ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Thomas I PalleySubscribe to Thomas I Palley

Scapegoating Regulation

The bailout of the two large US housing mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has attracted conservative criticism that these companies contributed to the sub-prime crisis. This is a standard conservative tactic of shifting the blame. Fannie and Freddie were caught in the negative externality of the housing bubble created by Wall Street. The true moral of the Fannie and Freddie story is that there is a case for nationalisation and greater regulation of financial markets.

Milton Friedman: The Great Laissez-faire Partisan

Despite the impact that he had on economic policy in the 1960s and 1970s, today the global economic scenario is such that Friedman's "hands-off minimalist" model could have dire consequences for the stability of economies. But in a sense, Friedman is the economist who lost the battle but ended up winning the war, convincing western society to adopt his view of the world.

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