- Title: Bad Samaritans; The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
- Author: Ha-joon Chang
- Published: 2008
- Publisher: Bloomdbury Press, New York
- ISBN -10: 1-59691-399-1
- ISDN-13: 978-1-59691-399-8
“Bad Samaritans” is the book to show how neoliberal ideas hurt developing countries rather than helped hem.
It is a myth that the success of western developed countries(UK, US, France…) is due to their adoption of free-market capitalism. Also, it is not true that eastern Asian countries’ economic miracles are from the free-market and free trade.
Developed countries that had developed their economies through protectionism now force developing countries to adopt free-market/trade; it can be a selfish “kicking the ladder” action or a naïve belief of neoliberal ideas.
Free trade/market is the result of the economic development, not the cause of it.
Chang advocates the “infant industry” argument so that developing countries need time to prepare to compete in the global market. Protection does not guarantee development, but development without protection is very challenging.
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