Failure by Design: The California Energy Crisis and the Limits of Market Planning

A new framework for studying markets as the product of organizational planning and understanding the practical limits of market design.

The Western energy crisis was one of the great financial disasters of the past century. The crisis began in April 2000, when price spikes started to rattle California's electricity markets. Decades later, some blame economic fundamentals and ignorant politicians, while others accuse the energy sellers who raided the markets. In Failure by Design, sociolog...