'The Big Myth' explores the belief that free markets are a fundamental American right
Harvard professor and author Naomi Oreskes joins Here & Now‘s Scott Tong to talk about her book “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market” which she co-authored with Erik M. Conway.
Naomi Oreskes co-authored “The Big Myth” with Erik M. Conway. (Kayana Szymczak)
Book excerpt: ‘The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market’
By Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
Over the past several decades, American business has manufactured a myth that has held us in its grip: the idea of “the magic of the marketplace.”
Some people call it market absolutism or market essentialism. In the 1990s, George Soros popularized the name we find most apt: market fundamentalism. It’s a quasi-religious belief that the best way to address our needs—whether economic or otherwise—is to let markets do their thing, and not rely on government. Market fundamentalists treat
