Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science

democracy one means the dissolution of the state, then we do not need such democracy" (Steven Lee Myers, "In Russia, Apathy Dims Democracy," November 9,2003, section 4, pp. 1, 5). Deng Xiaoping likened his brand of incremental reform to "fording the river by feeling the stones" (p. 118) while India's reforms, "developed little by little, through the constant interaction of economic compulsions with political constraints" (p. 177). India, however, unlike China is a democracy, and although India has made mistakes, its general approach to reform is commensurate with the instrumental value principal, a central tenet of institutionalism which "neither directs nor implies movement in the direction of a preconceived set of institutional forms" (Tool 2001, 298-9). Russia, by contrast, seduced by orthodoxy, implemented shock therapy with the teleological objective of quickly creating an idealized market economy without considering popular needs. The Perilous Road deserves a place in the pantheon of reform texts. In addition to a superb historical analysis of the problems facing Russia, China, and India, the book offers a recipe for successful reform firmly grounded in institutionalist principles. The Perilous Road elucidates the crucial role of a viable state in the evolutionary growth of market economies while disparaging the orthodox claim that markets spontaneously arise. I recommend this book for specialists contemplating future market reform in other regions of the world, while, at the same time, it is well-suited for a place in the economics curriculum.