Corporate & Securities Law

Only that which is planned is rational (or not)

By Hanno Kaiser

Here is a Sunday afternoon conjecture about a common divide between Americans and Europeans when it comes to the emotional appeal of free markets. The Continental enlightenment was very much driven by philosophical rationalism, which in the administrative realm found its expression in the belief that only that which is planned is rational (Prussia, France). The English enlightenment, in contrast, had a more empirical bent from the get-go with an emphasis not merely on rational outcomes but also on rational processes (e.g., what would later become the scientific method). A culture shaped by the English enlightenment may thus be instinctively more comfortable with the idea of a rational yet unplanned market economy than more strictly rationalist traditions.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on August 30, 2009 (boomark / email).