Reality, Theory, and a Make-Believe World: The Fundamentalism of the "Free" Market
Abstract
This piece is an introduction to this volume of papers reflecting a range of thinking about the "freedom" that the free market is said to ring, from deeply analytical reflections to more focused case studies. In this, they reflect an equally rich series of panels and discussions that happened over three days spent in Bogota, in May 2006. These conversations, held in the comfortable surroundings of the tranquil campus of the Universidad de los Andes, went well beyond the confines of the papers presented here, and it is a pity that circumstances did not permit the full range of interesting presentations to see the light of day. Nonetheless, it is fair to say that the present volume captures the richness of that encounter, one that welcomed scholars from seven countries and nearly as many disciplines, including law, economics, sociology, anthropology and psychology.