I had the opportunity to talk to Niall Ferguson the other day. He’s a Brit who has come to America to talk about economic history. He’s a Harvard professor that tells the truth on our history and our economy and there is standing-room only to get into his classes. We’ve talked so much about the problems in Georgia and the country, this will be an uplifting look at solutions.
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Talking to Ferguson was an “Ah Ha” moment! We have problems, they can be fixed and we are the ones to do it. Let’s get to work. Below is a synopsis of his most recent book and links to lectures. Take the time to read and listen.
Niall Ferguson is the author of Paper and Iron; The House of Rothschild; The Pity of War; The Cash Nexus; Empire, Colossus, The War of the World; The Ascent of Money; High Financier; and Civilization. He is a Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a senior research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford, and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also a regular contributor to Newsweek and Bloomberg television.
He wants us to realize again that America is the greatest country in the world and the problems we have are largely economics and education and fixable.
Rather than climatic or geographical advantages, Ferguson argues that the presence of strong institutions (representative government, the free market and the rule of law) is the true signal of a thriving nation. Ferguson shows how healthy institutions enable societies to succeed; how a constitution which subordinates government to the law of the land is vital to economic dominance; how vibrant modern societies are only possible when private individuals and associations perform their civic duties.
Westerners have inherited an immense wealth of institutions, whose strength and endurance have helped vault our societies to unparalleled successes. However, we have squandered this inheritance. Over the past several decades, our institutions have deteriorated in disturbing ways. Our markets are burdened with overly complex regulations that debilitate the economic processes they were designed to support. Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping debt on our children and grandchildren. The rule of law has devolved into the rule of lawyers. And civil society has become uncivil, where we lazily expect the government to solve all our problems.
With Ferguson’s trademark incisiveness and historical insight, The Great Degeneration reveals how institutional degeneration is the root of the Western world’s economic and geopolitical decline. Based on Ferguson’s presentation at the BBC’s prestigious Reith Lectures in 2012, this latest work is a concise and powerful manifesto for the importance of healthy economic and political institutions, and it targets our most pressing social question: What parts of our society limit our progress, and what aspects empower us to enduring and deepening success?
Not only should you read his books, but you should embrace is love of American history and the American economy.
Martha Zoller is the editor-in-chief of ZPolitics and co-host of Zoller and Bryant’s Georgia’s Morning News.