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La Société Efficiente : Pourquoi fait-il si bon vivre au Canada?
Année après année, les Canadiens constatent avec un mélange d'incompréhension et d'incrédulité que les Nations unies placent leur pays parmi ceux où il fait le mieux vivre sur la planète. Pourquoi se classent-ils si bien ? Étonnamment, ce n'est ni parce qu'ils sont les plus riches ni parce qu'ils vivent dans une société particulièrement juste. Pour Joseph Heath, la réponse est presque trop évidente pour qu'on la remarque : le Canada est une société efficiente ! Comparativement à d'autres pays, écrit-il, on réussit à obtenir un maximum de résultats avec un minimum d'effort et de gaspillage. Un essai fascinant et provocateur sur le présent et l'avenir économique et social de la société canadienne.
429 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2002
11 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Heath
30 books90 followersJoseph Heath (born 1967) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. He also teaches at the School of Public Policy and Governance. He received his bachelor of arts from McGill University, where his teachers included Charles Taylor, and his master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees are from Northwestern University, where he studied under Thomas A. McCarthy and Jürgen Habermas. He has published both academic and popular writings, including the bestselling The Rebel Sell. His philosophical work includes papers and books in political philosophy, business ethics, rational choice theory, action theory, and critical theory.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 3, 2014
Very interesting book. Efficient isn't exactly what you would think, but it's a good way to describe what Heath calls "welfare-state capitalism", which sounds like an oxymoron, but really describes a combination of market forces being nudged by government when appropriate.
March 6, 2020
...and as with most other utopias, the people who have skills usually leave as fast as they can.
Read
March 16, 2024This book, written in 2001, was WAY ahead of its time and does an excellent job of outlining what is now believed by most internet policy nerds to be the correct framework for understanding how countries should function. Despite its flattering title, this book isn't really about Canada, but rather convincingly outlines why neoliberal states outperform non-neoliberal states in enhancing collective well-being.
What Heath excels at:
- Highlighting the importance of markets as the foundation of cooperation and flourishing in society.
- Explaining that economics is a non-normative discipline and that values should be determined by society.
- Acknowledging that, despite the power of markets, there are far more collective action, market failures, prisoners' dilemmas type problems than most admit, and public insurance often serves as an efficient economic intervention and creates Pareto improvements.
- Observing that, beyond a certain point of wealth, all additional wealth is consumed by zero-sum status competitions.
What Heath misses (but incredibly important in the Canadian context):
- Resource royalties going to the federal government (Norway model)
What has changed over the 20+ years since this book but potentially undermines its thesis:
- The recognition of the importance of supply-side interventions and the need to escape the subsidize-demand doom loop, especially in relation to housing.
- The rise of homelessness/public disorder caused by high housing costs and new varieties of drug addiction, eating the commons.
The decline in government quality due to:
- Changing media landscapes that have shifted the nature of politics from being expert-led and focused on reality to being post-truth and oriented around wedge issues that evoke strong emotions.
- Government hiring becoming oriented around demographics rather than competence.
What Heath excels at:
- Highlighting the importance of markets as the foundation of cooperation and flourishing in society.
- Explaining that economics is a non-normative discipline and that values should be determined by society.
- Acknowledging that, despite the power of markets, there are far more collective action, market failures, prisoners' dilemmas type problems than most admit, and public insurance often serves as an efficient economic intervention and creates Pareto improvements.
- Observing that, beyond a certain point of wealth, all additional wealth is consumed by zero-sum status competitions.
What Heath misses (but incredibly important in the Canadian context):
- Resource royalties going to the federal government (Norway model)
What has changed over the 20+ years since this book but potentially undermines its thesis:
- The recognition of the importance of supply-side interventions and the need to escape the subsidize-demand doom loop, especially in relation to housing.
- The rise of homelessness/public disorder caused by high housing costs and new varieties of drug addiction, eating the commons.
The decline in government quality due to:
- Changing media landscapes that have shifted the nature of politics from being expert-led and focused on reality to being post-truth and oriented around wedge issues that evoke strong emotions.
