The theory that free trade and free capital flows are always good is increasingly under attack. Even at the International Monetary Fund, the old orthodoxy is on the way out.
Markets usually produce desirable results, but not all the time. In some situations, it pays to control them. No one believes anymore that the financial sector should regulate itself, that financial innovation will necessarily boost productivity, or that globalization benefits everybody. If left to themselves, market forces often lead to monopolistic structures, an unfair income distribution, corruption, a destruction of the environment and, most important, suboptimal economic growth.
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