An important new book.---David Crane, Toronto Star
For managers looking for a big picture view, this is a useful account. And while it deflates the romantic view of the maverick innovative company, the book justly celebrates the positive results of this routinized 'innovation machine'--the unprecedented growth rates we've had under capitalism.
"Well written and well organized, this book provides an overriding vision of the economic process, in particular, the strange sense in which competition coexists with what might be termed a cooperative process of learning. It is likely to be an important stimulus to research."—Kenneth J. Arrow, Stanford University, 1972 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Over the past 50 years, William Baumol has made groundbreaking contributions to a wide range of economic fields, including antitrust, the study of productivity, and the nature of growth. . . . At 80, and still going strong, he is among the last working members of the great generation of post-World War II economists.
Mr. Baumol's contribution is not to emphasize the impact of innovation but to pinpoint how competition forces companies to make innovation routine. . . . The traditional analysis . . . says that capitalism blunders at generating innovation over the long run. Mr. Baumol . . . reverses this presumption. . . . [He] tells a tale rich in details about the market's use of collaboration to overcome problems of innovation. Along the way he turns standard analysis upside down.---Michael M. Weinstein, New York Times
Honorable Mention for the 2003 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Economics, Association of American Publishers
The book could not be more timely.---David Propson, New York Law Journal
In this fine volume [Baumol] challenges readers to rethink entirely the conventional wisdom concerning the nature and benefits of the capitalist (or free market) system. . . . [It is] readable, challenging, stimulating.
"A good book and a valuable book by an author whose experience, wisdom, and analytical ability make his thoughts automatically important."—Robert M. Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Professor Baumol is a giant in the field of economics. . . . This book displays both his prodigious intellect and the sweep of his scholarship. . . . [T]his is an important book.---Ashish Arora, Journal of Technology Transfer
You cannot fault Baumol for being unambitious. In this fine volume he challenges readers to rethink entirely the conventional wisdom concerning the nature and benefits of the capitalist (or free market) system. . . . Readable, challenging, stimulating.
A brilliant book. . . . What makes capitalism uniquely successful is the built-in pressure to generate new products and processes. Provided companies are forced to compete, the market will find a way to generate and diffuse an unending stream of innovations.---Martin Wolf, Financial Times