Too Much Faith in Markets Denies Us the Good Life
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June 8 (Bloomberg) -- John Maynard Keynes’s generation ofeconomists assumed that as people became more efficient atsatisfying their wants, they would, and should as rationalagents, work less and enjoy life more. Yet power relationshipsand the insatiability of human wants are such that we havemaintained an ethic of acquisitiveness.
International rivalries add fuel to the acquisitive fire.We are constantly being told to gear up to face furtherchallenges, particularly from the Chinese and other poor butindustrious peoples. But why, if we already have enough, shouldwe strive for a larger presence in emerging markets?