In Defense of Global Capitalism

From Seattle to Genoa to Johannesburg, people march in the streets protesting global capitalism. They denounce Nike and McDonald’s, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.

Who would defend global capitalism?

A young writer from Sweden, who started on the anarchist left and then came to understand the world better. Johan Norberg has traveled to Vietnam, Africa, and other hot spots in the battle over globalization. And he has become a passionate defender of the globalization that is lifting poor countries out of poverty.

In Defense of Global Capitalism is the first book to rebut, systematically and thoroughly, the claims of the anti-globalization movement. With facts, statistics, and graphs, Norberg shows why capitalism is in the process of creating a better world. Written in a conversational style with an emphasis on liberal values and the opportunities that globalization brings to the world’s poor, this book takes on the tough issues—economic growth, freedom vs. equality, free trade and fair trade, international debt, child labor, cultural imperialism—and concludes that free-market capitalism is the best route out of global poverty.

“Johan Norberg, a former anarchist who believes in a world without borders, makes the case that free trade is good for the developing world, good for freedom, good for social progress, even if the dull old Marxists refuse to see it.”
—Anne Applebaum, Columnist, Washington Post

“The particular charm of this passionate essay is that capitalism would not interest Norberg if it were not such a mighty engine of human liberty. It is a young man’s book, addressed to the idealistic young.”
—Rosemary Righter, The Times of London

“Giving clear and verifiable sources, he nails one by one the fallacies and selective statistics that are used by the anti-capitalist protesters.”
—Samuel Brittan, Financial Times

“Johan Norberg’s book is a stunningly insightful, brilliantly detailed refutation of the crank theories of the anti-globalists. In Defense of Global Capitalism is a shining example of what a gifted mind can do working with the truth to advance the cause of capitalism, which in the end is the cause of every decent man and woman.”
—Ben Stein

Johan Norberg is a fellow at the Swedish think tank Timbro. His book In Defense of Global Capitalism received rave reviews in Europe. He is also the host of a British Channel 4 documentary, “Globalization is Good.” His previous books include The Resistance Man Vilhelm Moberg, The History of Swedish Liberalism, and State, Individual, and Market.