Kicking away the ladder
by Ha-Joon Chang · first published 2002
59% recommend37% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Historical research showing the UK, US and South Korea built wealth through protectionism, industrial policy and loose IP rules, then pushed free-market rules on others. Suits readers of development economics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Kicking Away the Ladder Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective is a 2002 book by economist Ha-Joon Chang. It examines how now-developed nations achieved their prosperity through interventionist policies and argues that similar tools are often denied to developing countries today. The work challenges orthodox free-market prescriptions in international development economics. Key facts Author: Ha-Joon Chang Published: 2002 Subject: Economic development and policy history Publisher: Anthem Press Awards: 2003 Myrdal Prize (European Association for E
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…with critique of neoclassical theory as too mathematized and unrealistic the categorization is arbitary, even if you think it's heterodox. he's communicating to a general audience have you read chang's kicking away the ladder? much more specialized if that's you're thing, with historical data >In this provocative study, Ha-Joon Chang examines the great pressure on developing countries from the developed world to adopt certain…
on “Economics: The User's Guide by Ha-Joon Chang” ↗…known causal force, there is no reason to think that capitalism itself causes more equality. (And in fact, globalization has been shown to counteract ability of countries to compete, see for example book Kicking Away the Ladder from Ha-Joon Chang, who is korean. Countries that depend on internal demand and supply rather than foreign investment and exports tend to fare much better in closing the economic gap with respect to developed…
on “Economics Can’t Answer Why Inequality Sometimes Declines” ↗…https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/10153658794008375 There is excellent evidence that many countries became prosperous because of protectionism: UK, USA, S. Korea... See for instance the book from Ha-Joon Chang, "Kicking Away the Ladder" (a digest can be found here: http://www.paecon.net/PAEtexts/Chang1.htm ) The use of averages conveniently masks the fact that most people lose while a few fat cats grab all the gains. When a group of…
on “Workers See Costs, Not Benefits, to Global Trade” ↗…“Washington Consensus”-style trade policies. On the contrary, these two countries didn't implement such policies at all; they used the opposite method, strict protectionism and state-managed capitalism. See "kicking away the ladder" by Ha-Joon Chang.
on “Work on these things” ↗Kicking away the ladder by Ha-Joon Chang Industrial development and political economy, it really is a must read for anyone even mildly interested on the field, then you could go to Joan Robinson's criticism of Ricardian economics,…
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗This applies far more than for just environmental factors and is alarmingly consistent across developed economies today, see Ha Joon Chang's "Kicking Away the Ladder"
on “Amazon Deforestation, Once Tamed, Comes Roaring Back” ↗Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang’s book “Kicking Away the Ladder” describes how loose IP regulation has been at the center of the economic development of many countries. Sadly, once countries have developed to a certain level they tend to implement stronger IP to protect…
on “No Copyright Law: The Real Reason for Germany’s Industrial Expansion? (2010)” ↗This is not correct (or at least strongly disputed) as Cambridge University economist Ha Joon Chang explains in his book “Kicking Away the Ladder”. In essence, there is historical evidence that development through protectionism (and appropriation) has worked out well for the UK and the US.
on “Giant shipload of soybeans drifts off China, victim of trade war with US” ↗If you've not read it, 'Kicking Away the Ladder' by Ha-Joon Chang is a great book on this topic. It has a good deal of historical detail on what developed countries did themselves to become developed with respect to IP and protection.
on “Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland” ↗…owes a lot of these countries but every time they market something as "debt forgiveness" it just turns into more of the same thing we've seen with structural readjustment. I'd recommend Ha-Joon Chang's Kicking Away the Ladder if you wanna see a deep dive into the topic
on “The US military has decommissioned another “object” over Lake Huron” ↗"Kicking away the ladder" https://www.amazon.com/Kicking-Away-Ladder-Development-Persp... The US industrial revolution was from Samuel Slater memorizing detailed plans of British textile mills and their machines and bringing…
on “AMD entered the CPU market with reverse-engineered Intel 8080 clone 50 years ago” ↗You can also read Ha-Joon Chang: Kicking Away the Ladder.
on “Forced Labor in Malaysia's Electronics Industry” ↗…having, or being given, access to the very same ladders they needed to climb up themselves. This is bourgeois gatekeeping. There’s a book written about an economic theory by economist Ha-Joon Chang, called ‘Kicking Away The Ladder’, that I believe illustrates this well: “How did the rich countries really become rich? In this provocative study, Ha-Joon Chang examines the great pressure on developing countries from the developed…
on “Lulu – Mac open-source firewall that aims to block unknown outgoing connections” ↗Hong Kong is a super special exception that does not generalize. Approximately everyone became rich by using industrial policy: read Kicking Away the Ladder for detailed historical research. Our understanding of growth economics is not very good, so history is better guide than theory. Experience of China and South Korea shows you can be very flexible about…
on “Futarchy: Vote Values, But Bet Beliefs (2013)” ↗…are some of the sources and authors that helped me earlier on my journey to understand the dynamics i describe: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-08-03/book-day-corru... https://anthempress.com/kicking-away-the-ladder-pb https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/32603498 [1] Wendy Liu, https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley [2] Mariana Mazzucato, https://web.archive.org/web/20160204223931/https://nybooks.c...…
on “Stripe is kick-starting market for carbon removal” ↗