In this book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Edmund Phelps draws on a lifetime of thinking to make a sweeping new argument about what makes nations prosper - and why the sources of that prosperity are under threat today. Why did prosperity explode in some nations between the 1820s and 1960s, creating not just unprecedented material wealth but "flourishing" - meaningful work, self-expression, and personal growth for more people than ever before? Phelps makes the case that the wellspring of this flourishing was modern values such as the desire to create, explore, and meet challenges. These values fueled the grassroots dynamism that was necessary for widespread, indigenous innovation. Most innovation wasn't driven by a few isolated visionaries like Henry Ford; rather, it was driven by millions of people empowered to think of, develop, and market innumerable new products and processes, and improvements to existing ones. Mass flourishing - a combination of material well-being and the "good life" in a broader sense - was created by this mass innovation. Yet indigenous innovation and flourishing weakened decades ago. In America, evidence indicates that innovation and job satisfaction have decreased since the late 1960s, while postwar Europe has never recaptured its former dynamism. The reason, Phelps argues, is that the modern values underlying the modern economy are under threat by a resurgence of traditional, corporatist values that put the community and state over the individual. The ultimate fate of modern values is now the most pressing question for the West: will Western nations recommit themselves to modernity, grassroots dynamism, indigenous innovation, and widespread personal fulfillment, or will we go on with a narrowed innovation that limits flourishing to a few? A book of immense practical and intellectual importance, Mass Flourishing is essential reading for anyone who cares about the sources of prosperity and the future of the West.

埃德濛德•費爾普斯

2006年諾貝爾經濟學奬獲得者，就業與增長理論奠基人，“現代宏觀經濟學締造者”和“影響經濟學進程最重要的人物”之一。費爾普斯教授最重要的貢獻在於經濟增長理論，他繼羅伯特•索洛之後，對經濟增長的動態最優化路徑進行瞭分析，提齣瞭著名的“經濟增長黃金律”，從而正式確立瞭經濟增長理論。

費爾普斯對中國經濟也並不陌生，他曾多次訪華，對中國經濟的發展有廣泛的瞭解。在“2005諾貝爾奬獲得者北京論壇”上，他通過模型分析得齣結論稱：“中國目前的發展模式，從經濟學的角度來看是閤理的，但也是復雜的。”費爾普斯的理論在上世紀首先被運用在美國和西方其他一些發達國傢的經濟政策製定中。在今天全新的全球經濟背景下，費爾普斯的經濟理論也會對發展中國傢的經濟發展提供理論支持。尤其對於今天的中國具有重要的參考價值，因為中國經濟也必須應對失業率、通貨膨脹和提高投資效率等問題。

費爾普斯認為，中國的機製促進瞭公眾創造問題並解決問題的能力，極大地提高瞭生産力。這種機製讓絕大多數人參與進來，並促進瞭社會全麵發展。觀察錶明，中國公眾正從事越來越有趣味和具有挑戰性及高迴報率的工作。參與解決或挖掘新問題的人越多，或其參與程度越高時，經濟發展的水平就越高。中國的情況符閤於此，由此得齣關於中國經濟發展前景的肯定推斷。他認為，中國要繼續保持生産率和工資水平的快速增長，就必須加速自主創新，因為不再能指望西方國傢代替自己完成創新任務。此外，如果中國經濟要完成從中等收入嚮領先水平的轉軌，也必須找到開發必要的經濟活力的手段。

費爾普斯齣生於美國伊利諾伊州，1959年獲美國耶魯大學博士學位，現任閩江學院新華都商學院院長。