This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

 “Thomas Donlan’s defense of free market capitalism is especially timely today given all the pressures to regulate and stifle it. The anti-globalization movement wants more trade protectionism and less immigration. The global credit crisis is putting pressure on governments to bail out irresponsible lenders and borrowers at taxpayers’ expense. Instead, Donlan convincingly and clearly explains why we would all prosper more by doing all we can to make markets freer.”

—Ed Yardeni, President, Yardeni Research, Inc.

“Thomas Donlan reminds us all that capitalism is not simply one choice among different and equally valid economic systems, but instead that hard work and the accumulation of wealth is the natural tendency of successful people and healthy societies around the world.”

—Christopher Whalen, Managing Director, Institutional Risk Analytics

“It has been several decades since Joseph Schumpeter observed that the philosophical defense of a free-market economy must never cease. Thomas Donlan has taken up that challenge, but this clear-eyed book is much more than a defense. It is a magnificently constructed explanation of how the world works and why free-market capitalism continues to offer the greatest hope for solving our greatest challenges.”

—Carl J. Schramm, Ph.D., President, Kauffman Foundation

“The author brings to the table a healthy skepticism of the conventional wisdom, an admirable ability to separate fact from fancy, and an undisguised repugnance for the mumbo-jumbo that’s the curse of so much commentary on anything to do with economics or investment. A World of Wealth is not only a lively read, but an exceptionally enlightening and rewarding one to boot.”

—Alan Abelson, Barron’s Columnist

“With the facts of a primer laid out in the fast-paced narrative of a storyteller, Thomas Donlan’s A World of Wealth lucidly explains today’s marketplace. From the credit crisis to immigration and from oil prices to global warming, the book guides the reader through the economic issues of our day—jargon-free. It’s a fast, fun read that illuminates while it entertains.”

—Thomas W. Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics, George Mason University

“An indispensable—and highly readable—primer on how the economic world really works, whether politicians of both left and right want it to work that way or not. If it were required reading for all political reporters, they might do a lot more reporting and carry a lot less water in the process.”

—John Steele Gordon, Author of Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power

Acknowledgments xii

About the Author xiii

Introduction xv

Chapter 1: The Capitalist Answer to the “Energy Crisis”: Pay Higher Prices 1

Chapter 2: The Capitalist Approach to Environmental Pollution and Global Warming: Breathe Easy 23

Chapter 3: A Capitalist Prescription for Trade: Free Exchange Enriches Both Sides of Every Deal 43

Chapter 4: Capitalist Immigration Policy: Tear Down the Walls 65

Chapter 5: The Essential Elements of Capitalism: Investment and Invention 81

Chapter 6: The Capitalist Take on Taxes: Keep Taxes Low and Equal 93

Chapter 7: The Capitalist Struggle against Low Finance: Price Controls and Regulation Endanger the Free Market 113

Chapter 8: A Capitalist Diagnosis for the High Cost of Health Care: Pay What It’s Worth 131

Chapter 9: The Capitalist Approach to Retirement Security: It’s an Individual's Duty First 149

Chapter 10: A Capitalist Look at the Current Economy 169

Chapter 11: The Capitalist Quest for Productivity 185

Reading Further 201

Index 205

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 83 Ratings

A fantastic primer on Economics - 2009-05-21
Reviewer Rating:
I consider this book to be a fantastic primer on Economics, a subject that is not understood nearly well-enough, especially when you consider the state our economy is in currently. Where does wealth come from? How is value created and what systems of government help as versus impede the creation of capital? What role do taxes play? The book is very well written and easy to read even for someone without a background on the subject, and though the author's viewpoints do not come entirely unburdened from any political agenda, I feel it's as objective as one can expect. Regardless of whether you agree with the direction the country is going in, a general understanding of these theories and concepts is something that will benefit everyone, most especially at the voting-booth.

Written like Conscience of a Conservative - 2009-08-04
Reviewer Rating:
The author does an excellent job separating the subjects into chapters. The book reminds me of reading Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. Each chapter follows a particular subject through the lenses of a capitalistic approach. However, this book is not as important as Conscience of Conservative. A World of Wealth is a well written book and easily accessible by a beginner in economics. There are no new items brought to the table about wealth or capitalism. Donlan writes the book in a manner that can be picked up and read a chapter at a time. There is no order in which to read the book. The chapters can be read out of order and still make sense to the reader.
This book will most likely not change the mind of people who believe capitalism is a failed system. I enjoyed the book but thought it was overly simple and may turn some people off from the simplicity of economics. Apparently economics are not this simple otherwise the United States would not have a huge deficit at this time. The book is good for a general understanding of capitalist economics but look elsewhere for a more in-depth look at economics.

An adequate introduction - 2009-07-16
Reviewer Rating:
With all the talk about the distribution of wealth, it's easy to forget that it has to be created in the first place. This books tries to address that need.

What I like:
It uses an extensive set of real-world topics to teach basic principles. This makes relevance clear and also makes it easy to find talking points about a specific subject.

What I don't like:
The book is broad but shallow. It gives one to three pages for each topic, so you really ONLY get talking points.
Because the topics are so short, you don't get a sense of what the "other side" thinks. If you want to use this to improve your political debates, you'll have more material to start a conversation with, but it would be helpful to be able to anticipate your opponents' rebuttals and counter them. This won't help so much with that.

VERDICT: If you're looking for a starting point, this isn't bad. But if you already have a strong grasp of the basics, you don't need the book.

The Case for Laizzez-Faire - 2009-06-26
Reviewer Rating:
The book examines various major issues of the day and makes the case for why the issues are best addressed by free markets and not the government. Those that believe in free markets will find the book enjoyable and the supporting points powerful. Those who believe government intervention is needed will take issue with many of the arguments made and the fundamental premise of the book.

Good overview of free market economics - covers lots (too many?) topics - 2009-05-03
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a good, short argument that the best way to solve problems that politicians deal with such as energy supply, global warming, immigration issues is to rely on free markets in which prices are freely set and barriers to trade/supply are not established. This is familiar stuff to readers of the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, but the book does bring a good amount of material together in a relatively short space in without the polemical tone of the Journal. It is a good prose (i.e., no equation) introduction to what is essentially a conservative (i.e. little role for government as far as business is concerned) approach to economic policy.

The book is largely one-sided (and I mean this in a good way) in that it tries to lay out why free market approaches are good -- it is not a book that tries to argue strongly against a more activist approach. This is the weakness of the book in that it doesn't really lay out why alternative approaches to a specific problem may not be good and may have unintended consequences. I would prefer more fewer topics and more depth of discussion.

I would say this book is a concise, well-written overview of free-market economics as applied to a range of policy issues. It is well worth reading, though really should be read alongside a more activist author (someone like Paul Krugman say).

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