GUSTAV STOLPER, founder and until recently Editor of Der Deutsche Volkswirt; formerly member of the Reichstag; author of several economic works
POLITICIANS accuse the science of political economy of having failed. On the other hand, there are economists who see in politics nothing but a crude and undisciplined force which upsets their field of activity. The discussion would be more productive if only a little more effort could be devoted to arriving at an understanding of one or two cardinal problems affecting the relations between the state and economic life, and hence the relations between politics and political economy...
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Growth is a beseiged deity. An increasing number of economists and policy- makers are becoming convinced that it is imprudent for a country to devote all its efforts toward maximizing the rates of overall growth-and wait for the benefits to trickle down to all sections of the population. Trickle- downism is thus on the wane. Developing countries are now being warned that rapid growth is liable to take too long to alleviate the miseries of the poor, and that for long periods rapid growth may indeed worsen the lot of large numbers-hence they should launch "direct attacks" on poverty.
Capitalism may lead to democracy and democracy may lead to peace, but along the way it has brought economic hardship and total war. Though a gadfly, William Greider issues a fiery and prescient warning amid the triumph of capitalism.
Democratic institutions tend to emerge only when certain social and cultural conditions exist. But economic development and modernization push those conditions in the right direction and make democracy increasingly likely.

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