Markets, Planning and the Moral Economy: Business Cycles in the Progressive Era and New Deal

This fascinating historical study explores the conflict between what the authors identify as two competing ideologies: the market economy, whose proponents advocated a hands-off approach and a trust in allowing the markets to adjust themselves, and the moral economy, whose supporters favored a system of government planning and stewardship designed to promote economic fairness. Presenting arguments from each side by public figures and intellectuals, this book offers the most thorough and complete analysis to date of the new economic discourse that arose during the Progressive movement and remains a vital component of our economic and political discussions today.

Professors and students of economics, political science, public policy, and history will all find much to admire in this fascinating and accessible volume. Scholars from across the world will also find this book helpful in contemplating the long-term effects that the tension between the market economy and the moral economy can have on an individual country s economic system.