When more is not better : overcoming America's obsession with economic efficiency / by Roger L. Martin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Martin, Roger L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism--United States.

Capitalism.

Distribution (Economic theory).

Industrial efficiency--United States.

Industrial efficiency.

United States--Economic conditions--1945-.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.

Summary:

"American democratic capitalism is in danger. How can we save it? For its first 200 years, the American economy exhibited truly impressive performance. The combination of democratically elected governments and a capitalist system worked, with ever-increasing levels of efficiency, spurred by division of labor, international trade, and scientific management of companies. By the nation's bicentenary in 1976, the American economy was the envy of the world. But since then, outcomes have changed dramatically. Growth in the economic prosperity of the average American family has slowed to a crawl, while the wealth of the richest Americans has grown to a level never seen before. This imbalance threatens the American democratic capitalist system, which only works when the average family benefits enough to keep voting for it. In this bracing yet constructive book, world-renowned business thinker Roger Martin starkly outlines the fundamental problem: we have treated the economy as a machine for which the pursuit of ever-greater efficiency is considered an inherently good thing. But it has become too much of a good thing. Our obsession with efficiency has inadvertently shifted the shape of our economic outcomes: from a large middle class and smaller numbers of rich and poor (think of a bell-shaped curve) to a greater share of benefits accruing to a thin tail of already rich Americans (a Pareto distribution). We must stop treating the economy as a perfectible machine, Martin argues, and shift toward viewing it as a complex adaptive system in which we must seek a fundamental balance of efficiency with resilience. To achieve this, we need to keep in mind the whole while working on the component parts; pursue improvement, not perfection; and relentlessly tweak instead of attempting to find permanent solutions. Filled with keen economic insight and advice for citizens, executives, policymakers, and educators, When More Is Not Better is the must-read guide for saving democratic capitalism"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: A system out of balance

Part A. Problem: The American economy as an efficient machine

The chain of imperfection

Towards a Pareto economy

The American economy as a natural system

Part B. Solutions: Achieving balance in America's natural system

An agenda for business executives

An agenda for political leaders

An agenda for educators

An agenda for citizens

Closing thoughts.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781647820077

1647820073