Saturday, August 14, 2010

More Doubts About the Invisible Hand Myth

Kellia Ramares (a freelance journalist) reviews The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century by Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall, Editors, Global Research in Oped NewsHERE:

The book, which is divided to five parts, starts with a 58-page history lesson by editor Michel Chossudovsky, professor emeritus in economics at the University of Toronto. The essay explains why the global economy is in the dire shape it is in now, and who is responsible. That essay alone is worth the price of the book because it makes clear that any notion of an "invisible hand" that guides the marketplace to equilibrium in the absence of government interference by taxation and regulation is a myth. Any invisible hands in the marketplace bear the fingerprints of the big investment banks, merchant banks and hedge fund managers, and they have their thumbs on the scale.

Comment
Another piece of evidence that the assertions of modern economists about an invisible hand at work in markets is being questioned, where not repudiated, and this is pleasing to Lost Legacy.

The study of how markets work (and generally why and how they work better than all known alternatives where they are appropriate) is a legitimate role for our discipline.

Their understanding does not need mythical body parts, nor divine interventions.

I hope the trend continues but there is a long way to go, judging by the absolute nonsense that turns up daily under Google Alerts for mentions of ‘invisible hand’ in the world’s media.

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