The Surprising Design of Market Economies
Published on 1. September 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-292-75675-5 (ISBN)
Description
The "free market" has been a hot topic of debate for decades. Proponents tout it as a cure-all for just about everything that ails modern society, while opponents blame it for the very same ills. But the heated rhetoric obscures one very important, indeed fundamental, fact-markets don't just run themselves; we create them.
Starting from this surprisingly simple, yet often ignored or misunderstood fact, Alex Marshall takes us on a fascinating tour of the fundamentals that shape markets and, through them, our daily economic lives. He debunks the myth of the "free market," showing how markets could not exist without governments to create the structures through which we assert ownership of property, real and intellectual, and conduct business of all kinds. Marshall also takes a wide-ranging look at many other structures that make markets possible, including physical infrastructure ranging from roads and railroads to water systems and power lines; mental and cultural structures such as common languages and bodies of knowledge; and the international structures that allow goods, services, cash, bytes, and bits to flow freely around the globe.
Sure to stimulate a lively public conversation about the design of markets, this broadly accessible overview of how a market economy is constructed will help us create markets that are fairer, more prosperous, more creative, and more beautiful.
Starting from this surprisingly simple, yet often ignored or misunderstood fact, Alex Marshall takes us on a fascinating tour of the fundamentals that shape markets and, through them, our daily economic lives. He debunks the myth of the "free market," showing how markets could not exist without governments to create the structures through which we assert ownership of property, real and intellectual, and conduct business of all kinds. Marshall also takes a wide-ranging look at many other structures that make markets possible, including physical infrastructure ranging from roads and railroads to water systems and power lines; mental and cultural structures such as common languages and bodies of knowledge; and the international structures that allow goods, services, cash, bytes, and bits to flow freely around the globe.
Sure to stimulate a lively public conversation about the design of markets, this broadly accessible overview of how a market economy is constructed will help us create markets that are fairer, more prosperous, more creative, and more beautiful.
Reviews / Votes
"Offers keen insights into urban planning, public works, and even the history of New York's onetime ambivalence toward a professional police force." (New York Times) "Marshall's thoughtful critique accounts for social dynamics often ignored by modern economists and is grounded in a multitude of fascinating examples, underscoring his thesis that we can, and should, debate the powers allotted to our creations, rather than let them, falsely, set the terms of their own existence." (Publishers Weekly) "Conventional economics wittingly or unwittingly provides cover for the One Percent, by professing that 'the market' operates benevolently on its own. Alex Marshall gives us an entertaining, thoughtful, and well-written antidote to this dangerous abstraction." (Huffington Post)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-75675-5 (9780292756755)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
From the way roads and rails shape our cities to the way laws shape our economies, Alex Marshall has long sought and explored the underlying systems that shape our worlds. A journalist, writer, and former Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, he is the author of How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken and Beneath the Metropolis: The Secret Lives of Cities. Marshall is a Senior Fellow at the Regional Plan Association in New York. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Metropolis, Planning, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Slate, Salon, Architecture, Revue Urbanisme, and many other publications.
Content
Introduction. The Designer Disappears: Markets and Their Makers
Section One. On the Books: The Markets We Make by Law
Chapter One. Coming into Being: In Praise of Markets
Chapter Two. Me and Mine: Property, the First Market
Chapter Three. Lex Non Scripta: The Laws We Don't Make, or, the Common Law
Chapter Four. I Am My Brother's Keeper: Cooperatives
Chapter Five. Trust: How We Cooperate to Compete
Chapter Six. Staking Claims on the Mind: Intellectual Property
Chapter Seven. Little Commonwealths: Corporations and the State That Creates Them
Chapter Eight. The Future of Corporations
Section Two. Infrastructure: The Markets We Make by Hand
Chapter Nine. From Highways to Health Care: Progress through Infrastructure
Chapter Ten. Making Places
Chapter Eleven. The Great Nineteenth-Century Train Robbery
Chapter Twelve. A Socialist Paradise: The American Road System
Chapter Thirteen. Waiting for a Train Station
Chapter Fourteen. What We Did Before: Path Dependence and Markets
Chapter Fifteen. Police and Prisons: Freedom, Security, and Democracy
Chapter Sixteen. Why Don't You Make Me? Government and Force
Section Three. Seeding the Fields: The Markets We Make in Our Minds
Chapter Seventeen. Common Tongue, Common Culture, Common Markets
Section Four. The Markets We Build Abroad
Chapter Eighteen. By Your Bootstraps: Developing Countries and Markets
Chapter Nineteen. Last Night upon the Stairs: International Law
Section Five. Looking Forward: Making Better Markets
Conclusion. Making Better Markets
Afterword. My Own Story: A Circuitous Journey
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Section One. On the Books: The Markets We Make by Law
Chapter One. Coming into Being: In Praise of Markets
Chapter Two. Me and Mine: Property, the First Market
Chapter Three. Lex Non Scripta: The Laws We Don't Make, or, the Common Law
Chapter Four. I Am My Brother's Keeper: Cooperatives
Chapter Five. Trust: How We Cooperate to Compete
Chapter Six. Staking Claims on the Mind: Intellectual Property
Chapter Seven. Little Commonwealths: Corporations and the State That Creates Them
Chapter Eight. The Future of Corporations
Section Two. Infrastructure: The Markets We Make by Hand
Chapter Nine. From Highways to Health Care: Progress through Infrastructure
Chapter Ten. Making Places
Chapter Eleven. The Great Nineteenth-Century Train Robbery
Chapter Twelve. A Socialist Paradise: The American Road System
Chapter Thirteen. Waiting for a Train Station
Chapter Fourteen. What We Did Before: Path Dependence and Markets
Chapter Fifteen. Police and Prisons: Freedom, Security, and Democracy
Chapter Sixteen. Why Don't You Make Me? Government and Force
Section Three. Seeding the Fields: The Markets We Make in Our Minds
Chapter Seventeen. Common Tongue, Common Culture, Common Markets
Section Four. The Markets We Build Abroad
Chapter Eighteen. By Your Bootstraps: Developing Countries and Markets
Chapter Nineteen. Last Night upon the Stairs: International Law
Section Five. Looking Forward: Making Better Markets
Conclusion. Making Better Markets
Afterword. My Own Story: A Circuitous Journey
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index