Suspicions of Markets
Critical Attacks from Aristotle to the Twenty-First Century

Authors: Donald Rutherford



Puts the debate on market criticism into a context of the history of economic thought

Analyses some of the earliest debates such as Plato and Aristotle

Proposes four ways to cope with flawed markets

In this work, Rutherford reviews why Adam Smith, Hayek, Mises and others praised economic markets, with a view to understanding, in contrast, historical attacks on markets dating as far back as Aristotle. The market has long been criticized as an inappropriate method of allocation, encouraging market participants to misbehave for the sake of personal gain, and creating an impersonal new market culture. This book traces how such attacks have become more vociferous in recent centuries, especially with the rise of socialism. Most recently the critique has broadened to include toxic markets and the excessive marketization of activities hitherto external to the market. Analysing these major criticisms, as well as the value of regulation, utopias and virtue ethics as a means of avoiding future suspicions of markets, the author lays the groundwork for the reader’s own assessment of the arguments, and concludes by posing suggestions of how best we might cope with flawed markets in the future.

Table of contents

Front Matter

Introduction

The Case for Markets

The Start of the Criticism: Aristotle

After the Greeks

Nineteenth-Century Critics

Later Critics

An Analysis of the Principal Criticisms

How to Deal With Flawed Markets

Back Matter