The Market

Watson has provided a history of the economic ideas that form the basis of modern economics, brilliantly explaining where many of the economic laws and concepts central to the idea of the market originated . . . there are very few texts on the market that are as good as this. -- Huw Macartney, University of Birmingham
A masterpiece of erudition and concision, Matthew Watson’s new book lifts the lid on a concept whose ubiquity in public discourse is matched only by its slipperiness. With immense skill, Watson explores the ways in which the idea of 'the market' has developed within the field of economics and in so-doing teases out the complex relationships between academic abstraction of the market concept and the prevalence of market ideology in politics. The result is a truly impressive book that should be regarded as a vital supplement to standard economics textbooks and essential reading for anyone interested in understanding whether there are alternatives to the 'iron cage' of the market. -- Ben Rosamond, Professor of Politics, University of Copenhangen
Watson unearths precisely why we feel so comfortable attributing disruptive economic change simply to the will of the market . . . [he] traces the emergence and triumph of the market concept as we know it, deploying critical insights from political economy and undertaking a deeply-textured excavation of the history of economic thought. The Market provides a valuable history of ‘the market’ as an idea, rendering unfamiliar something we often take as a given. In doing so, the book makes a useful contribution to vibrant debates within political economy and feeds into timely conversations beyond academia about our position as economic subjects. At a time when we are increasingly facing pressure to imagine alternative economic futures in which the economy works for everyone, The Market’s call to action will certainly have wide appeal in its abandonment of the present market concept. -- David Dodds, LSE Book Reviews