How the West Was Lost

The renowned economist and New York Times–bestselling author presents a “succinct and sophisticated” account of Western economic decline (Paul Collier, The Observer).

Amid the hype of China’s economic rise, the most important story of our generation is being pushed aside: America is not just in decline, but on course to become the biggest welfare state in the history of the West. As prize-winning economist Dambisa Moyo demonstrates in How the West Was Lost, the real danger is at home.

While some countries such as Germany and Sweden have deliberately engineered and financed welfare states, the United States risks turning itself into a bloated welfare state not because of ideology or a larger vision of economic justice, but out of economic desperation and short-sighted policymaking. How the West Was Lost reveals not only the economic myopia of the West but also the radical solutions that it needs to adopt in order to assert itself as a global economic power once again.