the Hesitant Hand Swinging to and fro: Government and market, pigou and coasemedema's

Abstract

The Hesitant Hand is a book about the struggle between market and state control of human behavior. Medema tells a convincing story of the evolution of the management of self-interest, which has fluctuated over time from more government control to less and back again. Adam Smith's lack of confidence in government and his explanation that the invisible hand of the market could harness self-interest led to the rejection of reliance on state regulation. The book's cover illustration is a human hand. I grant the obvious connection with the title of the book, but I would offer Fig. 1 as a picture that conveys the essence of the argument.

Citation

Barreto, H. (2010), " the Hesitant Hand Swinging to and fro: Government and market, pigou and coasemedema's", Biddle, J.E. and Emmett, R.B. (Ed.) A Research Annual (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 28 Part 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 397-404. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-4154(2010)000028A021