The May 25 issue of the New Republic contains a review by Jagdish Bhagwati of Landes and of Kindleberger's _World Economic Primacy: 1500-1990_. Bhagwati's conclusions about Landes:(posted 8755 days ago)"Landes wishes to link the European miracle causally, in the spirit of Max Weber, to underlying values as defined by the Judeo-Christian, and especially Protestant, universe. Islam is held to be inimical to a repetition of the European experience owing to its allegedly holistic nature, with religion 'in principle supreme and the ideal government that of the holy men.' Such assertions recur throughout the book. And here Landes is stepping into quicksand. For it is impossible to relate culture or values to these pro-growth institutions and policy frameworks, and hence to economic growth, in a causally tight way. .... I do not mean to deny culture any role. But the precise role of culture in economic behavior remains elusive. The encouraging truth appears to be that growth-inducing institutions, like hardy perennials that will grow in different and indifferent soils, are resilient and compatible with a range of cultures. And for a historian who is confronted with economic success in extremely diverse cultures, it is ahistorical to assert otherwise."
It would be interesting to learn where Bhagwati thinks the IR came from.
Tony O'Brien Lehigh University
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