NCF's Top Ten Reading Selections for 2007

This is a list of books by leading think tanks, business leaders, and policy experts that we recommend industry leaders should read to better understand the challenges we face.

The Foundation's mission is to drive the policy debate on the important emerging issues by formulating arguments, developing options, and influencing thinking in an effort to move the American business agenda forward. As part of that mission NCF consulted with Foundation Fellows, industry specialists, and Chamber staff to create a list of books that both advance our agenda and challenge our thinking.

View the 2006 Reading List.

China:  The Balance Sheet, What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower
by C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek Mitchell
China: The Balance Sheet describes the challenges and prospects of four aspects of this rising superpower including its economy, its society and politics, its role in the global economy, and security and foreign policies.  Based on a thorough analysis of new information and perspectives on China, the authors assert that China's presence on the world stage will be one of the most significant and challenging advancements of the twenty-first century. 

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
by Chris Anderson
The Long Tail asserts that the future of business and common culture is not in the mass market but in niches.  Digital technologies expand the number of products, producers, distribution channels, and thus consumer choice.  "Hits" and blockbusters will decline as a proportion of the market; "misses" and small, customized, niche, or rare products will grow.  With data from Amazon, Netflix, and others, Anderson shows that this "long tail" of low-volume products is larger in aggregate than the sum of the high-volume mass market products.  The ability to present customers a huge selection of goods and information via the Internet, and to archive it all in an inexpensive manner, will change business and our culture.

Medicare Meets Mephistopheles
by David A. Hyman
Medicare Meets Mephistopheles employs the Seven Deadly Sins – Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony and Lust to explain the issues facing Medicare.  The book explains the relevant history of this important program including its origins, structure, and financing.  It is a useful analysis for both supporters and critics of Medicare.

The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation
by Stephen Flynn
The Edge of Disaster explores America's vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters, suggests how we can improve our security, and offers advice on what corporations and the government can do to reduce the risk of disaster.  The author looks at alarming scenarios, such as an avian flu outbreak in New York and a San Francisco earthquake, along with the consequences if we fail to plan for such disasters.  He points to threats from our casual disregard for the dangers that surround us and contends that although we cannot plan for every disaster we can be better prepared. 

Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
by National Center on Education and the Economy
Tough Choices or Tough Times is a detailed investigation of the challenges facing the American education system along with convincing recommendations for how to improve it.  It outlines the kind of competitive economy we need to maintain our current standard of living and what skills and knowledge our workers need to drive that economy. 

Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting it Right
by Michele Wucker
Lock Out documents the causes of America's push towards isolationism, and makes the case for why it would be a catastrophic mistake for the United States to close its doors.  Attracting "the world's best and brightest" is essential to growing our economy and maintaining our global competitiveness.  The author outlines the benefits of immigration to America as well as the costs and suggests how we can reach a more reasonable flow of people across borders into the future.

The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care
by David Gratzer
The Cure offers a thorough synopsis of health care in America, from economics and politics to medical science.  The author asserts that it is feasible to decrease health expenditures, insure millions more Americans, and raise the quality of care without growing government or increasing taxes.

Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet
by Indur M. Goklany
The Improving State of the World addresses the environment versus development debate and asserts the world has made massive positive progress.  The author examines long-term trends in human and environmental well-being, and looks at their dependence on economic development and technological change.  For instance, the book indicates that it is the world's poorest citizens who enjoy the most monumental increase in living standards and that as nations become wealthier, they also become cleaner, healthier, and more environmentally sound.  The book makes the case
that limiting globalization would hinder advancements in human and environmental well-being.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Black Swan is a book about the limits of our knowledge and powers of prediction.  It suggests that the world is governed not by the predictable and the average, but by the random, the unknown and the unpredictable.  These monumental events or discoveries or people who have big consequences are the "Black Swans" of the title.  The author argues the money business and government spend on predictions and economic forecasting has little effect; implicitly, the book criticizes government efforts at regulation.  Government actions are just one area where arrogance – what politicians think they know, but in fact are clueless – can lead to big mistakes.

Income and Wealth
by Alan Reynolds
Income and Wealth exposes the faulty concepts, measures, and statistics that too often drive the debate over "income inequality."  Reynolds addresses many popular myths concerning income and wealth—from "income stagnation" to CEO pay—and presents a fresh and fair viewpoint on this important piece of economic and social policy.