Knowledge and Power

The Information Theory of Capitalism and How It Is Revolutionizing Our World

By: George Gilder

Narrated by: David Cochran Heath

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Just when our economy desperately needs a new direction, Ronald Reagan’s most quoted living author - George Gilder - is back with an all-new paradigm-shifting theory of capitalism that will upturn conventional wisdom.

America’s struggling economy needs a better philosophy than the college student’s lament,“I can’t be out of money, I still have checks in my checkbook!” We've tried a government spending spree, and we've learned it doesn't work. Now is the time to rededicate our country to the pursuit of free-market capitalism, before we’re buried under a mound of debt and unfunded entitlements. But how do we navigate between government spending that’s too big to sustain and financial institutions that are “too big to fail?” In Knowledge and Power, George Gilder proposes a bold new theory on how capitalism produces wealth and how our economy can regain its vitality and growth.

Gilder breaks away from the supply-side model of economics to present a new economic paradigm: the epic conflict between the knowledge of entrepreneurs on one side, the blunt power of government on the other. The knowledge of entrepreneurs and their freedom to share and use that knowledge are the sparks that light up the economy and set its gears in motion. The power of government to regulate,stifle, manipulate, subsidize, or suppress knowledge and ideas is the inertia that slows those gears down or keeps them from turning at all.

One of the twentieth century’s defining economic minds has returned with a new philosophy to carry us into the twenty-first. Knowledge and Power is a must-read for fiscal conservatives, business owners, CEOs, investors, and anyone interested in propelling America’s economy to future success.

©2013 George Gilder (P)2013 Blackstone Audio

Easy to read

This book was easy to read and full of information great find. I learned a lot about things that I have been thinking about.

ygood insights, repetitive and Boeing tough

there are some veluable insights gere. however, the narration is boring and the author is repetitive sometimes. I wish I had an abridged version instead.

Way more than just economics

I loved this book because it was a beautiful explanation of the information theory of capitalism and that alone would have been worth it but the concepts in this book are applicable to every area of life. Great book and great reader!

Human Creativety creates Economic Growth

Economists usually talk in terms of supply & demand, return on investment, productivity, efficiency and so on; a rather materialistic approach. Humans are usually treated like machines, i.e. human capital or human resources.

In "Knowledge and Power", George Gilder takes a different tack to economic growth. According to Gilder, economic growth is a first order function of human Creativity. The Creator is the Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneur knows his field and has rapid access to the information he requires. Therefore, he has the Knowledge required to realize his idea. However, he also must have Power over his project so he'll be willing to take the risk and start a new business. If we give him the Power, he'll create jobs and grow the economy.

What an enlightening and simple concept. Give the Entrepreneur the Power to control his life and his project and he'll be off taking all kinds of risk to realize his dream. That means Power needs to be distributed to where the Knowledge is. If Power is centralized, bad decisions are made due to insufficient Knowledge and lack of skin in the game.

Geoge does not engage in a Zero Sum Game like Marxist economists. He does not endorse the Keynesian theory of Growth though stimulus, which is just another Zero Sum Game. He goes beyond Supply Side Economics. He puts human creativity front and center. When creativity lies dormant, there is stagnation.

Knowledge and Power is well researched. Gilder reviews many other books on the subject.

Growth = f(Entrepreneur + Knowledge + Information + Power)

illuminating

Knowledge & Power is a superb explanation of how our complicated economic engine works and the fuel it runs on...the human mind, creativity, entrepreneurs, and the entropy of ideas. This book restores my faith in man, the individual, capitalism, and our uncertain future.

Thought-provoking paradigm about innovation

I enjoyed this book. Gilder presents a novel (to me) explanation of the conditions that facilitate innovation and technological development. It gave me a new perspective that I suspect will enhance my own entrepreneurial activities. I recommend it.

A classic

This book is absolutely brilliant, fundamental and true as verified by most recent events in the overall direction of our economy trends

Blown away

I really enjoyed this book and the emmen amount of knowledge contained within. Excellent narrator too!

Very good book, but somewhat confusing

Great book. The chapters on California and banking are outstanding.

But the author is so concerned with criticizing anyone that diverges even slightly with him that sometimes misses the big picture. His analysis of the Austrian school is flawed and doesn’t recognize the entrepreneur’s central role.

An Economic Explanation of Growth

This is not easy reading (listening), because Gilder can use some long sentences and big words. I have "read" the book twice, once from printed pages and once from Audible. But it IS breakthrough economic and political thinking. Gilder presents a compelling case that power separated from knowledge produces poor results. (For example, designing programs in Washington DC to improve local education is unlikely to produce anything valuable and is more likely to waste a lot of money. Moving the power to solve a problem close to the specific problem, is far more likely to produce a positive result.) Some Democrat readers will be turned off by Gilder's political references. He wrote most of the book believing he would be a policy adviser in a Romney administration. But economic theory is apolitical. It is either more useful at explaining the world or less useful. This book is VERY useful because of its insight.