- Government hiring becoming oriented around demographics rather than competence.
May 21, 2025
Very interesting explanation of why welfare state capitalism is as close to utopia as it gets. The book mostly isn’t about Canada specifically, but it does use various examples from Canadian society to make its points.
September 11, 2013
A cogent, well-illustrated account of the peculiarities, advantages and disadvantages of the Canadian approach to government and the organization of society. Full of current cultural references, examples and explanations of a wide range of social-scientific concepts and phenomena, this book makes an argument for the continued importance and relevance of the state in providing the public goods and correcting for market failures. The market economy is also advocated, where it works best. In other words, the approach is that of pragmatism - to use the best possible strategy and tactics for each particular problem. If market is the answer - use the market. If state is better equipped to deliver a particular good or service - let the state do it. Where private-public partnership is needed - then that's what should happen. Common sense at its best.
"Efficiency" is defined as ability to meet the people's needs, not the ability to produce the most. GDP is a myopic measure of the health of any economy - the point is not to produce as much as possible, but to produce the RIGHT products, avoiding excess or shortfall. Given the performance of Canada in the recent financial crisis - it was barely affected by it, because its financial regulations were much tougher than in the U.S. and so its economy was affected much less than it could have been otherwise - there is much to be said about learning from her, using her example, along with those of other successful and efficient societies.
"Efficiency" is defined as ability to meet the people's needs, not the ability to produce the most. GDP is a myopic measure of the health of any economy - the point is not to produce as much as possible, but to produce the RIGHT products, avoiding excess or shortfall. Given the performance of Canada in the recent financial crisis - it was barely affected by it, because its financial regulations were much tougher than in the U.S. and so its economy was affected much less than it could have been otherwise - there is much to be said about learning from her, using her example, along with those of other successful and efficient societies.
January 29, 2015
One of the best books of Heath that I have read. Up there with Filthy Lucre: Economics without illusions. Heath brings a spock-like sharpness to the understanding of capitalism. His central thesis regarding efficiency(in the pareto sense) as an often unrevealed driving force behind various socio-economic systems and phenomenon is an eye-opener. Heath uses effective intuition-pumps to explain the "banality" of social-evils. Those who enjoyed his discussion on collective-action problems in Filthy Lucre, will enjoy this book. Heath makes a particularly interesting case for nudge-paternalism, by unseating the notion of "liberty" and "freedom" from their typical naive-insular conceptions and letting the reader confront the complex interactions between individual freedom and collective-efficiency. Overall, a wonderful read!
March 26, 2014
Not particularly about Canada. Rather, the best book I know that presents the illuminating results of current political philosophy, game theory and theories of collective action. The book is full of very clear examples... when I use excerpts of the book in class, my college students always say that Heath made clear to them a lot of things they didn't understood before -and thought no one could explain.
March 28, 2014
The book's premise is that Canada is successful as a country because of its (boring) efficiencies in government. For instance, it is more economical to provide universal health care than to use the for-profit model of competing private health insurers. Canadians value efficiency and will accept tax-funded programs like this. The book looks into "the morality of capitalism" - and believes that local capitalism reflects its society's moral values and isn't neutral. The book was slow-going but I'm glad I persevered.
April 2, 2012
Not a particularly good read; author's style is dry and uninteresting; despite a potentially interesting thesis.
Canada is an efficient society (despite lower incomes than US); We get maximum results with minimum effort and waste.
e.g. Health Care 2% of US GDP spent on useless health care bureaucracy.
Canada is an efficient society (despite lower incomes than US); We get maximum results with minimum effort and waste.
e.g. Health Care 2% of US GDP spent on useless health care bureaucracy.
January 16, 2008
I love this analysis of the Canadian "way" and felt after reading the book that maybe we should move to Canada!
August 20, 2008
Interesting take on the concept of efficiency itself and societal organization, extremely readable for a philosophy text.
December 30, 2020
Got it as a gift as a young teenager. Shaped my thinking and made me appreciate Canada
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews