""Erik S. Reinert is a key figure in the growing worldwide movement against neo-classical economic theory. He argues that rich countries have developed through a combination of government intervention, protectionism, and strategic investment, yet, when it comes to today's poorer nations, the orthodoxy insists on unqualified and absolute standards of free trade. Reinert's strongly revisionist history reveals how evonomic theory has long been torn between the continental Renaissance tradition and the free market ideas of English and later American economics. Our economies were founded on protectionism and state activism and could only later afford the luxury of free trade, so when our leaders come to lecture poor countries on the right road to riches they do so in almost perfect ignorance of the real history of mass affluence. His book mounts a strong challenge and opens up the debate on why free trade is not the best answer for our hopes of worldwide prosperity."--Back cover."
"This volume is a narrative history of modern economic development from the Italian Renaissance to the present day. It aims to bury economic orthodoxy once and for all under an avalanche of incontrovertible fact."
"This volume is a narrative history of modern economic development from the Italian Renaissance to the present day. It aims to bury economic orthodoxy once and for all under an avalanche of incontrovertible fact."@en

"How rich countries got rich-- and why poor countries stay poor"@en
"Fu guo wei shen mo fu, qiong guo wei shen mo qiong"
"How rich countries got rich - and why poor countries stay poor"
"Comment les pays riches sont devenus riches et pourquoi les pays pauvres restent pauvres"
"富国为什么富，穷国为什么穷"
"How rich countries got rich ... and why poor countries stay poor"@en
"How rich countries got rich ... and why poor countries stay poor"
"How rich countries got rich -- and why poor countries stay poor"@en
"How rich countries got rich -- and why poor countries stay poor"
"How rich countries got rich and why poor countries stay poor"
"How rich countries got rich and why poor countries stay poor"@en
"How rich countries got rich - and why poor"@en
"How rich countries got rich... and why poor countries stay poor"
"How rich countries got rich --- and why poor countries stay poor"
"How rich countries got rich _ and why poor countries stay poor"
"La gobalización de la pobreza : cómo se enriquecieron los países ricos ... y por qué los países pobres siguen siendo pobres"
"La globalización de la pobreza : cómo se enriquecieron los países ricos-- y por qué los países pobres siguen siendo pobres"@es
"La Globalización de la pobreza : cómo se enriquecieron los países ricos... y por qué los países pobres siguen siendo pobres"
"How rich countries got rich-- and why poor countries stay poor"