Independent Review articles from January 2005

Independent Review archives from January 2005

Rhetoric and economic policy.
January 1, 2005... POOH-BAH: Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. PITH-SING: Corroborative detail indeed! Corroborative fiddlestick! --William S. Gilbert, The Mikado ...

Sustainable development and institutional failure: the case of Ecuador.
January 1, 2005... The conservation of resources and the abatement of pollution are among the most important challenges that humankind faces. Sustainable development is defined broadly as resource use that will leave future generations at least as well off as...

Can protectionism ever be respectable? A skeptic's case for the cultural exception, with special reference to French movies.
January 1, 2005... The concept of a "cultural exception" to free trade seems to have arisen in large part as a result of a perceived impending American hegemony over trade in some cultural products in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992 (unfortunately, one of the last...

Divided loyalties and the responsibility of social scientists.
January 1, 2005... A scientist's first responsibility is to tell the truth. This includes telling unpleasant or unpopular truths and standing firm against pressure to present findings in a partial or distorted way. Social scientists' loyalties to groups with a...

The hidden inequality in socialism.
January 1, 2005... The collapse of the socialist regimes in eastern Europe and central Asia brought an unprecedented increase in economic freedom for hundreds of millions of people. Many people, however, still believe that their lives have become worse since the...

Money and politics in the land of Oz.(Wonderful Wizard of Oz )
January 1, 2005... "The story of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was written solely to pleasure children of today" (Dighe 2002, 42). So wrote L. Frank Baum in the introduction to his popular children's story published in 1900. As fertile as his imagination was, Baum...

Liberalism, loose or strict.(Reflections)
January 1, 2005... Political doctrines can be understood and interpreted in many ways, but in order to survive and prosper, each doctrine needs an irreducible, constant element that represents its distinct identity and that cannot change without loss of the...

The great war retold.(The Western Front: Battleground and Home Front in the First World War)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... These are boom times for histories of World War I, which, like its sequel, though to a lesser degree, seems to be the war that never ends. Works keep appearing on issues once considered settled, such as the "Belgian atrocities" and the...

The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy By Joel Mokyr Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. xiii, 359. $35.00 cloth, $19.95 paperback. The first great book in economics focused on what...

The Half-Life of Policy Rationales: How New Technology Affects Old Policy Issues.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Half-Life of Policy Rationales: How New Technology Affects Old Policy Issues Edited by Fred E. Foldvary and Daniel B. Klein New York: New York University Press, 2003. Pp. x, 276. $65.00 cloth, $20.00 paperback. The Half-Life...

Government Failure: E. G. West on Education.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Government Failure: E. G. West on Education Edited by James Tooley and James Stanfield London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2003. Pp. 198. 12.50 [pounds sterling], paperback. This attractive little book provides an excellent means of...

Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force By Peter D. Fearer and Christopher Gelpi Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. Pp. 236 pages. $37.50. Choosing Your Battles is an important but...

Casualty of War: the Bush Administration's Assault on a Free Press.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Casualty of War: The Bush Administration's Assault on a Free Press. By David Dadge Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2004. Pp. 349. $26.00. Casualty of War is a narrative of the obstacles and intimidations that the American press suffered...

Just Get Out of the Way: How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Just Get Out of the Way: how Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries By Robert E. Anderson Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2004. Pp. vii, 274. $24.95 paperback. Just Get Out of the Way is a very good book, though I wish it had...

The Logic of Political Survival.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Logic of Political Survival By Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson, and James D. Morrow Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003. Pp. xiii, 536. $40.00 cloth. Because leaders' political survival depends on...

The Nation-States: Concert or Chaos.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... The Nation-States: Concert or Chaos By Richard Lee Hough Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2003. Pp. xiii, 138. $25.00 paperback. Richard Lee Hough seems well prepared for this concise study of the nation-state and its connection to...

Red Capitalists in China: the Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change By Bruce J. Dickson Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. x, 187. $65.00 cloth, $23.00 paperback. Since 1978, China has...

Adam Smith's Market Place of Life.(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... By James R. Otteson Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. xiii, 338. $70.00 cloth, $26.00 paperback. As James Otteson points out in the introduction to Adam Smith's Market Place of Life, in recent years Adam Smith's...