Ezra's Bookshelf

Bad Samaritans

by Ha-Joon Chang · 294 pages · ~5.5 hrs

EconomicsForeign Policy

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Ha-Joon Chang, a Cambridge economist, dismantles the free-market orthodoxy that rich nations promote for developing countries. He shows that today's developed economies industrialized through protectionism, subsidies, and state intervention—the very policies they now tell poor countries to abandon. Britain protected its textile industry from Indian competition; the United States was the most protectionist nation in the world during its industrial rise; Germany created national champions through active state support. Chang argues that demanding developing countries immediately adopt free trade and privatization is 'kicking away the ladder' that rich nations climbed. He examines specific policies—tariffs, infant industry protection, regulation of foreign investment—showing how they enabled industrialization historically and why they remain relevant today. The book challenges the moral framing of free-market advocacy, arguing that 'Bad Samaritans' prescribe medicines they never took themselves. For readers interested in development economics, trade policy, or the gap between rich and poor nations, Chang provides historical evidence that complicates prevailing assumptions.

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