to Hayek's ideas, Reagan's policies also continued and expanded tax write-offs, rebates and subsidies for many large corporations. Friedman's monetarism was also abandoned in practice as government-issued debt as a percentage of GDP rose dramatically throughout the 1980s. While Thatcher, Reagan, and their successors made sweeping reforms, the authors argue that the current era of globalization finally began around 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, they assert countries embracing free markets have prospered on the whole, and those adhering to central planning have failed. While strongly in favor of this trend, the authors worry that globalization will not last. More specifically, they believe that if inequality in economic growth remains high and if Third World nations are not offered the proper opportunities and incentives to support capitalism, the movement will end just as the first era did. The authors place so much emphasis on narrowing economic gaps because they believe, contrary to many of the people who are interviewed, that there is no ideological support for capitalism, only the pragmatic fact that the system works better than any other, as they remark: International analysis In the book, the authors examine briefly many different nations and regions and their economic development since World War II. (In the case of industrialized countries, they often begin before the war.) Admitting that the book cannot touch on every single aspect (Yergin remarks that the topic of their book constitutes an entire new academic discipline), the authors make many assertions. United States The robber barons were often condemned in the press, but the United States had much more commitment to industrialization and free markets than did other countries in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. Unlike many countries after World War I, the 1920s saw great economic expansion for upper-income individuals and a growth in median income. However, labor unrest continued to mount throughout the 1920s and the 1930s because of the lack of wage and hour rules, child labor protections, unemployment insurance, right to organize, workplace safety requirements, and social security, which all continued to exacerbate the discontents of the substantial numbers of working poor. The Great Depression caused massive unemployment and massive public distrust of corporations and wealthy individuals. In response, the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt went into effect with massive public support. Many lawyers and economists, influenced by Keynes, worked under the New