How the Market Economy Shapes Our Destiny

(Economics)

Books

The Illusion of Choice: How the Market Economy Shapes Our Destiny, see the entire book.

Fool's Gold: The Fate of Values in a World of Goods, see the whole book, but especially perhaps Chapter 2, " Everything Money Can Buy," and Chapter 4, " Guiding Voices."

Op-Ed Articles

"On the Rationality of Gardening," published, Christian Science Monitor, 8/96.

An exploration of the ways of thinking --economic and other-- one might employ in deciding whether or not is rational to invest the time, effort and money to grow one's own pumpkins and herbs in one's garden, rather than just buy them in a store.

"Wrecks to Riches," unpublished, January 1995.

A satiric piece --in the wake of the earthquake in Kobe, Japan-- on the way that we keep score on our economic well-being, regarding economic activity as a great good, regardless of the role that destruction may play in it.

"The Spreading Conflagration," Published Christian Science Monitor, 9/26/94.

I warn my rural Virginia neighbors against being eager for the kind of "progress" that could come to our area if the proposed Disney theme park is allowed to be built, and brings "economic development" their way.

"Prescription for Reform," published, Baltimore Sun, 7/221/93; also in San Francisco Chronicle.

A critique of the way that pharmaceutical drugs get priced. A closer view of the idea, articulated by an expert on TV, that the right price for a medicine is "what people will pay for it," helps reveal a good deal that is questionable about the market ideology.

"How Much Freedom with the Free Trade?," published in The Amicus Journal, 1993.

The blessings of free trade, though considerable, are much more ambiguous than the market ideology would have it. How free are we to choose to live as we would wish? This question is considered with respect to two domains in which we contact some of our most important values: our dealings with the natural world, and with our own children.

"Who's in Charge Here?", published, Baltimore Sun, approx. 1991.

A look at how the institutional set up of public corporations, like the Exxon of Valdez infamy, prevents anyone from being able to make choices based on anything other than profit-maximization. These great organizations plow ahead as if on automatic pilot, with neither management nor stockholders really able to give adequate weight to the good of the larger systems in which the corporation is embedded.

See Also

"Cigarette Advertising: Can We Believe the Tobacco Industry," under "Contemporary Moral Culture"

"The Dells" (radio commentary), under "Environmental Matters"

"Why Are We Devouring the Earth?" under "Environmental Matters"

"Two Minds," (radio commentary), under "Environmental Matters"

Radio Shows