Abstract
Myth: There are clearly delineated boundaries between the economic and political sectors. The two sectors restrain each other’s power and political freedom is complemented with economic freedom.
Reality: Economic outcomes rarely are left to the vagaries of markets. Markets rule only when it is advantageous to those with economic and political power. The present market system is not a natural phenomenon that evolved by chance without regard to its distributional consequences. It functions within a legal and commercial framework that has been designed primarily for the benefit of giant corporations. Large corporations’ relationship with government represents the strongest evidence against a description of the US as free market.
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Notes
- 1.
Friedman (1962).
- 2.
Friedman (1962).
- 3.
Stiglitz (2012).
- 4.
Lindblom (1977).
- 5.
Morganthau (1960).
- 6.
Shaanan (2010).
- 7.
Also noted by Kuttner (2007).
- 8.
See Marris and Mueller (1980).
- 9.
Shaanan (2010).
- 10.
Galbraith (1985)
- 11.
Shaanan (2010).
- 12.
Polyani (2001).
- 13.
The issue is discussed in Myth 13 in more detail.
- 14.
Madrick (2011).
- 15.
See Y. Smith (2010).
- 16.
Lynch and Bjerga (2013).
- 17.
“Too big to fail” refers to very large banks and corporations that have been deemed so crucial to the economy that government cannot allow them to fail.
- 18.
Quigley (2014).
- 19.
- 20.
Cited also in Buchheit (2013).
- 21.
The study uses a cost of $25 per ton for carbon dioxide’s global warming damage. The authors show that this estimate is on the low end of the scale and such estimates range from $12 to $85. See also Roberts (2013).
- 22.
Stiglitz (2012).
- 23.
Cline (1986).
- 24.
Scherer (1996).
- 25.
Stiglitz (2012).
- 26.
- 27.
Kay (2009).
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Shaanan, J. (2017). Myth 2: A Great Wall Separates Politics and the Economy. In: America's Free Market Myths. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50636-4_3
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