Markets Don't Fail!

In all of the contemporary economics textbooks that have been written there is typically at least one chapter that addresses 'market failure.' Markets Don't Fail! is a response to what author Brian Simpson sees as a fundamental error in the thinking of some economists. The chapter titles of this book are crafted against the premises of 'market failure' arguments, and a significant portion of this book focuses on exposing the invalid premises upon which the claims of market failure are based and providing a proper basis upon which to judge the free market. The material in this book provides a strong antidote to the arguments typically presented in contemporary economics textbooks. Through example and argument, Brian Simpson shows that the claims against the free market are not true. In fact, he demonstrates how free markets succeed, how they raise the standard of living of all individuals who live within them, and how free markets allow human life to flourish. However, the book goes much deeper than economics by providing a moral and epistemological defense of the free market. Markets Don't Fail! gets to the fundamental, philosophical reasons why the claims of market failure are false and why markets actually succeed. Through an integration of economics and philosophy Simpson is able to provide a comprehensive, rigorous, and logically consistent defense of the free market. The specific topics covered in the book include monopoly, antitrust laws and predatory pricing, 'externalities,' the regulation of safety and quality, environmentalism, economic inequality, 'public goods,' and asymmetric information. This book is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to gain a sound understanding of the free market.

Markets Don't Fail! is akin to works such as Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, or Frederic Bastiat's The Law, not only in terms of the free market ideas it espouses, but also given its clear writing style, its reasonable length, and its staunch defense of unregulated economic activity. This book is a significant contribution in economics. It is the first and only such book written from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, which has provided a strong impetus for a revival of classical liberalism, based on individual rights and limited government. The writer has remained focused on his defense of markets on the basis of individualism. He has used sound scholarship to advance his case and he clearly knows the material and, thankfully does not burden the text with footnotes for the sake of footnotes. This is the only contemporary text that has taken this approach and is accessible to the beginning student., Too many economics textbooks allege instances of market failure and call for government intervention while ignoring government failure. Markets Don't Fail! demolishes allegations of market failure and demonstrates that . . . market allocation of resources is the superior alternative., A skillful blending of economics with its foundations in philosophy....This book defends the market economy against the many attacks made today by contemporary economists. Ranging from the theory of economic monopoly and its basis in the doctrine of pure and perfect competition to the theory of asymmetric information, the author point by point thoroughly demolishes the myriad varieties of alleged market failure., This is a rare book on economics that grounds its support of a free market in an explicit code of morality—-the ethics of rational egoism. The intellectual support of capitalism requires more such books....., Recommended.

Brian P. Simpson is Assistant Professor in the School of Business and Management at National University.