Questioning the free market economy

Author: Richard Bruckner (USA); Translated by Lin Jihong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: If the necessary balance between the free pursuit of individual interests and social cooperation, as well as a strong government, is broken and cannot be repaired, then sustained human progress would be unlikely. At that point, humanity would be completely at the mercy of the free market and become its slave. Human reason can create new activities and solve apparent problems, but it cannot predict and avoid the dangers and threats caused by the destruction of complex natural systems by people. If we continue to disrupt the necessary balance between social cooperation and the freedom to pursue individual interests, the world will struggle to achieve sustainable development. Humanity will be completely at the mercy of the market, becoming its slave rather than its master. This book depicts the historical evolution of contemporary development perspectives and analyzes the development of economic and welfare conditions over 2,000 years, as well as the tensions between the two in the modern era. It aims to examine the ambiguity of the concept of progress and focus on the relationship between economic growth and welfare increase over the past 200 years, thereby offering a critique of current pessimism. Particularly, the book analyzes and points out that the optimistic hypothesis—which claims that the "invisible hand" of the free market can spontaneously establish a clear connection between the pursuit of individual interests and the progress of the entire society under free-market conditions—is increasingly being challenged. This book does not attempt to provide a comprehensive and integrated account of the concept of progress and the nature of economic growth.