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Why The Few At The Top Get So Much More Than The Rest Of Us
Penguin Press
September 1996
On Sale: September 1, 1996
288 pages
ISBN: 0140259953
EAN: 9780140259957
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Non-Fiction
In this book, two distinguished economists draw attention to
an important and disturbing new trend that has dramatically
transformed our economy in the last two decades: the spread
of "winner-take-all" markets, where more and more people
compete for ever fewer and bigger prizes. Such markets, where tiny differences in performance
translate into huge differences in reward, have long been
the hallmark of the performing arts and professional sports,
where increasingly sophisticated recording technologies and
the global reach of television have enabled millions to
listen to and watch only "star" artists and athletes,
leaving nothing for the also-rans. In recent years, however, winner-take-all markets have
reached into virtually every part of the nation's economic
life, spreading into such businesses as fashion, investment
banking, and media; into professions like law and medicine;
into higher education; and, increasingly, into management
itself. While not for a moment denying that consumers have
sometimes benefited - nobody has to listen to a second-rate
soprano when virtually everyone can afford recordings of
first-rate singers - Frank and Cook argue persuasively that,
on balance, the result has been disastrous. They show how
winner-take-all markets have dramatically widened the gap
between rich and poor by concentrating all rewards among
just a small handful of winners, and how they have lured
some of our most talented individuals into socially
unproductive and sometimes even destructive pursuits. Finally, in their relentless stress on winners - the
bestselling novel, the blockbuster film, and so on -
winner-take-all markets have diluted our culture in ways
that many people find deeply disturbing.
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