Free Markets and Social Justice - Hardcover

This work presents a conception of the relationship between free markets and social justice. It begins with foundations - the appropriate role of existing "preferences," the importance of social norms, the question whether human goods are commensurable and issues of distributional equity. Continuing with rights, the work shows that markets have only a partial role in the protection of rights. The book concludes with a discussion on regulation, developing approaches that would promote both economic and democratic goals, especially in the context of risks to life and health. The book develops seven basic themes during its discussion: the myth of laissez-faire; preference formation and social norms; the contextual character of choice; the importance of fair distribution; the diversity of human goods; how law can shape preferences; and the puzzles of human rationality. It aims to raise a number of important questions about economic analysis of law in its conventional form.

About the Author Cass R. Sunstein is the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago School of Law. His own previous works include Democracy and the Limits of Free Speech (1994), The Partial Constitution (1993), After the Rights Revolution (1990), and Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict (Oxford, 1996).