No Freedom without Regulation
The Hidden Lesson of the Subprime Crisis
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
Almost everyone who follows politics or economics agrees on one thing: more regulation means less freedom. Joseph William Singer, one of the world’s most respected experts on property law, explains why this understanding of regulation is simply wrong. While analysts as ideologically divided as Alan Greenspan and Joseph Stiglitz have framed regulatory questions as a matter of governments versus markets, Singer reminds us of what we’ve willfully forgotten: government is not inherently opposed to free markets or private property, but is, in fact, necessary to their very existence. Singer uses the recent subprime crisis to demonstrate: Regulation’s essential importance for freedom and democracyWhy consumer protection laws are a basic pillar of economic freedomHow private property rests on a regulatory infrastructureWhy liberals and conservatives actually agree on these relationships far more than they disagreeThis concise volume is essential reading for policy makers, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and financial professionals on both sides of the aisle.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Harvard law professor and property law expert Singer composes a fascinating treatise on property regulation that illuminates conundrums plaguing homeowners and bankers alike. Singer shows how the liberties Americans cherish are actually the products of a complex infrastructure of laws and regulations dating to pre-colonial times. Governments, laws, and regulations, in his view, do not restrict freedom, but allow it to flourish. A simple liberty like home ownership would not be possible without laws ensuring fair access to housing, safe construction, responsible use, and neighborhoods without blight or eyesores. To Singer, the subprime crisis of the Great Recession is an excellent test of this theory. After cutting corners and transferring titles to property without keeping good records, banks could not foreclose and recover the value of their loans. Likewise, homeowners could not prevent the foreclosure of the properties in which they lived, as there was no clear record of the party with whom they might renegotiate their loan. Singer suggests that Libertarians and Tea Party members who favor severe limits on government hold a view of governmental power that is romantic, naive, and ultimately detrimental to freedom. His book persuasively argues that the opposite of government is not freedom, but anarchy.
