"The Long Wave in the World Economy," originally published in 1992 and now available in the United States, offers an interpretation of the long wave cycle of alternating upswings and downswings in economics. The present global situation--with Eastern and Central Europe in turmoil, much of the Third World impoverished, and the West still blighted by unemployment--resembles the crisis of the late 1930s. It is not the first time that economics and politics have repeated themselves over roughly half a century. In the 1920s, Kondratieff was already writing of a "long wave" cycle. Since that time, many economists have tried to explain this phenomenon, but none has done justice to its complex cause and changing character.
In "The Long Wave in the World Economy, " Andrew Tylecote argues that current economic problems, like others before them, are largely due to national and international inequalities. A more equal distribution of wealth can be a stimulus to economic growth. In defense of this argument, Tylecote draws from an impressive range of historical and contemporary material, spanning the study of technology, sociology, politics, international relations, demography, and history.
Industry Reviews
"Andrew Tylecote's ambitious study furnishes us with a fascinating panorama of the development of the world economy over more than two centuries. He brings together the main theories of the capitalist long wave together with important qualifications and developments of his own. And while historical evidence and argument is richly deployed the book presents a novel interpretation of the contemporary woes of the world economy. Andrew Tylecote's bold synthesis is sure to become an important reference point in the debates of the 90s on the unequal and anarchic world in which we live."
-Robin Blackburn, Editor of "The New Left Review
"It is an intellectual tour de force . . . this is the most substantial synthesis of long wave theory to be published since the revival of theory in the whole topic."
-Christopher Freeman, University of Sussex
"[Tylecote's] thought-provoking long-wave look at our present problems gives a perspective that exists nowhere in the sterile Treasury models that rule our economy. It should be compulsory reading for every MP and economic mandarin."
-"Scotland on Sunday