Trust: The Social Virtues And the Creation of Prosperity

After the end of the Cold War, it is clear that the chief policy issue facing the United States and other industrial democracies will be that of economic competitiveness. In trying to understand the origins of competitiveness, the chief puzzle concerns why capitalist East Asia grew as fast as it did over the past two generations. Most of the current literature on this subject discusses the problem in terms of either free market or state interventionist policies, but few take seriously the possiblity that culture somehow lies at the root of Asian success. This book explores the ways in which countries that share apparently similar capitalist economic institutions are in fact quite different from one another - different in their approaches, work, entrepreneurship, industrial organization and ultimately, economic performance.