Reviews for The truth about markets

The average rating for The truth about markets based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-05-17 00:00:00 Tanya Pizzicarola Has occasional dry swaths, but overall an enjoyable, balanced, and learned read that draws from the expected sources (Milton Friedman, Adam Smith, Hayek) as well as the unexpected (John Rawls, Clifford Geertz, Arthur Miller, Jean-François Lyotard, Middlemarch). It's mocking where appropriate (Bloomberg Television, Who Moved My Cheese?), and wry ("Ronald Reagan was not much interested in algebraic topology: but the intellectual influences on him, when finally disentangled, can be traced back to those fixed-point theorems"). Kay appreciates the strengths of market-oriented solutions and is pro-prosperity, but also highly critical of Friedman's "American Business Model", which is really just a mirage anyway. (The ABM has four prongs: self-interest rules, market fundamentalism, the minimal state, and low taxation.) Successful markets that create prosperity always depend on the institutions (legal, governmental, cultural, social) that underpin them. I.e., markets are "embedded." This is why you can't superimpose free-ish markets on poor countries and expect results. Interesting discussion of rationality vs. adaptation. (It turns out economic rationality is a mirage, too.) Extremely comprehensive bibliography.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-02-07 00:00:00 Mary Hamlin The title of the book is misleading. I expected detailed examples of how different kinds of markets work. Instead this book is a tirade against American capitalism. This book is thin on theories, science and case studies and abound in opinion. The author has a particularly bad habit of name dropping a few economists without explaining their theories with enough depth. As some one who understands a little bit of economics, I felt like the book treats me as an idiot. Its at best a bad pop-economics introduction book.