But,overall,I think this criticism is off-base. Far from being too far left,arguably,it wasn’t nearly far left enough. And that’s coming from me,a guy who generally likes markets and is generally sceptical of government.
No,far more concerning than what the essay contained was what it didn’t. I don’t recall ever having read so many words – almost 6000 – that contained so little. No clear proposition,no coherent framework for thinking about the world,no tangible plan of action.
Chalmers’ “capitalism after the crises” looks an awful lot like the one before them.
Free markets have many faults. The neoliberal wave that swept across the world during the decades leading up to the global financial crisis in many ways overcorrected for the government overreach that preceded it.
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There’s no doubt government has a critical role to play in a modern market economy. There is a sophisticated and thoughtful essay to be written about what a modern social democratic economy – incorporating lessons from both the past few decades and the past few years – ought to look like. This is not a new idea. Market failures during the GFC spurred endless ruminations on how to build a “new capitalism”.
ProminentNew York Times columnist Ezra Kleinhas written about the pro-growth agenda the left ought to champion. As hasThe Atlantic columnist Derek Thompson,who favours the left adopting an“abundance” agenda. Our very own Richard Holden and Rosalind Dixon have written an entire book,From Free to Fair Markets:Liberalism After COVID-19,on this.