The Zero-Sum Society: Distribution And The Possibilities For Change

by Lester Carl Thurow

Written during a period of acute economic stagnation in 1980, The Zero-Sum Societydiscusses the human implications of economic problem solving. Interpreting macroeconomics as a zero-sum game, Thurow proposes that the American economy will not solve its most trenchant problems—inflation, slow economic growth, the enviornment—until the political economy can support, in theory and in practice, the idea that certain members of society will have to bear the brunt of taxation and other government-sponsored economic actions.

As relevant today as it was twenty years ago, The Zero-Sum Society offers a classic set of recommendations about the best way to balance government stewardship of the economy and the free-market aspirations of upwardly mobile Americans.

About the Author:
Lester Thurow had been professor of management and economics at MIT for more than thirty years. A Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, he taught at Harvard from 1966 to 1968 after a term as a staff economist on President Lyndon Johnson's Council of Economic Advisers. In addition to writing several books, three of them New York Times best-sellers, he has served on the Editorial Board of the New York Times, as a contributing editor of Newsweek, and as a member of Time magazine's Board of Economists.

Genres: Economics, Business, Politics, Nonfiction, History

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 1966

About the author

Lester Carl Thurow (born 1938) is a former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of numerous bestsellers on economic topics.
Thurow was born in Livingston, Montana. He received his B.A. in political economy from Williams College in 1960, where he was in Theta Delta Chi and Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, and a Tyng Scholar. Thurow was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, and went to Balliol College, Oxford to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1962 with first class honors. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1964.
Thurow is on the board of directors of Analog Devices, Grupo Casa Autrey, E-Trade, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.. Thurow was also one of the original founders of the Economic Policy Institute in 1986.
Thurow is currently an economics columnist for, among others, the Boston Globe and USA Today. He was previously an economics columnist for and on the editorial board of the New York Times, and was a contributing editor to Newsweek.
Thurow is a longtime advocate of a political and economic system of the Japanese and European type, in which governmental involvement in the direction of the economy is far more extensive than is presently the case in the United States – a model that has come to be known as "Third Way" philosophy.
His best selling book, Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America published in 1993, compares economic growth and living standards among Japan, Europe, and the USA.
His other books include:
Fortune Favors the Bold: What we must do to build a new and lasting global prosperity (2003).
The Future of Capitalism: how today's economic forces shape tomorrow's world (1996).
The Zero-sum Solution: building a world-class American economy (1985).
Dangerous Currents: the state of economics (1983).
The Zero-sum Society: distribution and the possibilities for economic change (1980).
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Reviews

[Victor Viejo Gomez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Argumentario vacío, un estatista empedernido. No aprendes nada más que hacer el estado más grande y la sociedad más pequeña. Desarrollo de la idea y análisis de cómo hemos llegado ha estar lo jodidos que estamos en l actualidad.

[minna · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read it just to flex and it’s not even a good flex

[Jerel Bonner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in economics and politics. It's amazing how little progress has not been made in over 40 years.

[CRESPO · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know is a good book when 45 years after the book is still fresh, a must read