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Orthodox arguments about what markets can do only understand the "market" dimensions of markets, and can only understand those relative to a mythical standard. They cannot comprehend markets as dynamic social institutions, embedded, sometimes deeply, sometimes precariously, in real times and places…

Orthodox economists do not walk the Earth naively believing all markets are actually perfect, if only the rest of us could see it. They know full well they are not. But orthodox capitalist analysts do not assume perfection because it accurately represents the world, but rather because without it, t…

[...] Contract to the impression one gets from the media, just because the market is essential to capitalism, does not mean that capitalism is the market. [...] In truth, markets are only part of the capitalist system, a substantial and essential part to be sure, but there are others: state, fami…

[...] In standard introductory economics textbooks, money is commonly said to perform four functions: (1) It is a medium of exchange that facilitates the exchange of qualitatively different commodities. (2) It is a means of payment or transaction settlement, the thing with which you settle a debt, …

[...] relative autonomy allows the state to protect capitalism when capitalists themselves threaten to tear it apart. The state is the ideal institution to protect capitalism from the capitalists, who, when they each act on their own, tend to cause more than minor bumps in the market-mediated roa…