This book explains the transitions in twentieth-century industrial leadership from Britain to the United States and, most recently, to Japan, in terms of the changing business investment strategies and organizational structures in these nations. The author criticizes economists for failing to understand these historical changes. The book shows that this intellectual failure is not inherent in the discipline of economics; there are important traditions in economic thought that the mainstream of the economics profession has simply ignored.

‘Lazonick successfully marries economic theory to the history of technology and business organization … He then applies this blend of insights to contemporary issues of economic growth in Japan and relative decline in Britain and America. The result is a controversial but richly informative analysis - almost an intellectual hand grenade tossed into contemporary discussions. It is hard to think of another scholar who could match the combination of boldness, graceful writing, and intellectual challenge.’

Thomas McCraw - Harvard University