Best days of the free market are over
Graeme Maxton says after being sidelined in a modern era dominated by marauding free marketeers, good governance must now make a comeback and save society from ruin
Free marketeers, please take a bow. It is time for you to let those with other ideas take centre stage. Let's hear it for the free marketeers!
The free market has been a wonder of our age. Its ideas have been like some remarkable scientific breakthrough that transformed the world. The free market propelled America and the West to global economic dominance, and allowed hundreds of millions of people in China and elsewhere to prosper. It won the 20th century.
But the free market's best time is now behind it. It has made all the easy gains and, after so many years of glorious progress, it is running out of steam. With its principles fully established, it has little new to say. The free market is getting old; in the face of new challenges, its magic is fading.
The free market is still the best way we know to allocate many resources. It ensures goods and services are delivered to those who need them in the most efficient way, for the lowest possible price.
Moreover, it strives to improve this process continuously, making the system ever leaner and driving prices ever lower. By making each dollar go further, this makes us better off and so improves our standard of living.
The free market is also exceptional in that it not only pushes down prices, but raises profits too. It serves everyone by stimulating growth, supporting investment and aiding human development. It is also astonishingly flexible, with the ability to respond to the changing needs of the market without falling apart. The system is fair too, or at least mostly fair. It rewards those who are efficient and competitive, while stragglers are swiftly killed off.
The free market has its limits, however. It works best when focused on the short term, and where returns can be monetised easily. It is great at meeting the needs of end consumers, like you and me.