Dinesh D'Souza

Two important new books by AEI authors are now available. In The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values in an Age of Techno-Affluence (Free Press), Dinesh D’Souza analyzes the effects of the new economy and new technologies on the spiritual and social culture of America, and he proposes ways to harness the power of technology and affluence to promote both individual fulfillment and the common good. Jim Barksdale, the cofounder of Netscape Communications, writes that D’Souza “has done a masterful job of sorting out the explosive issues surrounding today’s new wealth and technology.” Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, writes in the October 16 issue of that magazine that D’Souza has written “a rich, big-hearted book, splashed with inside tales of billionaire striving and homeless chess wizards . . . a work that reveals the pursuit of wealth through capitalism as morally edifying, even if never perfect.”

Lynne A. Munson’s book, Exhibitionism: Art in an Era of Intolerance (Ivan R. Dee), shows how postmodern thought has turned art away from aesthetic concerns and toward a preoccupation with power. “Munson builds her case carefully and offers a fresh viewpoint absent from the media snippets. Her book makes a significant contribution to the always heated and never resolved discussion of ‘offensive’ art,” reports Library Journal.

Both of these authors will discuss their books at AEI events this month. See the calendar of events in this newsletter for more information.

“The U.S. and its allies need to shed any romantic notions they have about a democratic Serbia that will prosper overnight and return effortlessly to the family of nations,” writes Jeffrey Gedmin in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on October 9. “The Serbs must make this transition by their own initiative. If we’ve been offered a lesson this past decade, it is that it would be dangerous to overestimate our own influence as an external actor. . . . What shape should U.S. policy take? First, Washington should join the EU in beginning to lift sanctions against Serbia—but do so carefully. Missteps might allow Mr. Milosevic, and the worst elements of his regime, to loot the country further. The U.S. should also encourage the many [nongovernmental organizations] that have been working to nourish liberal elements in Serbian society. These nascent elements offer the only real hope of a genuinely democratic Serbia in the future. Finally, Washington should ask its EU partners to join the U.S. in calling for a series of summits over the next couple of years—to be convened by the Eastern Europeans themselves.”

R. Glenn Hubbard

In “Entrepreneurship and Household Saving,” a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, R. Glenn Hubbard and William M. Gentry analyze the link between the savings decisions of entrepreneurs and household wealth accumulation. Unlike households without entrepreneurial ambitions, the business investment plans of entrepreneurs are likely to influence their decisions to save. The authors find that “First, entrepreneurial households own a substantial share of household wealth and income, and this share increases throughout the wealth distribution and the income distribution. Second, the portfolios of entrepreneurial households, even wealthy ones, are very undiversified, with the bulk of assets held within active businesses. Third, wealth-income ratios and savings rates are higher for entrepreneurial households even after controlling for age and other demographic variables.” These findings may help to explain the household saving decisions of wealthy or high-income households, “since many wealthy households own active business assets.”

On October 28, Michael Novak received the State Award, the Czech Republic’s highest award for a noncitizen, from Czech president Václav Havel. Novak contributed to Czech independence in many ways. As the U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, he helped focus the commission on abuses of human rights in Eastern Europe.  In addition, Novak’s book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, one of the first books translated into Czech after the Velvet Revolution, was carefully studied in dissident groups in the Czech Republic and elsewhere during the 1980s.