Volume 33, Number 9 · May 29, 1986
To Have and Have Not
By David S. Landes
How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World
by Nathan Rosenberg, by L.E. Birdzell Jr.
Basic Books, 353 pp., $19.95
The world may be divided between the haves and the have-nots, or to put it differently, between the eaters and dieters on the one hand, and those who can't get enough to eat on the other. This division reflects in turn a huge difference in productivity: the eaters and overeaters produce more (though they do not necessarily work harder) and get more; and this difference, if not growing (it depends on whose figures you believe), is not shrinking fast enough to suit the desires of the poor or the conscience of the rich.
Review, 4661 words
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