På ønskelisten: Et liberalt kampskrift

Mark Pennington, den britiske økonom jeg før har omtalt her på bloggen, fik sidste år udgivet en bog, som jeg har tilføjet til min Amazon-ønskeliste. Den hedder Robust Political Economy og sælges af de bogforhandlere, der går op i at have et stort udvalg af bøger. Så vidt ses koster den £20 i paperback for tiden, hvilket er en helt acceptabel pris – men jeg vælger nu alligevel at vente lidt endnu for at se, om prisen på ebogsudgaven ikke også kan komme lidt ned; US$ 125 er alt for meget.

For at give et billede af, hvorfor jeg er interesseret i bogen vil jeg fremhæve to ting: A) Indholdsfortegnelsen og B) den beskrivelse af bogen, som to tænketanke har givet. Lige nedenfor er indholdsfortegnelsen og jeg har fremhævet de afsnit, som umiddelbart ville være motiverende for mit køb af bogen; med andre ord, de afsnit hvor jeg forventer, at værket giver mig en personlig merværdi.

Contents: 1. Introduction: Classical Liberalism and Robust Political Economy

Part I: Challenges to Classical Liberalism
2. Market Failures ‘Old’ and ‘New’: The Challenge of Neo-Classical Economics
3. Exit, Voice and Communicative Rationality: The Challenge of Communitarianism I
4. Exit, Trust and Social Capital: The Challenge of Communitarianism II
5. Equality and Social Justice: The Challenge of Egalitarianism

Part II: Classical Liberalism and the Future of Public Policy
6. Poverty Relief and Public Services: Welfare State or Minimal State?
7. Institutions and International Development: Global Governance or the Minimal State?
8. Environmental Protection: Green Leviathan or the Minimal State?
9. Conclusion

Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) skrev om bogen:

This important book offers a comprehensive defence of classical liberalism against contemporary challenges. It sets out an analytical framework of ‘robust political economy’ that explores the economic and political problems that arise from the phenomena of imperfect knowledge and imperfect incentives. Using this framework, the book defends the classical liberal focus on markets and the minimal state from the critiques presented by ‘market failure’ economics and communitarian and egalitarian variants of political theory. Mark Pennington expertly applies the lessons learned from responding to these challenges in the context of contemporary discussions surrounding the welfare state, international development, and environmental protection.

Sam Bowman fra Adam Smith Institute har også blogget om den:

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m quite interested in strategy for libertarianism – how can we increase our influence in Britain, and ultimately roll back the state. Books like Robust Political Economy are a cornerstone of this push, because they attack socialism’s intellectual foundations. As Hayek knew, intellectuals were the key drivers behind the birth of socialism, and I think they’re the key to its demise as well. If you’re interested in cutting-edge scholarship with a liberal twist, Robust Political Economy is required reading

Ved bogens lancering i USA bad Cato Institute Pennington om at komme og fortælle om den; og det er der endda blevet en lille video ud af, som man kan se på tænketankens hjemmeside. Derudover er der også nedenstående video, fra Institute of Economic Affairs, der er optaget i anledning af bogens lancering i Penningtons hjemland.