‘You can’t run a market on the basis of equality.’

“You can’t run a market on the basis of equality.”
Lord Sainsbury

On event of the publication of a new book, Lord Sainsbury gave a public lecture tonight, 20 May, at LSE. The lecture presented his political economy model, ‘progressive capitalism’, which stresses 1) the crucial role of institutions, 2) the crucial role of the state as ‘enabler’ for ‘progressive capitalism’ and the design of the institutions that carry it, and 3) the importance of social justice, defined as fairness, in a country’s (economic) performance.

Lord Sainsbury presented this model not, as he made sure to assert, as a critique but a defence of capitalism, for he does not see the model of capitalism as inherently flawed. Rather, he argued that the recent financial turbulences were ‘flaws’ of the short-terminism of the current orthodoxy of neoliberalism, which focussed on appropriational wealth rather than the creation of wealth.

Comparing this criticism to the above quote, the vigilant reader might find them contradictory. This was echoed in the audience’s awkward questions trying to establish the model’s degree of radicalism. (Very funny.) I can only say that even though the above quote might shock the self-righteous liberal mind, inequality (of ‘resources’) as the basis of ‘the market’ is nevertheless  somewhat of a given in orthodox (and heterodox) economic modelling.

On the whole, then, careful conceptual debate and the speaker’s polite yet not uncritical realism made it a refreshing experience to witness alternative economic modelling in the mainstream.