The Truth About Markets: Why Some Nations are Rich But Most Remain Poor
Why do some markets hum with prosperity while others falter and fracture under pressure? The Truth About Markets is a sharp, thought-provoking journey through the beating heart of economic systems—from the corridors of Wall Street to the bazaars of emerging economies—exposing the myths, contradictions, and unexpected virtues of market behavior. With wit and precision, it dismantles the illusion of perfect rationality, revealing instead a world where culture, institutions, and human folly shape the destinies of nations. Is efficiency always the endgame—or might the most successful markets be those that are messier, more human, and less driven by cold equations? This book is both an intellectual provocation and a call to reimagine the values we assign to wealth, success, and collective good.
- Originally Published: 2003
- Publisher : Penguin, 2004
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 496
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 9780140296723
- Access: Members
Description
Capitalism faltered at the end of the 1990s as corporations were rocked by fraud, the stock-market bubble burst and the American business model – unfettered self-interest, privatization and low tax – faced a storm of protest. But what are the alternatives to the mantras of market fundamentalism?
Leading economist John Kay unravels the truth about markets, from Wall Street to Switzerland, from Russia to Mumbai, examining why some nations are rich and some poor, why ‘one-size-fits-all’ globalization hurts developing countries and why markets can work – but only in a humane social and cultural context. His answers offer a radical new blueprint for the future.
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