A history of the great powers of the past 500 years and of the relative abundance produced by their economies. The Economic Consquences of the Peace by John Meynard Keynes Written after he resigned from the British delegation to the Versailles peace conference at the end of WWI, this book analyses the impact on Germany of the treaty. It shows extraordinary foresight and is a model of clear writing and clear economic analysis combined with passionate argument. The books contains discussion of corruption and how to control it. It is addressed to government officials, especially those in developing countries.
Bribery is universally shameful, in even countries and cultures where it is widely practiced.
Even under a corrupt government such as the Marcos regime in the Phillipines, it may be possible to fight corruption in some government departments. Klitgaard presents several case studies and check lists of what to do. Klitgaard also wrote Tropical Gangsters , a memoire of his experience in Equatorial Guinea as head of a World Bank program. This discusses what categories reveal about the mind. It advances a model of how people think and use language.