Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy

(Paperback, Revised)

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*Updated edition with a new foreword on the Trump administration's trade policy* The vast benefits promised by the supporters of globalization, and by their own government, have never materialized for many Americans. In Failure to Adjust Edward Alden provides a compelling history of the last four decades of US economic and trade policies that have left too many Americans unable to adapt to or compete in the current global marketplace. He tells the story of what went wrong and how to correct the course. Originally published on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, Aldens book captured the zeitgeist that would propel Donald J. Trump to the presidency. In a new introduction to the paperback edition, Alden addresses the economic challenges now facing the Trump administration, and warns that economic disruption will continue to be among the most pressing issues facing the United States. If the failure to adjust continues, Alden predicts, the political disruptions of the future will be larger still.

Reviews

In this criticaland thoroughanalysis of US government policies regarding the countrys involvement in the global economy during the last half century, the author (Council on Foreign Relations) concentrates on the changing competitive environment the US faces. In the process of assessing the impact of those changes, he discusses a wide range of policies and how they affect US economic progress and international relations. Those policies include not only tariffs and trade agreements but also domestic tax policies, government support for enhanced investment, improvements in the education system, immigration issues, and monetary policies as they influence the international role of US currency. Part of the analysis deals with state and local governments attempts to take advantage of international economic opportunities in the face of insufficient federal commitments. In the process, the author also provides an insightful history of worldwide economic transformation over the last 50-plus years. This analysis is very well written and documented and is strongly recommended to anyone interested in international trade and global economic development, especially as national policy pertains to them. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *
Rising opposition to globalization has thrown an already polarized political environment in America into near mayhem, with our key economic partnerships hanging in the balance. Ted Alden provides a cogent and constructive analysis of the origins of opposition to economic openness that charts a viable path forward. It is essential reading for all who care about America's role in the global economy. -- Gordon Hanson, Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations at UCSD and Director, Center on Global Transformation
Ted Alden hits the nail on the head with this cogent analysis of the trade issue, its impact on American workers, our failure to meaningfully help those adversely affected and what we should now be doing to save globalization by adopting more thoughtful and far-reaching policies. -- Steven Rattner, Chairman, Willett Advisors LLC
"Ted Alden's new book, Failure to Adjust, captures vividly the inherent tension in Americas role in the post-war global economy: that between the principal architect and guardian of an open system, on the one hand, and a participant and competitor within that system, on the other. That tension cannot be removed. But in Aldens thoughtful analysis, as the global economy grows, the balance between player and referee that needed to shift in America in favor of the former, has been late in coming. It is a really interesting and detailed assessment, that avoids overly simple diagnoses and prescriptions." -- Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate and William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business, New York University
[Alden] demonstrates how four decades of market-friendly economic and trade policies have been insufficiently inclusive, setting the stage for the populist backlash were now experiencing. -- Sebastian Mallaby, The Wall Street Journal

Author Bio

Edward Alden is the Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11 (Harper, 2008), which was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize.