Description
Oxford Marketcraft How Governments Make Markets Work 2018 Edition by Steven K. Vogel
Modern-day markets do not arise
spontaneously or evolve naturally. Rather they are crafted by individuals,
firms, and most of all, by governments. Thus "marketcraft" represents
a core function of government comparable to statecraft and requires
considerable artistry to govern markets effectively. Just as real-world
statecraft can be masterful or muddled, so it is with marketcraft.
In Marketcraft, Steven Vogel builds his argument
upon the recognition that all markets are crafted then systematically explores
the implications for analysis and policy. In modern societies, there is no such
thing as a free market. Markets are institutions, and contemporary markets are
all heavily regulated. The "free market revolution" that began in the
1980s did not see a deregulation of markets, but rather a re-regulation. Vogel
looks at a wide range of policy issues to support this
concept, focusing in particular on the US and
Japan. He examines how the US, the "freest" market economy, is
actually among the most heavily regulated advanced economies, while Japan's
effort to liberalize its economy counterintuitively expanded the government's
role in practice.
Marketcraft demonstrates that market institutions
need government to function, and in increasingly complex economies, governance
itself must feature equally complex policy tools if it is to meet the task. In
our era-and despite what anti-government ideologues contend-governmental
officials, regardless of party affiliation, should be trained in marketcraft
just as much as in statecraft.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER ONE: The Marketcraft Thesis
CHAPTER TWO: The Elements of Marketcraft
CHAPTER THREE: Marketcraft American Style: Why the World's "Freest"
Market Economy is the Most Governed
CHAPTER FOUR: Marketcraft Japanese Style:Why It Is So Hard to Craft a Liberal
Market Economy
CHAPTER FIVE: Marketcraft in Theory and Practice
REFERENCES