The Great Degeneration

Author: Niall Ferguson
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Penguin Group, 2013
Pages: 192
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: What causes rich countries to lose their way? Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debts, increasing inequality, aging populations, antisocial behavior. But what exactly has gone wrong? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues in The Great Degeneration, is that our institutions—the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail—are degenerating. With characteristic verve and historical insight, Ferguson analyzes the causes of this stagnation and its profound consequences for the future of the West. The Great Degeneration is an incisive indictment of an era of negligence and complacency—and to arrest the breakdown of our civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform.

Review: I had a hard time staying focused. I just cannot seem to get into economics or finance and that's unfortunate since those fields affect all of us on basic levels.

That said, as a whole this was more interesting than I expecting; the banking crisis explained, the benefits of deregulation, and the obvious stagnation of the US economy. 

The last chapter, The Degeneration of Civil Society, was most interesting. Ferguson discusses the decline in civil participation citing Facebook as one reason people are no longer as involved in their communities. They maintain contact with old friends and neighbors instead of getting out there and meeting new ones.

Volunteerism has also declined as people move away from focusing on what is good for public and focus more on what is good for themselves. This idea has precipitated throughout American culture.

Charitable donations have decreased steadily since the late 1970s, and it's the baby boomers who are donating the most. This doesn't bode well for the future.

Ferguson does have a solution of the civil degeneration, education reform. He believes, and I agree, that a healthy mix of both private and public schools would create positive competition. Allowing parents to choose where their children attend empowers families. Maybe it's because I have school age children (in a private school), but this certainly resonated with me.