James Surowiecki
James Surowiecki
James Michael Surowieckiis an American journalist. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
innovation level-playing-field levels
The Internet has become a remarkable fount of economic and social innovation largely because it's been an archetypal level playing field, on which even sites with little or no money behind them - blogs, say, or Wikipedia - can become influential.
trying world excellent
The U.S. is excellent at importing cheap products from the rest of the world. Let's try importing some human capital instead.
ideas people republican
Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.
names mergers name-changes
Most corporate name changes are the result of mergers and acquisitions. But these tend to be unimaginative.
self people legacy
Patrimonial capitalism's legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.
world autocracy destructive
The autocracies of the Arab world have been as economically destructive as they've been politically repressive.
challenges environment american-capitalism
The challenge for capitalism is that the things that breed trust also breed the environment for fraud.
government people decision
All things being equal, letting people make decisions for themselves will produce smarter outcomes, collectively, than relying on government planners.
differences america people
In terms of productivity - that is, how much a worker produces in an hour - there's little difference between the U.S., France, and Germany. But since more people work in America, and since they work so many more hours, Americans create more wealth.
cyberspace needs should
Instead of mindlessly tossing billions at or taking billions from the Net as such, investors should be spending their time making sure that it's the future Fords and General Motors of cyberspace that are getting the capital they need.
moving technology giants
If you thought the advent of the Internet, the spread of cheap and efficient information technology, and the growing fragmentation of the consumer market were all going to help smaller companies thrive at the expense of the slow-moving giants of the Fortune 500, apparently you were wrong.
superhero kind treatment
By the time of the '90s boom, CEOs had become superheroes, accorded celebrity treatment and followed with a kind of slavish scrutiny that Alfred P. Sloan could never have imagined.
numbers campaigns voters
Campaigns fail if they waste resources courting voters who are unpersuadable or already persuaded. Their most urgent task is to find and persuade the few voters who are genuinely undecided and the larger number who are favorably disposed but need a push to actually vote.
party winning leisure-activities
Companies have long gathered data to break down their customer base into specific segments. Now political parties have become adept at micro-targeting, too, using data on shopping habits, leisure activities, voting histories, charity donations, and so on, in order to pinpoint likely supporters and the type of appeal most likely to win them over.