In this very stimulating, easy to read, and relevant book, Barry Eichengreen examines the history of the U.S. and Europe in order to identify the economic, social, and political circumstances under which populism takes hold. But most interestingly to me, he also identifies the policies that combat it. Why combat it? Because populism is, as the author says, “divisive by nature.” To my novice mind, it was interesting to learn this, especially since we live in such a divisive and frightening time.
Maybe you’re a well-read economic historian who views this work from a loftier perspective than my own. By contrast, I am a middle class American trying to make sense of difficult times. For readers like me, this work is fascinating. There was not a single page that did not stimulate and challenge my thinking. For instance, what is populism? The author’s definition is informative and entertaining, beginning as it does with a parallel to Supreme Court Justice Stewart’s definition of pornography, “I know it when I see it.”
Eichengreen also identifies the factors that activate populism, including, among others, economic insecurity, threats to national identity, and an unresponsive political system, then demonstrates that, in order to quiet populist tendencies, leaders must make “economic and political reforms that address the concerns of the disaffected.” There must be economic growth and its profits must be widely shared. He points out that economists tend to forget that market competition, globalization, and technical change produce losers as well as winners, and those losers often are not personally at fault for their predicament. I’m thinking it’s more than economists who forget that!
In one, of many observations that now seem so obvious, but that had never occurred to me before, Eichengreen points out that “the challenge facing the United States stems from America’s distinctive national identity,” and that for the European Union “it is the absence of a European identity.”
Much of the book examines historical periods of populist fervor. Some of them, like Weimar Germany, which preceded the rise of the Nazis, led to something truly horrific. I don’t want anything like that to happen again. None of us do. Instead of relying upon long-held personal passions and political preconceptions, I will now use some of the exciting ideas I learned in this book to try to understand those Americans and Europeans who so vehemently disagree with me. I think if a lot of us were to do that the world would be a better place. I highly recommend this unusual book.
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Amazon Customer
happy with the purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2018C.A.P. Scholtes
Slightly tedious, but worth the effort
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2018