What’s wrong with Africa, Latin America, and all those other “developing nations”? Why can’t they get their economies on track and follow the path toward wealth and comfort so clearly laid out by the US and the other Western powers? We established global institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization to help them learn the basic principles of neoliberalism: free trade and free markets. And what kind of thanks have we gotten? None!

Although somewhat exaggerated for comedic effect, the above paragraph is essentially how most American economists (e.g. NY Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman) view poor countries. They see them as culturally unable to grasp that which is the end all and be all of economic doctrines. In the words of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, “there is no alternative” to neoliberalism. The funny thing about that phrase, however, is that rich countries attain their supremacy through the exact alternative means: high tariffs and extensive subsidies.

This double standard is the subject of a new book called Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism. And according to the review by historian Chalmers Johnson, it does an incredible job of exposing “the chief structures of economic imperialism in the world today.” For instance:

Since the 1980s, Africa has actually experienced a fall in living standards — which should be a damning indictment of neoliberal orthodoxy because most African economies have been virtually run by the IMF and the World Bank over the past quarter-century. The disaster has been so complete that it has helped expose the hidden governance structures that allow the IMF and the World Bank to foist Bad Samaritan [aka double standard] policies on helpless nations. The United States has a de facto veto in both organizations, where rich countries control 60 percent of the voting shares. The World Trade Organization has a democratic structure (it had to accept one in order to enact its founding treaty) but is actually run by an oligarchy. Votes are never taken.

This is obviously a complex issue, but one well worth understanding. I hope to get to the book some day, but if you’re like me and already have a long reading list, may I suggest checking out the rest of Johnson’s in-depth, but thoroughly comprehensible review. You can then tell Thomas Friedman to shove his annoying “flat earth” ideology.