This, according to Susan Lee, is a dangerous delusion.
Why doesn't the economy perform better? Easy. Government interference. Government cannot fix economic problems. In fact, government only makes things worse by creating unintended consequences, damaging uncertainty, and regulatory gridlock.
Unlike many books on economics, Hands Off is based not only on theory but also on the actual experiences of people trying to cope with ever-changing and often contradictory government policies. Susan Lee shows how policymakers, bowing to Depression-era economics that argued that government could "fine-tune" the economy, actually brought the country stagflation in the 1970s, budget deficits in the 1980s, and recession in the 1990s.
Hands Off also introduces "new classical economics," a theory that explains how people can render economic policy ineffective by anticipating government action. Simply put, the new classical economics shows why government cannot deliver on its promise to manage the economy. Although the new classical economics approach has dominated graduate school education for more than a decade, it is little known outside the academy. Now, Susan Lee introduces general readers to economic ideas that will shape the next generation's understanding of what government can and cannot do.
A lively and original book, Hands Off offers a radically new interpretation of the government's role and gives new meaning to the phrase "reinventing government."
