Freebasing Free Markets
The Project on Law & Mind Sciences at the Harvard Law School is having a conference on "The Free Market Mindset" next weekend to discuss the "historical origins, psychological antecedents, and policy consequences of the free market ideology that has dominated legal discourse and lawmaking the last few decades." Here's a little sampler from the schedule to whet your appetite:
- How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community: "Economics is a two-faced, one might almost say schizophrenic, discipline."
- Colossal Failure: The Output Bias of Market Economies: "The market delivers excessive levels of consumption."
- Addicted to Incentives: How the Ideology of Self Interest Can Be Self-Fulfilling: "Just as people can become addicted to heroin, they can become addicted to incentives."
Recovering free marketeers who plan to attend are encouraged to bring their sponsors, lest they relapse and take another hit of those sweet, sweet incentives.
