrade Democrats have become a vanishing breed on Capitol Hill sends a worrying signal for the future of the free trade coalition.
This book also addresses the broader constituency of policy makers, academics, the media, and the general public. Those already familiar with the literature produced by the Institute will find a nice summary of their past and present publications addressing all the main international economic and financial issues. Those who have never heard the name of Fred Bergsten or the Peterson Institute will find a useful primer in international economic policy. Reader, if you have read this review down to this last paragraph, then it means that you have developed an interest for this kind of literature. I therefore urge you to acquire the book, by any means necessary. Note: this last sentence should not be read as an endorsement to shop lifting or photocopy plunder, but rather points toward the existence of a large secondary market where the book can be bought at a discount.C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy OverviewThis engaging and informativebook covers the rangeof issues on which C. FredBergsten and the PetersonInstitute have distinguishedthemselves over the last 25years, including trade liberalization,exchange rate regimes, international financialarchitecture, debt, economic sanctions, and the impact oftechnology and globalization. Most of the Institute s seniorresearch staff have contributed chapters, which are bothretrospective and prescriptive.

Want to learn more information about C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now