What Makes a Nation Prosperous: An International Comparison

Ever since the housing market bubble burst in 2007 and the onset of global economic stagnation, there has been total confusion over how to get out of the stagnation in the United States, the western European debt crises, and Japan's lost decades. Confusion is understandable. In 2008, Keynesian economist Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in economics. In 2011, two economists who believe in rational expectation won the prize. Their views are diametrically opposed. Conservatives and libertarians believe in rational expectation but liberals and progressives believe in Keynesian theory. Who is right? Policies have consequences and have left behind evidence in this and several other issues over which even Republican presidential primary candidates disagree sharply. This book provides data and other historical evidence on who is right. Such evidence is gathered from not only from U.S. experience but also from a dozen other countries around the world.