How Markets Fail: the Logic of Economic Calamities

How Markets Fail, by John Cassidy, is another in a run of books that feed off the corpse of neoliberalism. It is inspired by events pertaining to the current financial crisis. But this book is not just about finance, it also provides a rough overview of trends in the field of economics before concentrating on the theory of finance and on the current financial crisis. The book is divided into three parts – utopian economics or “bad” economics, reality-based or “good” economics and current crisis overview. One drawback of this book is this black and white division of economics, especially since a number of chapters are devoted to a specific economist. Thus, one might infer that this book also provides a list of “good” and “bad” economists. However, a thorough reading shows that the author praises the achievements of a number of “utopians”, including Friedrich August von Hayek. This book is not a tombstone to free markets; it just wants to show that we do not need free markets all the time and in every situation.