First Official Economist Reference of the Term

I will probably make relatively frequent reference to The Economist magazine, for several reasons.

1. It has, far and away, the most in-depth regular coverage of IPE of any major American (or in this case, American-British) news weekly.  Far more than Newsweek or Time.  The Wall Street Journal and New York Times also have a good bit, but The Economist writes investigative and analytical pieces on the issues, whereas the dailies focus on reactions to the day's business news. Some of the others with comparable coverage come out monthly or even as quarterly journals.

2. It has a clear editorial position.  You may or may not agree with it, but you will know what it is.  This transparency about their perspective I find welcome (whether I agree or not on any particular issue).  As for what the perspective is, a big hint is the blurb on the cover of the Wolf book.

3. I get it in the mail every week. In sight, in mind.

In any event, a major article this week is about the emergence of the welfare state in emerging Asian economics such as South Korea, Singapore, and China.  It will be interesting to see, as these countries become among the most developed in the world, whether they will follow the same path as the "western" countries in developing comprehensive welfare states. If they do, that may be because there is just something about the socio-economic "structure" of relatively rich countries that makes it so. If not, the inference may be that historical trajectories or even culture matter more for the political and economic systems a country develops.  One note is that Mancur Olson - a name we will see later in the course - has argued in The Rise and Decline of Nations that the lack of persistent special interest groups over time is a reason that Japan did so well in terms of economic growth (relative to, say, Britain) after World War II.  As welfare states develop in the emerging East Asian economies, it will be something to watch to see if growth slows down, and if so what conclusions people reach about whether the welfare state caused slow growth or vice versa.