Building wealth : the new rules for individuals, companies, and nations in a knowledge-based economy / Lester C. Thurow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thurow, Lester C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Saving and investment--United States.

Saving and investment.

Ability.

Knowledge management.

United States.

Knowledge management--United States.

Ability--United States.

Wealth--United States.

Wealth.

Physical Description:

xvi, 301 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : HarperCollins, [1999]

Summary:

As we stand on the brink of the new millennium, MIT economist Lester Thurow addresses the critical issue of wealth creation. The result is an essential road map for how individuals, companies, and nations can and must build wealth in a knowledge-based global economy.

There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a transition to a knowledge-based economy; breakthrough technologies in microelectronics, biotechnology, new materials, telecommunications, robotics, and computers are fundamentally changing the game of creating wealth. Thanks to the impact of these technologies, new industries (software, gene therapy) are growing explosively and existing industries (banking, retail) are being transformed beyond recognition.

Out of these transformations, a new global economy is emerging to replace existing national economies. Almost alone, the American economy seems to be enjoying a period of unprecedented growth. Is this growth sustainable? Is global integration a boon or a threat to this trend? Will the forces that sparked the Asian meltdown--a crisis that is meticulously evaluated in these pages--provoke a more persistent era of stagnation or worse? Should global integration be slowed? Can it be slowed? What lies ahead in the near future?

What skills new rules must apply to the creation economy? What new rules must apply to the creation and protection of new ideas? How are environmental problems such as global warming going to affect wealth creation? How can marketable wealth be rising at ever-faster rates while productivity growth is slowing? How can nations create a social system in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish without also creating income and wealth inequalities that threaten the system?

In the groundbreaking final chapters of Building Wealth, Professor Thurow turns his attention to the three current major economic sectors of the world: America, East Asia, and Europe. He provides a trenchant analysis of each as a significant competitor in the coming decades, and predicts the likely outcome of the complex forces that are presently shaping global society.

Contents:

Prologue xi

Part 1 Exploring a Knowledge-Based Economy

Chapter 1 The Economic Landscape 3

Chapter 2 The Glittering Eye at the Top of the Wealth Pyramid 13

Chapter 3 Finding (and Losing) the Treasures of the Wealth Pyramid 23

Part 2 The Archaeology of a Wealth Pyramid

Chapter 4 Social Organization 49

Chapter 5 Entrepreneurial Skills 82

Chapter 6 Creating Knowledge 99

Chapter 7 Skills 130

Chapter 8 Tools 149

Chapter 9 Natural and Environmental Resources 175

Part 3 Treasure Hunters within the Wealth Pyramid

Chapter 10 Marketable Wealth 197

Chapter 11 Missing Treasures 210

Part 4 The Builders

Chapter 12 Managing the Tensions of Wealth Creation 223

Chapter 13 Building a Wealth Pyramid 239

Epilogue A Salute to the Builders 281.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0887309518

OCLC:

40857090