Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat is a best-selling look at globalisation on its impact both politically and economically. I've not read it, but I have read an incredibly interesting review of the book by Edward Leamer titled A flat world, a level playing field, a small world after all, or none of the above? It's not just a review; it's an elegant tour of the work economists have done on the topics Friedman discusses, with plenty of intellectually stimulating side-roads along the way. The review also demonstrates several counter-intuative challenges to the conventional wisdom, just like a good economist should. It's very readable for the intelligent layman (and laywoman) as well as those versed in the ways of economics. For example:

“Is a computer more like a forklift or more like a microphone?” It doesn’t matter much who drives the forklift, but it matters a lot who sings into the microphone. Think about the forklift first. You might be a lot stronger than I, but with a little bit of training, I can operate a forklift and lift just as much as you or any other forklift operator. Thus the forklift is a force for income equality, eliminating your strength advantage over me. That is decidedly not the case for a microphone. We cannot all operate a microphone with anywhere near the same level of proficiency. Indeed, I venture the guess that I would have to pay you to listen to me sing, not the other way round. And I seriously doubt that a lifetime of training would allow me to compete with Springsteen, or Pavarotti.

The effect of the microphone and mass media have been to allow a single talented entertainer to serve a huge customer base and accordingly to command enormous earnings. This creates an earnings distribution with a few extremely highly paid talented and trained individuals and with the vast group of slightly less talented working in LA restaurants, hoping someday to hit it big. Thus, opposite to the forklift, the microphone creates a powerful force for inequality. Think Silicon Valley, with ext raordinary riches accruing to some, but with the manual service workers living in their cars.

(via MR)