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Made in Britain by Evan Davis
Are you fascinated by how people manage to earn a living? Does an economy built on services, where none of us seems to do much of anything besides go to meetings and e-mail each other, completely confuse you? How is it that we manage to buy houses and cars and computers if we don't really make anything?
For answers to these questions, and more, the best place to visit is Britain. Why? Because England has gone further down the road of creating a services based economy than the U.S., Germany, Japan or other wealth countries. The birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the workshop of the world, is the poster child of the service economy of tomorrow.
I really liked Made in Britain. I'm hoping that Evan Davis franchises the book. A "Made in France" and a "Made in South Korea" and a "Made in the USA". The book grew out of Davis' BBC production of the same name. You can find the episode online, but apparently the BBC does not let North American's view their online video. (Can anyone help?)
The British economy is strong in areas of finance, pharmaceuticals, marketing / design, defense and higher education. Problems exist, such as persistent underinvestment in research and development, too little savings, and too much borrowing. Housing continues to absorb too many investment dollars. The finance sector is probably too large. The U.S. can learn much from Britain's economic strengths and weaknesses, and Made in Britain is a great place to start.
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