Wealth and Democracy

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A substantive discussion of wealth effects in the economy - Rated
This book is well researched and lucidly written. It painlessly educates the reader with an overview of the development of the wealthy societies of the last 400 years. If you are concerned about, or interested in, wealth effects it is a book for you.

The thesis that wealth has polarised society from time to time is well supported by the evidence presented. The current polarisation is found to be extreme, with consequent impacts on possible plans for the future and in the political arena both nationally in the USA and internationally in trade politics.

The book's early perspective is drawn from European (Holland and UK) developments, stock and bond prices and wealth. The data from the mid 19th century onwards is largely, almost exclusively, from the USA. While this is probably because better statistical data is available in the USA, it is a pity that that later data series from other developed societies is not included. The effects of the UK's great 1970s inflation, for instance are not referred to or discussed. Earlier economic events in, say, early China, Japan, the Middle East or India, where there is a long history of civilization are not discussed either. If such information could be provided it would strengthen the conclusions greatly. Of course, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain usable information on these civilizations.

If there is a criticism of the book, it is that the same data is used repeatedly to support different aspects of the case made for the effects of wealth polarisation. Were alternate data used in each case, the reader would have learnt a little more and been a little more convinced.

This is not a book for those who don't like figures or statistics. While the vast bulk of the book is excellent prose, the tables that illuminate it are integral to the story.