Maximilian Auffhammer — Why the Pope is wrong on markets

Should be "Why I think the Pope is wrong on markets." Is the reason for that type of thinking ideologically and cognitively biased. Pope Francis's economic advisors have convinced him it is, and that's my view, too. The neoliberal bias is over-reliance on markets. How has that worked out?  Why would it change suddenly enough to make the needed difference?

In may view, markets could be one of the tools employed but relying completely on markets seems to me to be unrealistic in that there are so many and diverse vested interests in preserving market imperfections already created and culturally accepted. 

Radical action is required to shift energy sources away from carbon-based sources to clean renewable sources. This will require both institutional change that only governments can mandate quickly. It will also require public investment in clean renewable energy as a public utility. 

This means recognizing and acknowledging that a healthy and sustainable environment is a public good and that living in a healthy sustainable environment is a natural right included in the right to life. This falls to government to ensure as the guarantor of good order and security in a society. The rule of law must be used toward this end rather reliance on market forces by attempting to reduce or eliminate market imperfections.

Economists who assume that market forces are the solution to all social, political, and economic problems are just blinkered by ideology.  

The Berkeley Blog
Why the Pope is wrong on markets
Maximilian Auffhammer | George Pardee Jr. Professor of International Sustainable Development at UC Berkeley

ht Mark Thoma at Economist's View