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23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
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23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Ha-Joon Chang
Bloomsbury Press, 2011
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Economist Ha-Joon Chang challenges conventional thinking about economics with 23 points you may not know about market economies. He takes on those who righteously defend unbridled free-market capitalism and minimal regulation as the only paths to financial nirvana for all. Using compelling research, statistics and case studies, Chang explains how change disarms the fiercest “free-marketeers” of their received wisdom. While some of his arguments may be debatable, he offers an interesting alternative to the other explanations for the world’s currently dismal fiscal dilemma and uncertain political landscape. getAbstract recommends this fresh interpretation to readers interested in their own, and the world’s, economic future.

Summary

Free Markets Are Make-Believe

The 2008 global financial meltdown traces its origins to “the free-market ideology.” Since the early 1980s, “free-marketeers” have advanced the notion that markets are always fully efficient and fair, and that government regulation and interference in those markets are both unnecessary and deleterious. For more than three decades, this driving philosophy led to widespread sales of state-owned businesses, deregulation, cuts in taxes and social benefits, and loosened trade and tariff rules. Yet while proponents hailed their dogma as an engine of wealth creation, in reality, these policies amplified financial inequity, retarded economic growth and increased political volatility. Capitalism is not on trial, but the free-market variant deserves criticism for its results. Learn 23 truths about capitalism so you can practice “active economic citizenship”:

  1. “There is no such thing as a free market” – The common myth holds that only markets that are free of state intervention can unleash people’s profit motives and optimize efficiency and innovation. But truly free markets don’t exist, and they never have. Society, through government...

About the Author

Ha-Joon Chang is an economist and teaches at the University of Cambridge. He wrote the best-selling book Bad Samaritans.

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