Long-wave rhythms in economic development and political behavior Brian J. L. Berry Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991, 241 pp.

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The author's principal contention is that there are long cycles (i.e., 55 years) in the time path of the economy. While tied to innovations, these co-movements of prices and outputs produce a complex pattern that has proven hard to disentangle. The pattern is not rigid, however; the author clearly believes that institutions can be modified to contain fluctuations while preserving the progressive nature of the system. Less certainly, related cycles may exist in other areas such as politics and international relations. While interesting, the argument presented is not completely persuasive. There is an inconsistency between the picture of a very durable, powerful mechanism which has lasted for centuries on the one hand and the depiction of a mechanism that partly failed in the face of shocks during the mid-twentieth century on the other.