Kicking Away the Ladder, A review

Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (Anthem; 2002) ISBN 978-1-84331-027-3
Review by Edmund Adu Poku
Kicking away the Ladder, is simply a critique of the suggested route to development made known to the aspiring to develop nations of the global south by the West and the Bretton Woods institutions. Dr. Ha-Joon Chang basically with the aid of historical evidence suggests that the so called “good policies” the west is currently preaching, which include free trade, liberalization, free market, privatization amongst others, were not the ingredients used to spark up development in such countries, he further suggests that the Global south will inevitably fail if they use these policies. The book suggests interestingly that, states like the United Kingdom and the United States of America, which most contemporaries deem as the custodians and strict adherents of free-trade and free-market policies, were the most ardent users of “bad” trade and industrial policies, such as infant industry protection and export subsidies – practices that are detested, if not actively banned, by the WTO in recent times, in the earlier stages of their development. The author further argues that, in terms of institutional development, until the early 20th century, when these states were quite developed, the Global north countries had very few of the institutions deemed essential for developing countries today, like democratic political institutions, a professional bureaucracy, and the central bank. Indeed, when they were developing countries themselves, the developed countries had much lower-quality institutions comparatively, than today’s developing countries at similar levels of development.
His assertions therefore suggest that, the developed world are therefore preventing developing nations to make it to the top of the development ladder, by preventing them from using the same policies they adopted in the early stages of their development story. They are therefore “kicking away the ladder” of development, preventing developing nations from attaining the height of development.
Chan therefore suggests a reformation in the development plan of developing nations, since they would inevitably fail to attain their goal with the widely propagated “good policies” and “good institutions” of the Bretton Woods institutions.
The book suggests, that the true historical facts of the development stories of the developed countries should be more widely publicized so that the developing countries can make
more informed choices about policies and institutions. Again, it argues, that policy-related conditions attached to financial assistance from the IMF and the World Bank or from the donor governments should be amended, on the grounds that many of the policies that are these days considered “bad” are in fact not, and that there can be no “best practice” policy that everyone should use. Moreover, the WTO rules and other multilateral trade agreements should be revised in such a way that a more active use of infant industry promotion tools (e.g., tariffs, subsidies) is allowed. Last but not least, improvements in institutions should be encouraged, but this should not be equated with imposing a fixed set of institutions on all countries which are highly influence by British and American political traditions. Caution must be taken in order not to demand excessively rapid upgrading of institutions that are not really essential in the earlier stages of economic development (such as strong intellectual property rights), this can divert resources away from other crucial sectors such as education, health, and infrastructure.
The author argues that, policies and institutions that are more suitable to their stages of development and to other conditions countries face, must be adopted to aid the developing countries grow faster. This will benefit not only the developing countries but also the developed
Countries in the long run, as it will increase the trade and investment opportunities available to the developed countries in the developing countries.
In all, in my humble opinion, I think the book brings to mind some well-argued and objective analysis on the historical underpinnings of the development process of the west, it bring to our understanding some strategies they used which are now banned by the W.T.O.
But the question I would love to ask the learned Chang if I get the opportunity is, “Are these W.T.O ‘detested policies’ the only tactic to foster development?”. In my humble opinion my answer would be no. Current development around the globe, featuring now developed nations like Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Brazil etc. even suggests that the so called “hypocritical” policies of the Bretton Woods institution could successfully yield positive developmental results. Even though, most of his assertions about the historical details of western nations are correct, I think developing nations must stop always blaming history, and attack some woes like corruption which also hinders their development and also look out for innovative ways of fostering economic development rather that spending lots of years crying over spilt milk.