Marketcraft: How Governments Make Markets Work

by Steven K. Vogel

Overview

Modern-day markets do not arise spontaneously or evolve naturally. Rather they are crafted by individuals, firms, and most of all, by governments. Like statecraft, "marketcraft" represents a core function of government, and it requires considerable artistry to govern markets effectively. In Marketcraft, Steven K. Vogel builds his argument upon the recognition that all markets are crafted and then systematically explores the implications for analysis and policy. Vogel marshals a wide range of policy examples to support this concept, focusing in particular on the U.S. and Japan. He examines how the U.S., the "freest" market economy, is actually among the most heavily regulated advanced economies, while Japan's effort to liberalize its economy in the 1990s counterintuitively expanded the government's role in practice. In our era—and despite what anti-government ideologues contend—government officials, regardless of party affiliation, should be trained in marketcraft just as much as in statecraft.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190090449
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Steven K. Vogel is the Chair of the Political Economy Program, Il Han New Professor of Asian Studies, and a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in the political economy of the advanced industrialized nations, especially Japan. He is the author of Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry Are Reforming Japanese Capitalism (2006) and Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries (1996). He has worked as a reporter for the Japan Times and as a freelance journalist in France. He has taught previously at the University of California, Irvine and Harvard University. He has a B.A. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Chapter One: The Marketcraft Thesis
Chapter Two: The Elements of Marketcraft
Chapter Three: Marketcraft American Style: Why the World's "Freest" Market Economy is the Most Governed
Chapter Four: Marketcraft Japanese Style:Why It Is So Hard to Craft a Liberal Market Economy
Chapter Five: Marketcraft in Theory and Practice
References

Editorial Reviews

"The book is a welcome addition to the literature arguing for a conceptual renovation of the analysis of market governance in two major ways: First and unlike other studies focusing on single countries (Eisner, 2014; Singer, 2015), Vogel develops a narrative based on two carefully selected case studies that allow him to demonstrate the validity of his argument more broadly. Second, he also provides concrete advice for scholars and policy makers on how to incorporate this perspective into their research and practice." — Jonathan Krautter, Contemporary Japan

"In an age of market fundamentalism, Steven Vogel provides a timely and powerful reminder that real markets require rules - and 'free markets' require the most. Tired rhetoric about government vs. the market doesn't just make little sense; it makes for terrible policy." -Jacob S. Hacker, Director, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, and co-author of American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper

"Steven Vogel's Marketcraft provides the language and the concepts we need to break out of the tiresome and unproductive debate over reliance on markets or government to manage the economy. He demonstrates definitively that states structure markets. He shows that our focus should be on how states do marketcraft and who benefits from particular policy choices." -Fred Block, Research Professor, University of California, Davis, and co-author of The Power of Market Fundamentalism

"This is a profound and important book. The wonders of efficiency that we call markets are not self-created but constructed, and they need governments to thrive. At a time when globalization and information technology create novel market platforms that carry new promises, new dangers, and new fears, Steve Vogel's thoughtful pro-market argument has never been more relevant." -Nicolas Véron, Senior Fellow at both Bruegel and the Peterson Institute for International Economics

"Building on decades of comparative research into advanced industrial societies, Vogel lays out in impressive detail the myriad ways in which governments, private sector institutions, social practices, and cultural norms construct and shape markets. It makes little sense to ask whether a market is free or regulated. The important questions are who governs a market, how, and for what ends." - Washington Monthly

From the Publisher