The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Economy [Rilegato]

The global economy is at a crossroads. In Europe, financial melees have enthralled governments and threatened long-term economic vitality. Washington is also struggling. Bipartisan gridlock, a Congress that can't seem to agree on anything, and policies that many argue have fallen short in resuscitating the economy have shaken an already anxious populace.

Despite the tremendous crisis the world has faced, the global conversation has failed to focus on the one thing that can accelerate the changes necessary to solve our problems: entrepreneurship. This is the main theme of Phil Auerswald's convincing piece of literature on the topic. In "The Coming Prosperity", Auerswald illustrates that the interconnectedness of the global economy, the availability of cheap and user-friendly technologies, and growth of knowledge capital are driving the new wave of global entrepreneurs. Around the world, people are working hard to turn their ideas into innovations, and create products as well as services that benefit communities as a whole.

Recently, the 112th Congress did actually do something, passing the Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act making it easier for start-ups to raise funds, hire employees, and go public. President Obama is expected to sign the measure soon. This is certainly a welcome sign, but it's far from representative of all that needs to happen in addressing our greatest challenges. There absolutely needs to be a fuller, more robust, and dedicated effort to bring entrepreneurship to the mainstream and keep it there.

Policies can only go so far in creating an environment that enables entrepreneurs to thrive. Entrepreneurs create new ways of directing nature and change how we live our lives. They find new ways of assembling and coordinating the interactions between people. So many amazing accomplishments go completely unnoticed. There must be a sea change and a cultural adjustment as to how we promote the contributions of entrepreneurs to our overall well-being. Phil Auerswald's book is a great starting point in building the discussion. We just need to get the show on the road.

Lots of pleasant surprises in this book. The first is that an academic can write so engagingly and accessibly. Auerswald lets his fun personality show in his writing style, and yet the message remains as serious as it is optimistic, which is of course another surprise.

And so is the breadth it covers in relatively few pages. This book reflects years of research and thought. One can imaging a writer needing an entire career to write this but thank goodness Auerswald wrote it up when he did, so the rest of us can get a better understanding of the sort of technological tipping point we have reached. His point -- that technology, especially personal communications, has finally trickled down far enough that most of the several billion earthlings are now empowered to act on their entrepreneurial ideas -- might seem overly rosy but Auerswald backs it up with research and intelligent analysis. Yet another surprise is that the research and analysis are perhaps more persuasive than one might expect from an academic precisely because they do not come across as strictly academic. (To be sure, the thinking reflects an implicit critique of academia -- that it is perhaps too insular and set into departments to keep up with the rapidly increasing pace of the generation of new knowledge.)

I hope Auerswald is able to push the messages in his book into other channels of presentation because in many ways the message is more dynamic than a paper and ink book can do justice, and it surely begs to be updated and discussed. Frequently.

This iconoclastic, deeply informed book by economist Philip E. Auerswald contests conventional pessimistic thinking on some big issues - from recession to global warming - facing humanity in general and business and government in particular. He says the solutions lie in the millions of people who are rising up from economic exclusion to become entrepreneurs. Writing - sometimes with a dash of humor - from the unrepentant point of view of an economist, Auerswald uses a rigorous theoretical economic framework and compelling case histories to set his book apart from other arguments for confidence about the future. He combines scholarship about everyone from Adam Smith to Joseph Schumpeter with personal anecdotes about his development and the evolution of his thinking about the future. Occasionally, the personal jars a little with the grand theory. Auerswald is the first to note his book's obvious flaw: the lack of a detailed plan to achieve the rosy outcomes he predicts. A more disciplined focus and fewer argumentative swerves might have paid dividends. He offers an approach to solving intractable problems, rather than the solution itself, but getAbstract finds his realistic reticence and his optimism worthy of respect.