''In Praise of Hard Industries'' is a book about the economic impact of fewer
manufacturing jobs in the
United States written by Irish journalist and author
Eamonn Fingleton
Eamonn Fingleton (born 19 August 1948) is an Irish financial journalist and author who for 27 years covered global finance and economics from a base in Tokyo. His books, written for a general audience, deal with global economics and globalism. ...
. It was published in 1999, when the author resided in Tokyo. The book was reissued in a 2003 paperback edition under the title ''Unsustainable: How Economic Dogma Is Destroying American Prosperity''.
The book argued that the shift in the American workforce from industry to
knowledge workers was setting the country up for an economic collapse. It criticizes financial innovation as a ruse to sell complex
financial instrument
Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form ...
s and urged for more advanced manufacturing in the United States. The book argued that industrial activities create jobs and exports, and that job salaries would be protected in environments using high-end equipment.
In its first chapter, the book enunciates the “Three Strikes Against the New Economy”: a bad job mix, slow income growth, and a dearth of exports.
Reception
The book elicited strong and mixed responses. Liberal economist
James K. Galbraith said in ''
The New York Times'' that Fingleton was “the sort of journalist economists despise,” arguing that the book was “anecdotal, spurning statistics or other corroboration” and that it overstated the decline of American manufacturing.
In October 1999, business writer L. M. Sixel criticized Fingleton's argument as being "overblown" and "sophomoric" in the Houston Chronicle.
References
Notes
* Fingleton, Eamonn. Unsustainable: How Economic Dogma Is Destroying American Prosperity. Buttonwood Press, 2003. {{ISBN, 1-56025-514-5
Business books