The Surprising Design of Market Economies

Marshall, an urban planning and architecture journalist, draws on his interest in design to provide a lively examination of how and why markets work as they do. He invokes the image of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, a man-made site that looks natural, to convey “the constructed nature of markets” and the legal, physical, cultural, and international facets involved in their creation. Historically, the transformation of economics from a political philosophy to an objective science was based on a faulty metaphor, one that has allowed “free market” myths to present what is as what must be. Marshall counters that “markets are our handiwork,” citing examples of successful agricultural and industrial co-operatives to demonstrate the need for “a renewed respect for the noncompetitive, more cooperative parts of our society.” Turning to the public interest in intellectual property and corporatism, he claims, as it is in our power to do so, “we would do well... to rewrite, to redesign, the essential corporate architecture that creates and governs our corporate citizens.” Marshall’s thoughtful critique accounts for social dynamics often ignored by modern economists and is grounded in a multitude of fascinating examples, underscoring his thesis that we can, and should, debate the powers allotted to our creations, rather than let them, falsely, set the terms of their own existence. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Sept.)