Rethinking Competitiveness
Format:Hardback
Publisher:AEI Press
Published:19th Dec '12
Currently unavailable, our supplier has not provided us a restock date
Few politicians can make a speech concerning economic policy without using the term “competitiveness.” Yet, despite its frequent and casual use, there is little if any agreement on its meaning. Scholars have been slow to embrace the term, holding a healthy skepticism toward such political utterances. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) brought together experts from a variety of fields to discuss the issue of competitiveness and how it may influence their disciplines. This volume is composed of nine prominent scholars' interpretations of and answers to the question: “If ‘competitiveness’ were to have a rigorous and relevant meaning in your field, what might that be?” The conclusions these papers reach enrich the debate on what competitiveness is and how policymakers should strive to support it in the realms of tax policy, education policy, immigration, health care, international trade and much more.
This volume is the result of three conferences organized by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. This Washington, DC-based think tank is best known as an incubator for neoconservative thought. No doubt many chapters lean right--sometimes so far that it threatens to tip the book over. For example, the chapters on international trade promote free trade initiatives, and the chapters on the health care system argue the system is more efficient than originally thought (take that, Obamacare). Nonetheless, readers in the center (and left of center) will benefit from both Martin West's study of education outcomes in the US compared to those of other countries (chapter 3), and Robert Shapiro's analysis of the role of innovation and intellectual property (chapter 5). Phillip Swagel's contribution on international competitiveness (chapter 9) completes the volume with a 30,000-foot view of competition from a political angle. His perspective offers a much-needed respite after what at times feels like an awkward family dinner conversation between a neoconservative brother-in-law and a liberal niece. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate collections and above. -- R. H. Scott, Monmouth University * CHOICE *
ISBN: 9780844772509
Dimensions: 238mm x 162mm x 30mm
Weight: 644g
354 pages