Eamonn Fingleton
Encyclopedia
Eamonn Fingleton is an Irish
journalist and author. His books, written for a general audience, deal with global economics and globalism. A former editor for the Financial Times
and Forbes
, he has written on East Asian and global issues for The Atlantic Magazine, The New York Times
, The Washington Post
, and The Harvard Business Review.
in 1970 earning a degree in economics, mathematics, and English. He worked in Dublin, London, New York, and Tokyo as a financial journalist before becoming a full-time author in 1991. His first wife, the British journalist and cookery writer Mary McCutchan and their twin babies Tara and Andrew died in a car accident in London in 1974. In 1988 he married Japanese businesswoman Yasuko Amako whose Tokyo-based mail order distribution company specializes in importing European and American luxury goods.
and one of his key arguments is that there is no substitute for advanced manufacturing industries—by which he means highly capital-intensive, knowhow-intensive industries typically making capital equipment, new materials, and leading edge components—as the main pillar of any advanced economy. He suggests that the United States made a catastrophic mistake in the 1990s in allowing leadership in such industries to pass to Japan. That was a major theme of his 1995 book Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. by the Year 2000. It was named one of the Ten Best Business Books of 1995 by BusinessWeek
.
His second book In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity published in 1999, took a contrarian stance on the New Economy
.
His most recent book In the Jaws of the Dragon argues that
rather than America changing China, China is changing America. China
is not converging to Western values but rather is following the
Confucian econo-political model pioneered by Japan and characterized
by aggressive mercantilism as well as a state-directed economy.
His books have been praised by James Fallows
, Pat Choate
, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ralph Nader
, Senator Ernest Hollings
, Roger Milliken
, former President Bill Clinton
, Chalmers Johnson
and Robert Heller.
Two days before the United States and Britain went to war in Iraq in 2003, he published an op-ed article in the International Herald Tribune arguing that the peaceful course of the American occupation of Japan
in the late 1940s would not be replicated in post-war Iraq.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
journalist and author. His books, written for a general audience, deal with global economics and globalism. A former editor for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
and Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, he has written on East Asian and global issues for The Atlantic Magazine, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and The Harvard Business Review.
Biography
Born in Ireland in 1948, he graduated from Trinity College, DublinTrinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
in 1970 earning a degree in economics, mathematics, and English. He worked in Dublin, London, New York, and Tokyo as a financial journalist before becoming a full-time author in 1991. His first wife, the British journalist and cookery writer Mary McCutchan and their twin babies Tara and Andrew died in a car accident in London in 1974. In 1988 he married Japanese businesswoman Yasuko Amako whose Tokyo-based mail order distribution company specializes in importing European and American luxury goods.
Career
He is best known for his analyses since the mid 1980s of the Japanese business, financial, and manufacturing system, but he has often applied lessons from Japan's experience to US, European, and other policy questions. In his capacity as deputy editor of the international banking magazine Euromoney in the late 1980s, he outspokenly questioned the sustainability of Japan's then super-high land and stock values. His first such commentary was published in September 1987 under the cover heading "Why Japanese Banks are Shaky." http://72.167.117.219/pdf/euromoney-0987a.pdf He was one of the earliest critics of financializationFinancialization
Financialization is a term sometimes used in discussions of financial capitalism which developed over several decades leading up to the 2007-2010 financial crisis, and in which financial leverage tended to override capital and financial markets tended to dominate over the traditional industrial...
and one of his key arguments is that there is no substitute for advanced manufacturing industries—by which he means highly capital-intensive, knowhow-intensive industries typically making capital equipment, new materials, and leading edge components—as the main pillar of any advanced economy. He suggests that the United States made a catastrophic mistake in the 1990s in allowing leadership in such industries to pass to Japan. That was a major theme of his 1995 book Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. by the Year 2000. It was named one of the Ten Best Business Books of 1995 by BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
.
His second book In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity published in 1999, took a contrarian stance on the New Economy
New Economy
The New Economy is a term to describe the result of the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. This particular use of the term was popular during the Dot-com bubble of the late 1990s...
.
His most recent book In the Jaws of the Dragon argues that
rather than America changing China, China is changing America. China
is not converging to Western values but rather is following the
Confucian econo-political model pioneered by Japan and characterized
by aggressive mercantilism as well as a state-directed economy.
His books have been praised by James Fallows
James Fallows
James Fallows is an American print and radio journalist. He has been a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly for many years. His work has also appeared in Slate, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker and The American Prospect, among others. He is a...
, Pat Choate
Pat Choate
Patrick Choate is an American economist who is perhaps most known for being the 1996 Reform Party Vice President candidate, the running-mate of H. Ross Perot...
, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, Senator Ernest Hollings
Ernest Hollings
Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings served as a Democratic United States Senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005, as well as the 106th Governor of South Carolina and Lt. Governor . He served 38 years and 55 days in the Senate, which makes him the 8th-longest-serving Senator in history...
, Roger Milliken
Roger Milliken
Roger Milliken was a U.S. textile heir and businessman. He served as President and then CEO of his family's company, Milliken & Company, from 1947 until 2005...
, former President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Chalmers Johnson
Chalmers Johnson
Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967–1973, and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972...
and Robert Heller.
Two days before the United States and Britain went to war in Iraq in 2003, he published an op-ed article in the International Herald Tribune arguing that the peaceful course of the American occupation of Japan
in the late 1940s would not be replicated in post-war Iraq.
Books
- In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony (2008). St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-36232-3
- In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity (1999). Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-89968-0
- Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. By the Year 2000 (1995). Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-63316-8