An Inquiry into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and Wealthy Nations. Designed To Shew How The Prosperity Of The British Empire May Be Prolonged

by William Playfair

a selection from the PREFACE to the edition of 1807: IF it is of importance to study by what means a nation may acquire wealth and power, it is not less so to discover by what means wealth and power, when once acquired, may be preserved.

The latter inquiry is, perhaps, the more important of the two; for many nations have remained, during a long period, virtuous and happy, without rising to wealth or greatness; but there is no example of happiness or virtue residing amongst a fallen people.

In looking over the globe, if we fix our eyes on those places where wealth formerly was accumulated, and where commerce flourished, we see them, at the present day, peculiarly desolated and degraded.

From the borders of the Persian Gulf, to the shores of the Baltic Sea; from Babylon and Palmyra, Egypt, Greece, and Italy; to Spain and Portugal, and the whole circle of the Hanseatic League, we trace the same ruinous [end of page #iii] remains of ancient greatness, presenting a melancholy contrast with the poverty, indolence, and ignorance, of the present race of inhabitants, and an irresistible proof of the mutability of human affairs.

As in the hall, in which there has been a sumptuous banquet, we perceive the fragments of a feast now become a prey to beggars and banditti; if, in some instances, the spectacle is less wretched and disgusting; it is, because the banquet is not entirely over, and the guests have not all yet risen from the table.

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One of the most profound and ingenious writers of a late period, has made the following interesting observation on the prosperity of nations.

"In all speculations upon men and human affairs, it is of no small moment to distinguish things of accident from permanent causes, and from effects that cannot be altered. I am not quite of the mind of those speculators, who seem assured, that necessarily, and, by the constitution of things, all states have the same period of infancy, manhood, and decrepitude, that are found in the individuals who compose them. The objects which are attempted to be forced into an analogy are not founded in the same classes of existence. Individuals are physical beings, subject to laws universal and invariable; but commonwealths are not physical, but moral essences. They are artificial combinations, and, in their proximate efficient cause, the arbitrary productions of the human mind.

Genres: History, Politics, Economics, Nonfiction, Classics, Political Science

282 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2006

Reviews

[John Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of this book in James Dale Davidson's "Sovereign Individual" when he and Lord Rees Mogg were reporting their inspirations for "megapolitics" In this work William Playfair, the popularizer/inventor of time graphs, attempts to explain the cyclical rise and fall of nations by examining the economies of nations, both ancient and then contemporary. He theorizes that as a nature grows rich it looses the very virtues and practices that led to its fortune. Consequently, countries ruin themselves by becoming prosperous without fail for their riches corrupt them. Playfair thinks that there is no cure for the disease but a variety of treatments that can extend prosperity. What makes Playfair such an original thinker is his insight that certain problems cannot be solved, i.e. becoming rich changes a person's and nation's character. All that can be done is to temper prosperity so that it lasts longer than it normally would. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of why the absolute decline of the USA is inevitable - its relative decline might not happen - and how we can realistically retard that process.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps the less said the better… It’s long, at least we can all agree there. He seems to have a problem with selling things on credit… He also seems to be incapable of imagining a circumstance whereby a growing United States might just outgrow UK not only in size but also economic capability. He sees the growth of the US as a means of assuming the continued dominance of UK manufactures for decades to come. Maybe he was right. On the whole, however, neither an edifying read, nor a memorable one.