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When resources bring power, few would tend to look at geographically small nations with much envy. But in a complex world, governance needs to be more nimble. Indeed, as large economies ponder how to react to economic, geopolitical and technological shifts, Armen Sarkissian, the former president of Armenia, provides a fascinating and timely analysis of the agility and adaptability of small states in The Small States Club: How Small Smart States Can Save the World (Hurst £25). Through his travels, meetings and experiences as a diplomat and head of state, Sarkissian homes in on 10 countries — including Singapore, UAE, Estonia, Ireland and Botswana — and tries to unearth how they have emerged when the odds were against them.
His account reveals common strands: a sense of identity and purpose, and competent leaders who engage in strategic and pragmatic decision-making. This appears simple, but many nations can’t seem to get it right. It comes down to leveraging economic strengths well, and accepting and mitigating weakness.
Sarkissian’s insights at the national level also chime with the lessons for driving innovative industrial development. In Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy (University of California Press £23/$26.95), Neil Lee, professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics, explores how Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Taiwan have each managed to both develop innovative economies and diffuse the benefits broadly across society.
Despite, for example, British leaders regularly citing a desire to turn the UK into the next Silicon Valley, Lee’s core argument is that governments should not just aim to replicate success stories elsewhere. Through four case studies, including Taiwan’s combination of high-quality education and tech development and the story of Sweden’s welfare state alongside tech disruption, Lee builds up a picture of the many cross-cutting cultures, incentives and institutions that need to be nurtured to get a top-level, and more equitable, type of innovation. There is no silver bullet, but rather a combination of factors that go towards building a thriving tech ecosystem. The book brings much-needed nuance to the debate about how to foster an entrepreneurial culture that lifts broader society as well as industry.
The US and its allies face tough choices if they want the world to go green — particularly as global tensions have sparked “a new economic war”, says Ernest Scheyder. China’s foresight in mining and producing rare earth metals around the world — its former leader Deng Xiaoping declared in 1987 that while “the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths” — has put Beijing in the driving seat when it comes developing renewable technologies. In The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives (One Signal Publishers/Atria Books $30), Scheyder, a senior Reuters correspondent, offers an in-depth investigation into the complexities of extracting the essential lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel deposits we need to power the shift from fossil fuels.
Drawing on insights from the author’s years covering the clean-energy transition, the book provides a ground-level account of the trade-offs facing the industry and policymakers. This includes the dilemma rare-earth mining poses for biodiversity, indigenous sites and the utilisation of Chinese expertise, given geopolitical rifts. It’s a nuanced and invaluable deep dive into the questions that need to be addressed if we are to fight climate change and achieve energy security.
In The Wealth of a Nation: Institutional Foundations of English Capitalism (Princeton University Press $39.95/£30), Geoffrey Hodgson, a professor emeritus in management at Loughborough university, asserts the importance of legal, financial and institutional reforms in economic development and democratisation. He sheds light on the English economy from 1300 to the early 19th century — a period of rapid agricultural and industrial growth — showing how law and policy impacted its emergence. As many focus on technology, culture and liberal ideas as drivers for England’s industrial revolution, Hodgson shows how vital reforms — impacted by global and national pressures — helped to nurture and shape capitalism across the country.
As economists grapple with major global changes — including shifting trade patterns, the return of big government spending and the green transition — Peter Oppenheimer provides a fitting graphical analysis of how to detect and demystify structural economic and financial cycles in Any Happy Returns: Structural Changes and Super Cycles in Markets (Wiley £24.99). With four decades of experience in reading markets, Oppenheimer expertly guides the reader through historic supercycles including the postwar boom, the “great moderation” and the pandemic era, dissecting the economic, political and social drivers behind each — and examining how they impact financial metrics and behaviours. An invaluable read for economic history buffs, the book also offers hints on how to invest wisely that will appeal to other readers too.
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