Bad Samarithans

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism Ha-Joon Chang (이순희 역)

This book is a page-turner. I hope I could write like this book somedays.

Prof. Chang criticized the selfish behaviour of strong countries which advocate 'free trade'. Free trade is not beneficial for the most of developing countries, he said, and the countries advocating free trade have made their wealth using 'protective trade,' not free trade.

His view might be correct or not. It might not be only one definite answer to a social science problem. So, there is no point arguing over what the book describes. What makes this book outstanding is how the book tells the story: (1) The book does not blindly accept common belief, the myth of free trade in his word. Challenging common belief takes courage. This book is courageous. (2) The book is logical. His opinion is backed up by many examples. (I think that there might be many counter-examples he did not want to mention.) The logic of the book flows well, continuously. (3) The book has a story Dr.Chang wants to tell us. If a book does not have a story threading entire parts, it becomes boring and distracting. Even the book has a story, it could be quite difficult to avoid the feeling of 'academic paper' or 'the listing of non-related facts' for the book of economy. (4) Dr.Chang told us the story well. He is a story-teller. Several chapters deals various aspects of the pitfalls of free trade without losing central theme. This book becomes a page-turner by his excellance in story telling, not by its own themes alone.

I heard the news that Obama U.S. administration might bring certain degree of 'protective trade' again to deal with the sink of U.S. economy. The reason of why this book gets spotlights, why Dr. Chang gets interview from worldwide radio show, why it might be worth of reading the book may reside in the news.

졸업식 이후에 감기로 약 일주일동안 아팠다. 아팠던 덕택에 느리게 읽었고 제대로 읽지 못하였지만 그래도 일단 일독.

'선진국들이여, 자유무역이란 기치하에 개발도상국으로의 약탈을 그만하라. 결국 개발도상국이 잘 되어 전체 경제규모의 파이가 커져야 너희들도 좋을 것 아니겠는가!' 라는 이야기이고, 읽는 내내 상당히 동감하면서 읽었다. 이런 책을 내놓을 수 있었던 장교수에게 감탄하였다. 일반 통념에 의문을 품었고, 반대를 위한 반대가 아니라 신념에 의한 반론 및 대안을, 일반 독자를 대상으로 부드럽게 풀어 나간 일 - 쉽지 않음을 알기 때문이다. 우리가 사는 모든 시공간이 약육강식의 논리로부터 피할수 없음을 다시금 일깨워주면서, 항상 깨어 있으라는 메세지를 간접적으로 받았다. 좋은 책이다.

추신. 한글판 포맷이 상당히 마음에 든다. (글꼴, 각주, 색감등...) 혹시 책 작업을 할 일이 있다면 참고할만한 책.