The Efficient Society: Why Canada Is as Close to Utopia as It Gets

This is the only book I have ever read that I could truly say imposed a radical change on my political beliefs. The brilliance of this book is that it takes a very simple idea and demonstrates how it applies to so many distinct areas of modern political dispute, all the while undercutting most of the traditional political debates, and by doing so makes you wonder "why hadn't I thought that way about it before?" The idea in question is that of the "collective action problem". In essence this is a situation where if everyone acts according to their own self interest, everyone ends up worse off than they would have been if they had accepted a compromise instead. Collective action problems cause inefficiencies, hence the title of the book. Heath's point is that a great many of the institutions in our societies can be explained, and more importantly justified, as means for avoiding falling into collective action problems. So rather than thinking of a social welfare system or a public health care system as justified on moral grounds (equality, fairness), we should really see these institutions for what they are: means of promoting efficiency by avoiding collective action problems. In other words, what we tend to pay for through coercive taxation are things that, if we were left to pay for individually through the free market, would cause collective action problems and result in inefficiencies and wastage. So far from being a justification for heartless exploitation, it turns out that efficiency is a moral value that is central to our lives and institutions, and most importantly can be used to justify many government programs. So if you ever wondered whether those people who claim that government is necessarily inefficient were right, Heath's book will prove to you beyond all shadow of doubt that they are mistaken and that government is in fact the central efficiency promoting institution in the modern world.

the author examines a number of social and economic issues using the prisoner's dilemma. it's a good book for people interested in sociology and economics

This book gives a quick overview of Canadian values, and summarizes the perspective of a new type of society emerging in Canada. The concept of a society built not around liberty or equality, but rather, just making as many people happy as possible.An excellent addition to my collection.