While many authors have documented empires maintained through military strength, power derived solely from economic might is a more modern phenomenon. These different sources of power share one important characteristic, though. There is an inevitability to the decline of empires that rest on either foundation. There are also lessons to learn from every empire.
Just as earlier empires based on military or colonial power experienced spectacular ascendancies and subsequent declines, modern economic empires are no less fragile. The overextension, overconfidence, and underinvestment that lead to the demise of military or colonial empires have their analogies in economic empires. An economic superpower grows based on its strengths, is fueled by its successes, but declines as its values are transformed and economic arrogance dilutes its hegemonic powers.
Colin Read describes the various factors that give rise to economic empires, and documents how these same forces eventually lead to their downfall. By analyzing the successes of each factor and the reasons why each falters, he offers insights into ways to sustain economic relevancy. He also offers lessons to aspiring economies so that they may best leverage and manage their growth and avoid the problems that beset less carefully designed economies.
In doing so, Read gives us an interesting and provocative glimpse into the current global dynamic in which the United States, the world's first true economic empire, struggles to maintain its global economic supremacy in the face of a rapidly growing China that shall soon challenge it as the world's largest economy.
Introduction
PART I: FROM 10,000 B.C. TO 1776 - THE DISCOVERY OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE
An Economic Prehistory to Economic Emperors
Barter, Economic Emperors, and the Decentralized Marketplace
Specialization and Surpluses
The First Industrial Revolution
Colonialism Puts Sugar in Our Tea
PART II: A SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
A Declaration of Economic Independence
An Economic Bill of Rights
Dominance Through Economics
Private Solutions to Public Problems
PART III: THE NEW MERCANTILISTS
The Consumer as King
A New Colonialism
Dependency Economics
PART IV: ASPIRING NATIONS
Transfer of Technology
Economic Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Heckscher, Ohlin, and Two Billion
Hungry and Willing to Work for Change
PART V: GROWING PAINS
Complex Economic Systems
Herding Cats and Chaos Theory
Too Big to Fail
Private Property Gives Way to the Public Good
The Winner's Curse
PART VI: A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER
The Politics of a Consumption Economy
Gradual economic Marginalization
A New Economic Order
Convergence
PART VII: FROM WHERE HAVE WE COME, AND WHERE WILL WE GO?
The Dance of Demographics
Steady State and Sustainability
Economic Darwinism and Dinosaurs
Prescriptions for Relevance
Conclusions
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