May 12, 2003

His analysis of electricity deregulation in Britain and the botched privatisations in Russia in the 1990s lead him to the same conclusion: that markets cannot be imposed, but are instead the sum of evolution and adaptation. They thrive within a society's laws and cultural norms; without them they fail.

From a review of John Kay's The Truth About Markets: Their Genius, Their Limits, Their Follies.

Evidently Kay's assessment of the confused Becker/Chicago approach to "economics" is about the same as mine.

Posted by Greg Ransom