The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World Economy | 
| Authors: Daniel Yergin, Joseph Stanislaw
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 19755
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Upd Su
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 068483569X
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.9
EAN: 9780684835693
ASIN: 068483569X
Publication Date: April 2, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: COVER VERY GOOD WITH LITTLE SHELF WEAR SPINE SQUARE NO CREASING..PGS TIGHT WITH COUPLE MARGIN NOTES. NO EX LIBRARY NO REMAINDER MARKS.DELIV CONFIRM .U208
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Amazon.com
The "commanding heights," according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin and international business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, are those dominant enterprises and industries that form the high economic ground in nations around the globe. In their analysis of the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World, they examine "the individuals, the ideas, the conflicts, and the turning points" that are responsible. And by considering events such as the ongoing Asian monetary crisis, they suggest what the ultimate interconnection of financial markets might mean in the future.
Product Description
The Pulitzer Prize-wimming author of The Prize joins a leading expert on the global economy to present an incisive narrative of the risks and opportunities that are emerging as the balance of power shifts around the world between governments and markets -- and the battle over globalization comes front and center. The Commanding Heights is essential for understanding the struggle over the "new rules of the game" for the twenty-first century.
Download Description
The Commanding Heights is about the most powerful political and economic force in the world today -- the epic struggle between government and the marketplace that has, over the last twenty years, turned the world upside down and dramatically transformed our lives. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize joins with a leading expert on the new marketplace to explain the revolution in ideas that is reshaping the modern world. Written with the same sweeping narrative power that made The Prize an enormous success, The Commanding Heights provides the historical perspective, the global vision, and the insight to help us understand the tumult of the past half century. Trillions of dollars in assets and fundamental political power are changing hands as free markets wrest control from government of the "commanding heights" -- the dominant businesses and industries of the world economy. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw demonstrate that words like "privatization" and "deregulation" are inadequate to describe the enormous upheaval that is unfolding before our eyes. Along with the creation of vast new wealth, the map of the global economy is being redrawn. Indeed, the very structure of society is changing. New markets and new opportunities have brought great new risks as well. How has all this come about? Who are the major figures behind it? How does it affect our lives? The collapse of the Soviet Union, the awesome rise of China, the awakening of India, economic revival in Latin America, the march toward the European Union -- all are a part of this political and economic revolution. Fiscal realities and financial markets are relentlessly propelling deregulation; achieving a new balance between government and marketplace will be the major political challenge in the coming years. Looking back, the authors describe how the old balance was overturned, and by whom. Looking forward, they explore these questions: Will the new balance prevail?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World Economy July 19, 2008
A book from Dr. L's class that help to shape my belief in freedom in the marketplace. A very good historical overview of the economics of the middle and late 20th Century. There are wonderful historical explanations of the rise of socialism in the west and communism in the east as well as the two grand economic schools in the west which were the products of Keynes and Hayek.
 Landmark Book on Globalization and Economic & Trade Policy June 22, 2008
If you want to understand globalization, this book is required reading. This book provides a full overview and history of 20th century globalization. It discusses the economic choices that third-world countries were making in order to become integrated into the first and second-world international trade system. It discusses the international financial institutions, the newly industrializing economies, market economic policies vs. state controlled economies, trade liberalization, trade policy decisions, and global economics and trade. I found this book to be much better than Thomas Friedman's The Lexis and the Olive Tree (which was also excellent). Although, I would also recommend that students of globalization should also read The Lexis and the Olive Tree and all of Thomas L. Friedman's books.
There was a PBS series of the same name (Commanding Heights) that was based on this book. The PBS series is good, but it is not as good as the book. If you like The Commanding Heights book, you will also like Daniel Yergin's previous book called The Prize which is a history of the oil industry. The Prize is also excellent. It is the definitive history of the oil industry. In fact, I believe it is better than Command Heights. Although both books are excellent. The PBS series or special on the oil industry which was based on the book The Prize was excellent, but again it was not as good as the book.
Global Economics May 9, 2008
&Both the book DVD are excellent. It is one thing to have lived through global change, it is another thing to understand the interconnections and long-term effects. The focus in several countries is a centrally planned or market-driven economy. Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, China and the United Kingdom are examined in detail for their success and failure. The Soviet Union - Russia, tried to retain dictatorial control and continues to have problems. The "Chicago School of Economics" celebrates its wisdom, models and planning in country after country. However, in every country and economics system, the sustainable natural resource base is overlooked. Keynes may be the "father" of market economics, but Keynes is a short-term perspective. We are approaching Peak Oil and Peak Water and 6.6+ billion people all striving for a USA standard of living. The USA standard of living is based on cheap oil and cheap water and we are entering the "Crude Awakening."
Commanding Heights is an appropriate title, reinforced by knowledgeable people from Harvard, Washington DC and around the world. Commanding heights are about to come tumbling down in country after country as human population exceeds carrying capacity and countries compete for resources and food. The authors did an excellent job, but need to follow-up in light of resource, water and food limits.
Capitalism won. Socialism lost. August 13, 2007
That's the central message of this book. But to know why it happened, how it happened, and the geographic extent of this outcome, you need to read this fascinating book.
Now if we can just get our own federal government to realize this . . .
Also read what could be a good companion book: The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
 Not critical enough; offers one perspective and does not back it up November 18, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book was rather fun to read but I am not convinced that the authors have as deep an understanding of the phenomena they are writing about as they would like the readers to believe. The book reads like a narrative, full of assertions that are not backed by rigorous analysis of hard evidence. The authors do not critically explore causal relationships, nor do they talk about research that has done so. They present only one particular perspective on the unfolding of events, and they do not defend this perspective against potential criticism.
My experience with economics has always reinforced the idea that causality can be difficult to establish, and can often operate in unexpected ways. An economist must proceed skeptically, being careful to explore alternative explanations and being prepared to defend assertions with theory and data. The authors do not seem to share this view, taking instead a more naive approach.
Maybe I was expecting too much; after all this book is meant to be accessible to non-economists. However, making a book more accessible does not necessitate a lack of rigour or the absence of critical thought; the authors could have removed some of the redundancy in the book (their writing is far from concise!) and replaced it with explorations of alternative perspectives. The book would be greatly enriched by adding more discussion of research that supports (or opposes) their views.
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