TY  - BOOK
AU  - McMillan, John
TI  - Reinventing the bazaar: a natural history of markets
SN  -  9780393323719
U1  - 330.122 
PY  - 2003///
CY  - New York 
PB  - W.W. Norton
KW  - Evolutionary economics
KW  - Markets - History
KW  - Capitalism
KW  - Economic history
N1  - Including bibliographical notes and index
N2  - John McMillan's Reinventing the Bazaar is an extremely accessible description of markets large and small, as well as an explanation of their underlying mechanisms. An "absolutely free market," he says, is a "free-for-all brawl," while a "real market" is an "ordered brawl." Sprinkling his analysis with hundreds of anecdotes and examples--prison camps, eBay, the American experiment with alcohol prohibition, the Tokyo fish market, and traditional Ghanaian bazaars--and pertinent quotes from the likes of Chekhov, Twain, and Steinbeck, McMillan animates his subject. Why do banks build showcase headquarters? Which "frictions" brake, and which spur, various markets? Is the "invisible hand" attached to a clothed arm? Why are both pro- and antimarket absolutists, in McMillan's view, the economics equivalent of "flat-earthers"? Is there such an animal as a "perfect" market? Reinventing the Bazaar answers these questions, and many more, in an eminently wise, entertaining, and instructive way
ER  -