Markets and Majorities
eBook - ePub

Markets and Majorities

  1. 285 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Markets and Majorities

About this book

America's government intervenes in almost every aspect of its citizens' daily lives. From the air we breathe, to our health, wealth, and security, Americans wade through a vast political ocean. Unfortunately, we do so blindly; few Americans understand how or why our government regulates the market mechanisms that surround us. In Markets and Majorities, Steven Sheffrin addresses essential yet overlooked questions about political intervention in economic spheres. Why should we trust the government to clean our air? How do we know what to define as clean? What kind of health insurance business will the government run? What are the dangers of publicly financed doctors?

Sheffrin first explains traditional theories of market failure, used to justify intervention. He then combines the crucial question of political viability with the fascinating particulars of policy histories. Sheffrin applies such analysis to the areas of health care, social security, environmental policy, product liability, trade policy, and fiscal and budgetary policy. He argues that beneath each area lies a unique calculus of market failure and political pressures, and convincingly demonstrates that no single policy can be understood out of economic and political context. In short, the fact that markets may fail does not guarantee that politics will succeed. By examining both sides of each policy area, Sheffrin's careful review of our national policy-making reveals a minefield where, in many cases, politics cannot help but fail as badly as markets. However, he shows that all is not lost, citing, among other examples, political intervention in the medical industry as the only hope of stopping hospitals from competitive purchases of useless technology.

Markets and Majorities is must reading for anyone who has ever wondered why government just can't seem to get things done, as well as anyone who has asked why it should try in the first place.

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Information

Publisher
Free Press
Year
2010
Print ISBN
9780029286517
eBook ISBN
9781451602500

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. Preface
  6. 1. Introduction: When Markets Fail
  7. PART I. Economic Security and Pervasive Risk
  8. PART II. Regulation with Missing Markets
  9. PART III: The Search for Governmental Structures
  10. Appendix: An Annotated Guide to Washington Think Tanks and Sources of Policy Information (with the Assistance of Jean Stratford)
  11. INDEX

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Yes, you can access Markets and Majorities by Steven M. Sheffrin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Business & Business General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.