‘Trust in government starts with policies that reflect core values’
This article is a response to The Rules, a forum on government’s proper role in the market.
Eliot Spitzer examines the role of government in markets in a clear and compelling manner. He calls for government intervention in three ways: enforcing market integrity; correcting externalities; and defending core values.
I agree that all three tasks are important, but we have to ask what it takes to have government implement them in the broad interests of society. Both left and right support enforcing market integrity over protecting specific individuals or institutions, but bringing that about in a money-drenched political system is challenging.
This article has become a book!
Government’s Place In the Market
Eliot Spitzer
MIT Press / Cloth / $14.95 / April 2010
With all the technocratic talk about credit default swaps and bailouts, Americans still have not come to terms with what we really need: a market that delivers public benefit. Spitzer lays out a map of when and how government should intervene to ensure that the market works for everyone.
With responses from Dean Baker and Robert Johnson.
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About the Author
Robert Johnson is Director of Financial Reform at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.
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Part of The Rules, with Eliot Spitzer, Dean Baker, and Sarah Binder, Andrew Gelman and John Sides.
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