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Slouching Towards Utopia

by J. Bradford DeLong · 448 pages

EconomicsHistory

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J. Bradford DeLong sweeps through 140 years of economic history, from 1870 to 2010, arguing that this 'long twentieth century' was unique in human experience--a period of unprecedented technological growth that transformed material conditions while failing to produce the utopia that seemed within reach. DeLong, an economist at Berkeley who served in the Clinton administration, traces how the triple revolution of globalization, modern science, and the industrial research laboratory created compound economic growth that raised living standards dramatically even as it generated new forms of inequality and instability. He examines how governments responded to economic challenges from the Great Depression through financial crises, how ideologies from laissez-faire to socialism to fascism competed to manage capitalism's contradictions, and how the period's end in 2010 left a world that had achieved much but resolved little. DeLong writes in a distinctive voice--digressive, opinionated, willing to make judgments about historical figures and policies--that reflects his engagement with economics as a moral enterprise rather than merely technical discipline. The book synthesizes massive historical literature while advancing arguments that will provoke both specialists and general readers interested in why the twentieth century's promise of prosperity for all remained unfulfilled.