Edmund Phelps is the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics. He is head of the Center for Capitalism and Society at Columbia University. This edition, named best economics book of 2013 by the Financial Times, is available for the first time in France.
Why do some economies flourish while others inexorably stagnate? What are the social forces behind this dynamism, and how do they contribute to a prosperity that goes well beyond material well-being?
According to Edmund Phelps, if Britain, the United States, France and Germany saw their growth accelerate abruptly between 1820 and 1860, it was primarily because they were driven by modern values that constitute a true culture of innovation: the desire to create, discover, and meet challenges, which was shared by a large part of the population, ready to design and implement new products and services.
Examining the reasons why these values are under threat today, notably because of corporatism, Edmund Phelps offers in this brilliant essay a very original vision of innovation that he calls "endogenous" because it is deeply embedded in the social fabric. From this arises what Aristotle called "a good life" and that Edmund Phelps uses to describe mass prosperity, the only thing that can bring about collective enrichment and the fulfillment of individual aspirations.