Revisiting Free Market Utopia: A Hayek-Polanyi Reminder

As pundits discuss the causes and results of the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing Great Recession, economists of various strands--led mainly by Keynesians--are slowly beginning to question the supposed wisdom of unfettered markets. Since Keynesian-liberal disputes revolve around the symptoms of the crisis rather than the historical and structural features of market economies, we thought that a Hayek-Polanyi comparison would be a timely intervention in order to understand the real nature of the subject. This comparison may also pave the way for the creation of an alternative to the vagaries of unfettered markets.