The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.

SPENCE, Michael.

$175.00

Item Number: 102002

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

First edition of this “intelligent, rational, an humane book” (The Financial Times). Octavo, original boards. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “To Gus With my very best wishes Michael Spence.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Christopher Tobias. Jacket illustration by Sara Mills.

With the British Industrial Revolution, part of the world's population started to experience extraordinary economic growth―leading to enormous gaps in wealth and living standards between the industrialized West and the rest of the world. This pattern of divergence reversed after World War II, and now we are midway through a century of high and accelerating growth in the developing world and a new convergence with the advanced countries―a trend that is set to reshape the world. Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence explains what happened to cause this dramatic shift in the prospects of the five billion people who live in developing countries. The growth rates are extraordinary, and continuing them presents unprecedented challenges in governance, international coordination, and ecological sustainability. The implications for those living in the advanced countries are great but little understood. Spence clearly and boldly describes what's at stake for all of us as he looks ahead to how the global economy will develop over the next fifty years. The Next Convergence is certain to spark a heated debate how best to move forward in the post-crisis period and reset the balance between national and international economic interests, and short-term fixes and long-term sustainability. “Rarely does one find a book that is so powerful in its analysis, timely in its topic, relevant in its thinking, and clear in its exposition.... This is by far the best book I have seen on today's historical growth transformation" (Mohamed A. El-Erian)