More readable than most studies of its kind, Lindblom’s overview raises as many questions as it answers—and offers much food...
A roundabout but illuminating attempt to define a slippery economic construct.
“Although the market system is roughly familiar to all of us,” writes Lindblom (Economics/Yale Univ.), “not even economists wholly understand it.” That is understandable, given all the things that the market system is, at least in the author’s account: an “extraordinary social process,” a motivator and coordinator of human activity, a peacekeeper and cause of conflict, an ally and enemy of freedom, a destroyer and producer of inequalities. Lindblom observes that all existing societies make use of markets, but not all have developed mechanisms whereby the conjunction of buyer and seller takes precedence over any program of state planning; the market system, in his definition, involves the “societywide coordination of human activities not by central command but by mutual interactions in the form of transactions.” His insistence on the supremacy of individuals is not mere libertarian cant; he recognizes that certain market-state hybrids have proved effective, that the state can perform certain needed tasks that the market cannot, and that individuals and corporations are capable of extremely bad faith. But, he adds, at its best the market system is a pattern of cooperative behavior where people somehow overcome naked self-interest to act in ways that yield mutual benefit, and where individuals, by voting with their wallets, have a direct influence on how that behavior is conducted. The leading enemies of that cooperative system are not the statist ideologies of old, Lindblom suggests, but instead “reckless banking and incompetent governmental regulation of financial markets,” which can instantly undo the efforts of millions. But even where relatively unhindered and apparently smoothly functioning market systems prevail, and even where consumer goods are more and more available in an ever more marketized world, he notes that people are declaring themselves to be increasingly less happy—yet another of many puzzles that the market poses.
More readable than most studies of its kind, Lindblom’s overview raises as many questions as it answers—and offers much food for thought.Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-300-08752-7
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
A declaration worth hearing out in a time of growing inequality—and indignity.
Noted number cruncher Sperling delivers an economist’s rejoinder to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Former director of the National Economic Council in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the author has long taken a view of the dismal science that takes economic justice fully into account. Alongside all the metrics and estimates and reckonings of GDP, inflation, and the supply curve, he holds the great goal of economic policy to be the advancement of human dignity, a concept intangible enough to chase the econometricians away. Growth, the sacred mantra of most economic policy, “should never be considered an appropriate ultimate end goal” for it, he counsels. Though 4% is the magic number for annual growth to be considered healthy, it is healthy only if everyone is getting the benefits and not just the ultrawealthy who are making away with the spoils today. Defining dignity, admits Sperling, can be a kind of “I know it when I see it” problem, but it does not exist where people are a paycheck away from homelessness; the fact, however, that people widely share a view of indignity suggests the “intuitive universality” of its opposite. That said, the author identifies three qualifications, one of them the “ability to meaningfully participate in the economy with respect, not domination and humiliation.” Though these latter terms are also essentially unquantifiable, Sperling holds that this respect—lack of abuse, in another phrasing—can be obtained through a tight labor market and monetary and fiscal policy that pushes for full employment. In other words, where management needs to come looking for workers, workers are likely to be better treated than when the opposite holds. In still other words, writes the author, dignity is in part a function of “ ‘take this job and shove it’ power,” which is a power worth fighting for.
A declaration worth hearing out in a time of growing inequality—and indignity.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-7987-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
More uncommonly sensible investment guidance from a master of the game. Drawing on his experience at Fidelity's Magellan Fund, a high- profile vehicle he quit at age 46 in 1990 after a spectacularly successful 13-year tenure as managing director, Lynch (One Up on Wall Street, 1988) makes a strong case for common stocks over bonds, CDs, or other forms of debt. In breezy, anecdotal fashion, the author also encourages individuals to go it alone in the market rather than to bank on money managers whose performance seldom justifies their generous compensation. With the caveat that there's as much art as science to picking issues with upside potential, Lynch commends legwork and observation. ``Spending more time at the mall,'' he argues, invariably is a better way to unearth appreciation candidates than relying on technical, timing, or other costly divining services prized by professionals. The author provides detailed briefings on how he researches industries, special situations, and mutual funds. Particularly instructive are his candid discussions of where he went wrong as well as right in his search for undervalued securities. Throughout the genial text, Lynch offers wry, on-target advisories under the rubric of ``Peter's Principles.'' Commenting on the profits that have accrued to those acquiring shares in enterprises privatized by the British government, he notes: ``Whatever the Queen is selling, buy it.'' In praise of corporate parsimony, the author suggests that, ``all else being equal, invest in the company with the fewest photos in the annual report.'' Another bull's-eye for a consummate pro, with appeal for market veterans and rookies alike. (Charts and tabular material— not seen.)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-671-75915-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
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