[Sci-tech-public] STS Colloquium, March 5

[Debbie Meinbresse]

Please join us for an STS Colloquium on Monday, March 5th (4:00 pm, 
MIT, E51-095)

Nationalism and the Firm
Alice Amsden, Urban Studies and Planning, MIT

Alice H. Amsden is Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy at 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  She received her 
bachelor's degree from Cornell and her master's and Ph.D. degrees 
from the London School of Economics. Amsden has been a consultant on 
industrial development for the UN, World Bank, OECD and numerous 
governments.  She previously taught at Harvard Business School and 
the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research.  She has 
contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Nation, World Policy 
Journal, Technology Review, Milken Institute Review, Mother Jones, 
and other popular newspapers and magazines.
Her forthcoming book (see description at the bottom of the page), 
Escape from Empire: The Developing World's Journey through Heaven and 
Hell, will be published by MIT Press, May 2007.

Abstract for Monday's Colloquium
Most development economists would agree that nationalism is important 
in economic development since World War II, but how and why are 
unclear.  I equate nationalism with private nationally owned firms in 
developing countries (POEs) as distinct from state-owned enterprises 
(SOEs) and especially foreign owned enterprises (FOEs).  The 
premise---unproven---that I begin with is that POEs are better for 
economic development than FOEs because they are more entrepreneurial 
(they are the pioneers of more industries new to their country), 
whereas the subsidiaries of multinational firms often suffer from 
bureaucratic leadership and time-consuming procedures.  Given the 
critical role of POEs for economic development, I examine the 
historical conditions under which they arose in particular countries, 
and whether that history can be replicated today.  POEs in Africa???

<http://mitpress.mit.edu/images/products/books/0262012340-f30.jpg>
[]

Escape from Empire
The Developing World's Journey through Heaven and Hell

The American government has been both miracle worker and villain in 
the developing world. From the end of World War II until the 1980s 
poor countries, including many in Africa and the Middle East, enjoyed 
a modicum of economic growth. New industries mushroomed and skilled 
jobs multiplied, thanks in part to flexible American policies that 
showed an awareness of the diversity of Third World countries and an 
appreciation for their long-standing knowledge about how their own 
economies worked. Then during the Reagan era, American policy 
changed. The definition of laissez-faire shifted from "Do it your 
way," to an imperial "Do it our way." Growth in the developing world 
slowed, income inequalities skyrocketed, and financial crises raged. 
Only East Asian economies resisted the strict prescriptions of 
Washington and continued to boom. Why? In Escape from Empire, Alice 
Amsden argues provocatively that the more freedom a developing 
country has to determine its own policies, the faster its economy 
will grow. America's recent inflexibility--as it has single-mindedly 
imposed the same rules, laws, and institutions on all developing 
economies under its influence--has been the backdrop to the rise of 
two new giants, China and India, who have built economic power in 
their own way.

Amsden describes the two eras in America's relationship with the 
developing world as "Heaven" and "Hell"--a beneficent and politically 
savvy empire followed by a dictatorial, ideology-driven one. What 
will the next American empire learn from the failure of the last? 
Amsden argues convincingly that the world--and the United 
States--will be infinitely better off if new centers of power are met 
with sensible policies rather than hard-knuckled ideologies. But, she 
asks, can it be done?

May 2007
6 x 9, 224 pp., 9 illus.
$27.50/16.95 (CLOTH)



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