Confidence in Free Markets

The LA Times reported that the general attitude toward markets and government intervention may be changing:

"We're at a hinge point," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who helped craft President Clinton's market-friendly agenda during the 1990s. "The strong presumption in favor of markets, which has dominated public policy since the late 1970s, has een thrown very much into question."

The author of the article, goes on to observe:

Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy.

This article confirms a trend that I have seen in my interactions with students, fellow faculty and my circle of friends.

Kling, in a review of what he calls a must read book Happiness and Economics: How the Economy and Institutions Affect Human Well-Being points out one possibility for this procedural utility. Kling summarizes this idea in his post and Frey's book is now on my reading list.