What Happened to 'Efficient Markets'?
The Independent Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, Winter 2010
14 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2010 Last revised: 26 Oct 2010
Date Written: October 22, 2010
Abstract
The financial crisis of 2008 has challenged the reputation of the free-market economy in the public imagination in a way that it has not been challenged since the Great Depression. The intellectual consensus after World War II was that markets are unstable and exploitive and thus in need of government action on a variety of fronts to counteract these undesirable characteristics. In the United States, this intellectual consensus did not result in nationalization of industry, but in detailed regulation and heavy government involvement in economic life.
Keywords: Financial Crisis, History of Economic Thought, Market Process
JEL Classification: B20, B25, B53
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation