To find that out, author William Lewis and his research team spent 12
years analyzing a dozen countries across the spectrum of prosperity. The
results are chronicled in The Power of Productivity, reviewed by George Leef in the June issue of Freedom Daily.
Among the author’s conclusions are that it’s a bad idea to distort
markets in favor of social equity, and that today’s poor countries are
handicapped by their big governments. Leef is generally positive about the book but does have
some reservations about the author’s views on antitrust law, for
example. “So Lewis gets a few things wrong. The big points in the book
are dead-on accurate and carry the book admirably,” Leef wrote, adding
that the book is like a Supreme Court decision that “is solid in its
constitutional footings, but contains a few erroneous obiter dicta.”