Globalization and Competition explains why some middle-income countries, principally those in Asia, grow fast while others are not successful. The author criticizes both old-style developmentalism and the economics of the Washington Consensus. He argues instead for a 'new developmentalism' or third approach that builds on a national development strategy. This approach differs from the neoliberal strategy that rich nations propose to emerging economies principally on macroeconomic grounds. Developing countries face a key obstacle to growth, namely, the tendency to overvaluate foreign exchange. Instead of neutralizing it, the policy that rich countries promote mistakenly seeks growth through foreign savings, which causes additional appreciation of the national currency and often results in financial crises rather than genuine investment.

'At last, a ‘new something’ that is really new. Bresser Pereira carefully creates the concept of ‘new developmentalism’ to show the lines along which old national policies are being transformed into vigorous global efforts to catch up. A scholarly work that is in tune with the times.'

Alice Amsden - MIT

'After the failure of the Washington Consensus and facing the major uncertainties of the present crisis all over the world, governments are looking for alternative economic policies. Based on a stimulating analysis of successful as well as failed national experiences, this timely book proposes a new and coherent development strategy. It should be widely read by academics and policy makers.'

Robert Boyer - Centre pour la Recherche Economique et ses Applications (CEPREMAP), France

'No one could be more prepared – by experience in these matters as well as personal knowledge – than Bresser Pereira to explain why, in the twenty-first-century global economy, some emerging countries succeed in bringing economic prosperity to their citizens while others fail.'

Paul Davidson - The New School

'Globalization and Competition is an important essay on the role of the nation-state in the age of globalization and a clear-sighted corrective to facile thought about economic development. The record of globalization is mixed: some countries (notably those in Asia) have succeeded in growing rapidly; others (notably those in Latin America) have not. As Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira explains, the difference is rooted in the presence (or absence) of a coherent national development strategy – truly a paradox for our time.'

James K. Galbraith - University of Texas at Austin

'Globalization and Competition sheds light on old debates, particularly on the costs of financial globalization, and why some developing countries (say, those in East Asia) converge to high living standards while others (say, those in Latin America) do not. But, particularly in the age of hopefully the final demise of the ‘Washington Consensus', Bresser-Pereira’s ‘new developmentalism’ offers a way forward for the latter.'

José Antonio Ocampo - Columbia University, formerly Under-Secretary General of the United Nations for Economic and Social Affairs, and Finance Minister of Colombia

'The Swahili proverb says, ‘Until the lions have their own historians, the history of hunting will be written from the perspective of the hunter.’ In this book, the distinguished Brazilian lion-economist Bresser-Pereira distills decades of his own research and writing into a simple and elegant explanation of middle-income countries’ growth and a set of policy guidelines for falling-behind countries to become catch-up countries. It has the unmistakable thwack of originality.'

Robert H. Wade - London School of Economics, Winner of the Leontief Prize in Economics, 2008