Abstract
The existence of market failures is linked to any opinion on the role reserved for the State in the economy. In practice, this means that the notion of market failure (though not necessarily the term) can be traced back throughout all contributions made to economic science. This entry reviews the historical evolution of the opinion on market efficiency and, consequently, of the opinion on the existence of market failures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akerlof GA (1970) The market for lemons: quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. Q J Econ 84(3):488–500
Arrow KJ (1951) Social choice and individual values. Wiley, New York
Backhouse RE, Medema SG (2012) Economists and the analysis of government failure: fallacies in the Chicago and Virginia interpretations of Cambridge welfare economics. Camb J Econ 36(4):981–994
Bator FM (1958) The anatomy of market failure. Q J Econ 72(3):351–379
Buchanan JM (1965) An economic theory of clubs. Economica 32(125):1–14
Buchanan JM, Stubblebine WC (1962) Externality. Economica 29(116):371–384
Caldari K, Masini F (2011) Pigouvian versus Marshallian tax: market failure, public intervention and the problem of externalities. Eur J Hist Econ Thought 18(5):715–732
Coase RH (1960) The problem of social cost. J Law Econ 3(October):1–44
Cowen T, Crampton E (eds) (2002) Market failure or success – the new debate. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham/Norhampton
Harrison P (2011) Adam Smith and the history of the invisible hand. J Hist Ideas 72(1):29–49
Kennedy G (2009) Adam Smith and the invisible hand: from metaphor to myth. Econ J Watch 6(2):239–263
Mayhew R (1993) Aristotle on property. Rev Metaphys 46(4):803–831
Meade JE (1952) External economies and diseconomies in a competitive situation. Econ J 62(245):54–67
Medema SG (2009) The hesitant hand. Taming self-interest in the history of economic ideas. Princeton University Press, Princeton/Oxford
Pigou AC (1920) The economics of welfare. Macmillan and Co., London
Reisman DA (1998) Adam Smith on market and state. J Inst Theor Econ 154(2):357–383
Samuelson PA (1954) The pure theory of public expenditure. Rev Econ Stat 36(4):387–389
Scitovsky T (1954) Two concepts of external economies. J Polit Econ 62(2):143–151
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gómez-Barroso, J.L. (2019). Market Failure: History. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_620
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_620
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7752-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7753-2
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences