Why economies grow

by Jeffrey G. Madrick

"The past two years have been an unhappy and uncertain time for the once-unstoppable U.S. economy. The dot-com bubble has burst, the major stock indexes have lost hundreds of billions of dollars of value, there is a crisis of confidence in corporate governance, and the economy as a whole is growing sluggishly if at all. These developments have many people asking questions they thought we'd already answered: What makes economies grow? How can we get ours healthy again?". "There are any number of one-dimensional answers to be had. Some focus on the national savings rate. Others take for granted that growth is driven by new technologies. In his new book, New York Times columnist Jeff Madrick argues that these factors are not as dominant as many believe and all the emphasis they receive leads us to ignore other crucial factors. The most important of those neglected is the strength of market demand itself.". "The thesis at the heart of Why Economies Grow is that the process of growth is far