The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It.(Review)

The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It By Charles E. Lindblom. Yale University Press, 256 pages, $26.00

A FOUR-LETTER WORD BEginning with f has tragically corrupted the minds of countless innocent Americans. I mean free, as in the expressions "free market" and "free enterprise." It is a glorious word, of course, but its association with these morally neutral abstractions generally serves to obscure their often harsh and irrational consequences. In our day, these two catchphrases, illicitly trading on the prestige of free, are the ...