Customer comments on this selection.
 Organized, simple, and concise
This book is well organized into sections that refute and answer many of the most common misconceptions and questions about the free market, capitalism and globalization. Explanations are concise, easy to understand, to the point, and most of the time, convincing as well. There are a few shaky circular reasoning fallacies, but these are negligible in light of the overall high quality of scholarship.
Informative and optimistic perspective on the direction of the world
In Defence of global capitalism was, for me, not just an argument for opening up borders and liberalizing economies. It was a statement about the direction of the world. It gives you a well documented, optimistic yet reflected view of the development of the world as a whole the past 50 years and similar prospects for the years ahead. It is a strong argument against the anti-globalist movement who tenaciously seems to argue that the world is slowly going down the drain.
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br /A must for anyone who want facts and numbers to support liberalist views.
Short Course in Common Sense
If you want to know how to rid the world of poverty and oppression, answers can be found in this powerful little book. No matter your politics or world view, you'll want to read In Defense of Global Capitalism for the way it is written. Presented as a series of short logical arguments, Norberg shows, in clear concise English and very simple charts, the correlation between economic freedom and prosperity, not just economic prosperity but longer lives, better nutrition, higher education, better working conditions and an improved environment. A smart book, easy to read and easy to understand; give it to a friend.
A must-read if you want to understand why the world is getting better
Johan Norberg makes a detailed but clear dissection of the factors that are making the world a better place through increasing global free economy, and the reasons why liberal ("social") policy is not making things any better in countries ruled by populist governments or dictatorships. Honestly, one of the best books I have read in years and a must-read for people who want to understand what has to be done to get rid of poverty and oppression all over the world!
A libertarian view of free trade and economic freedom
I was familiar with most of the issues and arguments and evidence presented in this book, but loved it because the book takes an unusual tact in defending capitalism and free trade. Most defenses focus on the good achieved by capitalist societies in terms of wealth and well-being, and this book does hit those topics. This book takes a different angle though that I found incredibly compelling which is to argue the issue from the point of view of liberty.
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br /What an individual does with their property is their business, and almost every issue's first defense in this books was to point out that protectionism, hyperregulation, and scores of other anti-capitalist positions espoused by the left worldwide are in fact all abridgements of individual liberty.
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br /Only after making those points does the author go on to refute (usually quite capably) the 'greater good' arguments that anti-capitalists use to justify their positions.
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br /One issue I was hoping would be better addressed was the protectionist view that wealthy countries are injured when trading freely with poorer countries. The author does go into that, but only touches that base briefly, and not resoundingly enough to sway the skeptical. Instead he argues principally from the perspective of someone interested in how to lift the world's poor out of poverty, which is a fine position, but convincing rich country protectionists is a necessary step along those lines.
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