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On the limits of markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2020

Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Geoffrey M. Hodgson*
Affiliation:
Institute for International Management, Loughborough University London, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: g.hodgson2@lboro.ac.uk
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Abstract

This is a review essay of Markets without Limits by Jason Brennan and Peter M. Jaworski and of The Invisible Hand? by Bas van Bavel. From different perspectives, both books focus on the moral or practical limits to markets in modern society. While both works make major contributions, there are theoretical flaws. Brennan and Jarworski powerfully countered some criticisms of commodification. But they downplayed the possibility that the transition from gift to contract or market exchange may raise moral issues that are additional to those intrinsic to the goods or services being traded. Van Bavel investigated cycles of growth, inequality and decline in several market economies over the last 1,500 years. But his argument is built on a confusion between finance and capital goods. Nevertheless, much that is positive remains in both books after their flaws are corrected.

Keywords

Limits of marketscommodificationmoralityinequalitycapitalfinance
Type
Review Essay
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 153 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2020

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