In this book, Nobel Prize-winning economist
Edmund Phelps draws on a lifetime of thinking to make a
sweeping new argument about what makes nations
prosper--and why the sources of that prosperity are
under threat today. Why did prosperity explode in some
nations between the 1820s and 1960s, creating not just
unprecedented material wealth but
"flourishing"--meaningful work, self-expression, and
personal growth for more people than ever before? Phelps
makes the case that the wellspring of this flourishing
was modern values such as the desire to create, explore,
and meet challenges. These values fueled the grassroots
dynamism that was necessary for widespread, indigenous
innovation. Most innovation wasn't driven by a few
isolated visionaries like Henry Ford; rather, it was
driven by millions of people empowered to think of,
develop, and market innumerable new products and
processes, and improvements to existing ones. Mass
flourishing--a combination of material well-being and
the "good life" in a broader sense--was created by this
mass innovation. Yet indigenous innovation and
flourishing weakened decades ago. In America, evidence
indicates that innovation and job satisfaction have
decreased since the late 1960s, while postwar Europe has
never recaptured its former dynamism. The reason, Phelps
argues, is that the modern values underlying the modern
economy are under threat by a resurgence of traditional,
corporatist values that put the community and state over
the individual. The ultimate fate of modern values is
now the most pressing question for the West: will
Western nations recommit themselves to modernity,
grassroots dynamism, indigenous innovation, and
widespread personal fulfillment, or will we go on with a
narrowed innovation that limits flourishing to a
few? A book of immense practical and intellectual
importance, Mass Flourishing is essential reading
for anyone who cares about the sources of prosperity and
the future of the West.
|
|