How Markets Fail

From Publishers WeeklyMarket disasters—and the cycle of delusions responsible—receive lively, engaging analysis by Cassidy (_Dot.con_), a journalist at the New Yorker. The author focuses primarily on the rise and fall of free market ideology and the mostly unrealistic ideal of a self-correcting marketplace. An excellent comprehensive history of the economic thought that led to this kind of utopian economics provides a refresher course in Adam Smith, Friedrich August von Hayek, Kenneth Arrow and Hyman Minsky. Both a narrative and a call to arms, the book provides an intellectual and historical context for the string of denial and bad decisions that led to the disastrous illusion of harmony, the lure of real estate and the Great Crunch of 2008. Using psychology and behavioral economics, Cassidy presents an excellent argument that the market is not in fact self-correcting, and that only a return to reality-based economics—and a reform-minded move to shove Wall Street in that direction—can pull us out of the mess in which we’ve found ourselves. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From BooklistCassidy, economist and journalist, launches a theoretical attack on Milton Friedman and the Chicago school’s free market concepts, calling them Utopian Economics, which Cassidy explains in part one. The author describes his replacement theories in part two, which give market failure a central role, calling them Reality-Based Economics. Drawing on both approaches, in part three he explains in detail his analysis of the financial crisis of 2007–2009, indicating that the subprime boom was a failure of capitalism and the financial crisis was the consequence on decisions made by private firms under deregulation. He concludes with suggestions including banks that create and distribute mortgage securities should be forced to keep approximately one-fifth on their books and federal regulators should have oversight responsibility for mortgage bankers and lenders. Everyone will not agree with the author’s theories, and although he denies this is a textbook, it will stir controversy within and outside the classroom. However, the challenging material in this book will limit its appeal to many library patrons. —Mary Whaley