impossibility of soc dem in U.S.

[christian a. gregory]

>
> BTW, does anyone know of a good clear book that defends the economic
> virtues of bank-centered systems as against the American model?  I figure
> one must have been written back in the early 80's when it was thought they
> were going to bury us.  But clearly some Asians still think the model is a
> good one no matter what we say, and I was wondering if anyone has made an
> attempt to take their claims seriously rather than just dismiss it as
> deluded cronyism.
>
> Michael

Not a book, and more addressed to Asia: Robert Wade and Frank Veneroso, "The
Asian Crisis: The High Debt Model Versus the Wall
Street-Treasury-IMF-Complex," New Left Review 228 (1998): 3-24. There's also
Wade's _Governing the Market_ (Princeton, 1990), which looks closely at
Taiwan, and Chalmers Johnson's books on Japan. Neither of the latter two
focus on banks per se, but on the roles of states, banks, corps in Asian
development. Wade, btw, is a really good writer.

Angela
>so, let me get this right: by 'bank-centred systems' you mean what?  a
>central govt bank? the US does not have a central govt bank, ever had?
>only treasury?  is this what you see as the key or rather that in
>combination with (as the astract alluded to) the degree of connection
>between ownership and control, the extent of public enterprises (i was
>unclear about which of these was being referred to or highlighted)?

I'm guessing that the distinction is between a high debt model vs. one
reliant on financial markets. It's way too simple to say the first work
better for long-term investments, but debt-financed industries don't face
the same kinds of short term pressures for profit that industries reliant on
stock markets do. (And this reliance isn't necessarily for finance per se;
it's a political arrangement that makes short-term accounting more
important.) In an environment with lots of "hot" money moving around, and if
debts are cross-border, this model can be incredibly vulnerable to "external
shock"--as Asia showed.

I could be guessing wrong, however.

Fumbling toward something not even remotely ecstatic,

Christian
>
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com
>
> "Some one has observed that Providence is always on the side of the big
> dividends," remarked Reginald.
>
>     The Duchess ate her anchovy in a shocked manner, she was sufficiently
> old-fashioned to dislike irreverence towards dividends.
>
> _Reginald_ (1904) `Reginald at the Carlton' (Saki)
> __________________________________________________________________________
>
>