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How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly--and the Stark Choices Ahead Paperback – January 31, 2012
Dambisa Moyo (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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In How the West Was Lost, the New York Times bestselling author Dambisa Moyo offers a bold account of the decline of the West's economic supremacy. She examines how the West's flawed financial decisions have resulted in an economic and geopolitical seesaw that is now poised to tip in favor of the emerging world, especially China.
Amid the hype of China's rise, however, the most important story of our generation is being pushed aside: America is not just in economic decline, but on course to become the biggest welfare state in the history of the West. The real danger is a thome, Moyo claims. While some countries – such as Germany and Sweden – have deliberately engineered and financed welfare states, the United States risks turning itself into a bloated welfare state not because of ideology or a larger vision of economic justice, but out of economic desperation and short-sighted policymaking. How the West Was Lost reveals not only the economic myopia of the West but also the radical solutions that it needs to adopt in order to assert itself as a global economic power once again.
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication dateJanuary 31, 2012
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100374533210
- ISBN-13978-0374533212
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Moyo's diagnosis of the recent disasters in financial markets is succinct and sophisticated...I applaud her brave alarum against our economic and social complacency: her core concerns are sufficiently close to painful truths to warrant our attention.” ―Paul Collier, The Observer
“This argument...can rarely have been made more concisely...Moyo is a very serious lady indeed.” ―Dominic Lawson, The Times
“The sad saga of the recession gives legs to Dambisa Moyo's provocatively-entitled book, for it goes to the heart of the great economic issue of our times: how swiftly will power shift over this century?” ―Hamish McRae, The Independent
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition (January 31, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0374533210
- ISBN-13 : 978-0374533212
- Item Weight : 9.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,594,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #320 in Political Trades and Tariffs
- #1,933 in African Politics
- #2,046 in International Economics (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Dr. Dambisa Moyo is an international economist who writes on the macroeconomy and global affairs.
She is the author of the New York Times Bestsellers "Edge of Chaos: Why Democracy is Failing to Deliver Economic Growth - and How to Fix It", "Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa", "How The West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly - And the Stark Choices Ahead" and "Winner Take All: China's Race for Resources and What It Means for the World".
Ms. Moyo was named by Time Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World", and was named to the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders Forum. Her work regularly appears in economic and finance-related publications such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.
She completed a doctorate in Economics at Oxford University and holds a Masters degree from Harvard University. She completed an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and an MBA in Finance at the American University in Washington D.C..
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The first half of this book kind of does basic economics, explaining things like why the crash of 2008 occurred. This is not exactly new territory. But then, she moves on to discuss the overall failure of US economic policy, and the lack of strategic planning.
It's the latter half of the book that I enjoyed the most, where she discusses the 3 types of capitalism. There's unfettered greed, like in the US. There's quasi-socialism, where the state takes care of infrastructure, like Europe. Both of these are poised to fail with the change in demographics. Then there's state-run capitalism, like China or Singapore, where the state plays a very active role in the economy. The good thing, the author says, is that in the latter, there may not be as much freedom, but there is a group will that permits long-range thinking. In this way, China is investing in resources in Africa, and other places, in order to secure its 50 - 100 year security. Moyo stresses that this puts them at a huge competitive advantage, especially when they are able to steal technology from the West.
"How the West Was Lost" is a very unsettling book, challenging America's blindness and inability to put the common cause over individual desires. I wish more people would read this book, especially people with a better background in economics than I have, in order to talk about it with me.
Moyo gives an albeit feeble solution to this problem, specifically for the USA, a solution that is most likely to be politically difficult if not impossible to implement, and as a result is likely to be much too late.
The book concentrates particularly on the positions of the USA visa vie Chine, although there are references to the UK and Europe. It also deals to some extent with China's foray into securing her urgent and longer term need for soft and hard commodities, which she is able to do with her large cash reserves.
Overall, the book has a journalistic approach with many bibliographic references, and will appeal to readers interested in world economics without needing to have the know-how, as the author explains everything quite clearly in layman's terms.
Moyo clearly and succinctly describes the folly of short term vision by politicians which will be the downfall of western economic domination. Nikita Krushchev, when he visited the U.S. in 1959, said "We will bury you". He was misinterpreted as saying this literally, what he meant was that the Soviet technological effort would smother the U.S. As history proved, he was wrong but China will most likely fulfill the prophesy.
This book should be required reading for every western politician, bureaucrat and university president.
At times,this work can be somewhat frightening, but like any worthwhile explanations, it makes the reader think and relate to what he or she sees occurring in the world today, regardless of the reader's world-view.
Economics is probably one of the more boring subjects for the average person; Moyo's work makes it interesting and relevant. So read this book, and take from it the essence of what Dr. Moyo writes. And read it before you read Winner Take All.
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After reading this I could hardly wait to get her other books.



