Web Assignment 5: Polanyi's Well-Governed Market

Karl Polanyi's Great Transformation argues that the market economy achives productive efficiency by treating as commodities things--land and labor, chiefly--that it is politically impossible to treat as commodities. This conflict between economic logic and political necessity is, in Polanyi's view, the thing that destroyed the pre-World War I liberal world and led to the rise of socialism and fascism as alternatives.

Surf over to http://delong.typepad.com/pe101/virtual_discussions/ and then to http://delong.typepad.com/pe101/2007/08/web-assignmen-5.html. Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think is the best way to build on Polanyi's insights to manage the border where economic logic meets political objectives. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing at http://delong.typepad.com/pe101/2007/08/web-assignmen-5.html--that is, react and respond to not just Polanyi but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 11 AM on October 2.