Ha-Joon Chang - 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Development economics expert Ha-Joon Chang dispels the myths and prejudices that have come to dominate our understanding of how the world works in a lecture at the RSA.

[MegaAstrodude]

This man deserves the Nobel Prize in Economics.

[meisam]

Fantastic economist. He has his head in the right place. 

[selvmordspilot]

I loved the point concerning child labor as an infringement on the free market. Spot on example.

[underoathuea]

through reading this guy alone I got a first in my last economics essay, and I'm a psi student. he is my first last and only academic idol. thankyou

[stellanightsk]

I love the little "hmm?" he adds after some sentences.

[kokopelli]

...virtually all of today's rich nations became rich through the use of, trade protection, government subsidy and regulation rather than free trade, free market policies"
This is why Ha-Joon Changs book, "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" is on my winter reading list.

[weeweewee]

I read his book recently .. Marvelous book .. Strongly adviced .. His speech now is not as clear as his writing there .. Just Get his book and enjoy unfolding a new ecomonic mystries - yours, Mohammed Qabazard (Kuwait)

[DaveE]

“95% of economics is common sense made complicated”. Lol.

Someone on tic too was like “what’s the point of life?” And some one responded “to pick berries, but they made it complicated.”

[WAAAAAAAAAAAY]

this is the kind of economic analysis [ANALYSIS not description] we need in tertiary education. Brilliant

[socratesalive]

Love Ha Joon Chang. He questions the evidence and the myth of free market capitalism. Read Bad Samaritans and really loved it...

[futsal]

"Active economic citizenship" -- now there's a cause worth promoting! Thank you, Ha-Joon.

[scientiaarsvita]

"We have to have pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will." brilliant. And brilliant analysis of the brainwashing of the free marketeers. I also love Ha-Joon Chang's dry humor: "The vatican has a lot of smart people." "In the economics profession today, interest in the real world is an indirect admission that you are not very good."

[tmplguardian]

The fact that you made the capability to read polysyllable word a prerequisite for reading his book has chilling implications. The fact that people in the 21st century still face such a high rate of illiteracy in developed countries shows some of the failings inherent in the current economic model.

I will definitely try to find a copy of his book and thank you for encouraging people to become more aware of how economics work. And thank you RSA for sharing these discussions with all of us.

[reginaldmorton]

Glad I found this guy, he may well turn out to be our generations Leon Trotsky. Great teacher

[syystomu]

Everybody who is able to read sentences with polysyllable words in any language in which this book is available should read it. If you've graduated from high-school, you should read it. Sadly, though, I haven't even managed to convince one single friend of mine to read it because everybody has too many books to read, nowadays. But economics ARE important to our day-to-day lives and to our future, so we NEED to learn more, all of us. A couple of people isn't enough: we need wide-spread knowledge.

[thejeimirestoration]

Absolutely, there is a political motivation to constantly praise free market neoliberalism as a wonderful system. It is no different to the lauding of communism as the best system even as it was clearly on its death bed in the late 80s in Eastern Europe. Once you have committed yourself to supporting a system and often overcome opposition to that end, it becomes very difficult to subsequently say it isn't working as well as you thought it would. Its failures are deliberately swept under the carpet and any data which might support it are often exaggerated wildly.

[freedomthrough]

@Dirge987 It is. The amount of purchasing power you command is connected to your status in society, which is a power factor. Your "voice" is "louder" when you command more purchasing power. You also make friendships in the upper echelon if you become one of them, something that is connected to the amount of purchasing power you command. It goes both ways. A person of high status also has the means to directly affect political outcomes through use of their purchasing power.

[socratesalive]

Love Ha Joon Chang. He questions the evidence and the myth of free market capitalism. Read Bad Samaritans and really loved it...

Calpitalism comes in all forms; the IMF and World Bank (and Ronald Reagan) do not have the last word in capitalism. Swedish capitalism is not laissez-faire free market capitalism, but the country is one of the richest, most equitable countries in the world.

[justnotcricket]

This book is brilliant, just finished reading it. It could easily have been called '23 things I like about capitalism'.

[FletchforFreedom]

Yes, that's one of the many point he made that has ensured his place as a complete laughinstock in the economics field.