Traps Embraced Or Escaped

This book explores economic development in East Asia between 1870 and 1953 in terms of escaping or succumbing to four interrelated traps: demographic; political; economic; and cultural. Demographic traps include Malthusian traps and poor health and longevity (measured by anthropometric indicators and life expectancy). Political traps include both domestic traps — corruption, internal conflict — and external traps, namely geopolitical traps involving foreign powers. Economic traps include poor infrastructure (banks, harbors, roads, railroads, steam shipping, hydroelectric power) or raw materials, or glaring regional variation in per capita income – all significant barriers to industrialization. Cultural traps include restrictions on “permissible knowledge”, and linguistic barriers to the culture of discourse in science and engineering which restrained the absorbing and diffusion of knowledge from foreign sources. Using Japan and China as examples, this book demonstrates how the four types of traps dynamically interact with one another, and how one of the two countries — Japan — was able to escape from the traps earlier than the other country, China. The book also explores the implications of the argument for post-1950 economic development in East Asia.

"100 Traps" is a comprehensive exploration of 100 common pitfalls that individuals may encounter in various aspects of their lives. The book delves into traps such as procrastination, perfectionism, overcommitment, and the fear of failure, offering insightful analyses and practical advice to help readers navigate and overcome these challenges. With a focus on personal development, resilience, and mindful decision-making, this book serves as a valuable resource for those seeking a fulfilling and successful life by avoiding common pitfalls and making informed choices.

The Progress Trap? As the name implies, it is the condition in which we find ourselves when science, technology and industry create more problems than they can solve. Often inadvertently. Many experts have warned about the resulting ecological crisis. The prophets of doom have spoken and alarm bells have sounded. Some critics are even optimistic, but they have no plan. They have not provided a detailed analysis of why humans fall into progress traps. They have not put forward what is necessary for emerging from them. Until now. Find out why societies have a tendency to become entangled in their own ingenuity. Then learn how well-equipped we humans are for resolving the environmental quandary, and other traps. Finding our way out of this predicament is a vital idea, when we learn how to nurture and use our talent for creative-problem-solving.

The most significant debate in global economic history over the past twenty years has dealt with the Great Divergence, the economic gap between different parts of the world. Thus far, this debate has focused on China, India and north-western Europe, particularly Great Britain. This book shifts the focus to ask how Japan became the only non-western county that managed, at least partially, to modernize its economy and start to industrialize in the 19th century. Using a range of empirical data, Peer Vries analyses the role of the state in Japan's economic growth from the Meiji Restoration to World War II, and asks whether Japan's economic success can be attributed to the rise of state power. Asserting that the state's involvement was fundamental in Japan's economic 'catching up', he demonstrates how this was built on legacies from the previous Tokugawa period. In this book, Vries deepens our understanding of the Great Divergence in global history by re-examining how Japan developed and modernized against the odds.

Settler Economies in World History is a comparative, wide-ranging historical study of the experience of the modern settler societies that have followed a distinctive economic and institutional path to the present from their neo-European origins.

This book advances a new theory of why nationalism emerged in the modern world. In particular it explains why nationalism and economic development are closely linked, and why warfare plays a crucial role in the spread of the nation-state system. It is based on qualitative and quantitative evidence over the period 1600 to 2000 for seven countries – Great Britain, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, the United States, Japan and China

WINNER OF THE 2017 PETER KATZENSTEIN BOOK PRIZE "BEST OF BOOKS IN 2017" BY FOREIGN AFFAIRS WINNER OF THE 2018 VIVIAN ZELIZER PRIZE BEST BOOK AWARD IN ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY "How China Escaped the Poverty Trap truly offers game-changing ideas for the analysis and implementation of socio-economic development and should have a major impact across many social sciences." ― Zelizer Best Book in Economic Sociology Prize Committee Acclaimed as "game changing" and "field shifting," How China Escaped the Poverty Trap advances a new paradigm in the political economy of development and sheds new light on China's rise. How can poor and weak societies escape poverty traps? Political economists have traditionally offered three answers: "stimulate growth first," "build good institutions first," or "some fortunate nations inherited good institutions that led to growth." Yuen Yuen Ang rejects all three schools of thought and their underlying assumptions: linear causation, a mechanistic worldview, and historical determinism. Instead, she launches a new paradigm grounded in complex adaptive systems, which embraces the reality of interdependence and humanity's capacity to innovate. Combining this original lens with more than 400 interviews with Chinese bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, Ang systematically reenacts the complex process that turned China from a communist backwater into a global juggernaut in just 35 years. Contrary to popular misconceptions, she shows that what drove China's great transformation was not centralized authoritarian control, but "directed improvisation"—top-down directions from Beijing paired with bottom-up improvisation among local officials. Her analysis reveals two broad lessons on development. First, transformative change requires an adaptive governing system that empowers ground-level actors to create new solutions for evolving problems. Second, the first step out of the poverty trap is to "use what you have"—harnessing existing resources to kick-start new markets, even if that means defying first-world norms. Bold and meticulously researched, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap opens up a whole new avenue of thinking for scholars, practitioners, and anyone seeking to build adaptive systems.

Escaping The Low Energy Trap empowers the public to find uncommon answers to a pervasive condition that is misdiagnosed, under diagnosed, misunderstood, mistreated and under treated. Too many people are told they are fine or are left to suffer low energy while being treated for only one aspect of this condition. Escaping The Low Energy Trap will open your eyes and doors to help you escape your low energy trap and live a life of health and new vitality.