A nice read, rather wordy though and might seem intimidating to the layperson. As a person working in finance however, this look upon the history of free markets was rather interesting. History is, as always, a cycle.

FREE MARKET

Having been a student (and teacher!) of political economy, I was immediately drawn to Jacob Soll's Free Market: The History of an Idea.

As the title suggests, the book is a chronicle of the changing perspectives and attitudes towards markets. Perhaps therein is the most important thing to know about the book: while it is a history of the "free market" as an idea, the emphasis lies less in the "market" and more on the "free."

In a sense, this is unsurprising. Whether there is room for any state intervention in a market is a matter than has long been debated, as also demonstrated in Soll's account from the Roman consul Cicero all the way to the present day. Yet what is illuminating about Free Market is the way it demonstrates how specific sectors in society would advocate for their own definition of "free" markets based on their own vested interests.

For landowning elites, markets should allow for free agricultural trade.

For merchants, markets allowed for independence from feudal lords.

For the Catholic Church, the profits from market exchange merely furthered the work of evangelization.

For kings, queens, and heads of state, the market was just another lever in aid of conquest or statecraft.

All this would color the definition of what constituted "free" market exchange, with the economic zeitgeist of the times determining which perspective prevailed (or didn't). Of course, Free Market depicts these shifting sands as taking place in discrete eras, which makes me wish it were possible to trace the same in continuous time.

It's oddly comforting to consider that philosophers, economists, statesmen, and the clergy throughout history have devoted time and attention to asking what the purpose of commerce and exchange should be in our lives. After all, the different perspectives on what a free market is or ought to be are rooted on foundational questions that affect how we conduct our affairs. Is there a moral or ethical dimension to enriching oneself? Is there or should there be a pecking order to economic activity (i.e., does agriculture have primacy over industry or the other way around)? Then, of course, the meat and potatoes question: what role should a state play vis-a-vis the market?

Reading Soll's account, I cannot help but wonder whether today there is not much discussion about such things anymore because we assume there can never be a universally satisfying answer and therefore have moved on, or merely take for granted some orthodoxy and have become numb to its crtiques. I think this is why I was pleased to see the matter brought to light once more in historical context in Free Market.

An absorbing history that goes beyond the simple pro-or-con binary of much ideological debate about capitalism. Offers the disturbing insight that free market advocacy can be decoupled from basic belief in a free society.

Soll takes a very broad scope, taking economic thought and placing it in context of when, where, and by whom it was written. While a work of history, the exploration of the topic was interdisciplinary, looking at economic, sociological, religious, and political influences in how the concept evolved. When I first dove into this work, I wondered, generally speaking, if a history of economic thought could hold my interest over time, but I was honestly engaged and the connections Soll makes are both somehow both new and somewhat surprising, and plain to see. Soll’s connections to modern-day China in the beginning and ending were relevant, but also let me wondering how Eastern philosophies of economics and morality impacted China’s unique joining of both planned and free-market economies.

Deep And Fascinating Exposition Of The History Of An Idea. Soll is a Professor of History and Accounting, and I'm just a college grad who had ECON 101 as an 18 yo HS Senior / college freshman who then went on to discuss the Austrian/ Chicago schools of economics (Friedman, Hayak, von Mises (who actually does *not* get mentioned in this book, unlike the first two), etc) with various libertarian (of both "l" and "L" levels) fellow activists and Party officials, back in the former life where I did those things.

So I'm not going to debate the specifics of Soll's commentaries here, though I do think that there is room for those more dedicated to true pure free markets to do so - I'm just blatantly nowhere near qualified to do it. :)

What I *can* say about this book is that it truly is a deep and fascinating exposition of the history of economic thought regarding what a market is and how it does/ should operate. With von Mises being the only notable exception (discounting also economists who are still alive), Soll takes us on a journey from pre-history through Cicero and the beginning of the Roman Empire (and fall of the Roman Republic) to St Augustine to Machiavelli and the Italians into the rise of the Dutch and then England and France (where we eventually get... who else... Adam Smith... ;) ) and the other Enlightenment philosophers and from there to America and eventually through the post WWII era and into Keynes, Friedman, and Hayak. Entire libraries have been filled over the centuries talking about the lives and theories of many of these men, and Soll does a good job of showing their thoughts and how at times they were shaped by the world around these men while never delving so deep as to become a treatise specifically on any one person or their contributions to the field. He also manages to avoid most academic and professional economist terms and instead writes in a manner that is more easily accessible to most any reader with so much as a middle school/ high school level of historical knowledge.

Ultimately this is a book that seems destined to become required reading for many ECON 102/ 103 ish classes, and really should be read by anyone seeking to have a general understanding of one of the most discussed foundational issues in modern economics. Very much recommended.

The inextricably linked duo of “Free Market” and “The Invisible Hand”, are, arguably, solid contenders, for two of the most misinterpreted, miscomprehended, misapplied and mismanaged phrases in the lexicon of economics and political philosophy. Professor of Philosophy, History and Accounting at the University of Southern California, Jacob Soll, in his upcoming work “Free Market: The History of An Idea” makes a bold attempt to set the record straight by weaving a fascinating chronology of the events birthing the notion of free markets. The case of characters aiding Soll in his endeavour make up for an electric and eclectic mix. Franciscan monks, Roman Statesmen, English monarchs, French philosophers and Italian guild participants all joust and jostle with and against one another as they provide incremental shape to an idea that has held the imagination of an entire globe in literal thrall.

‘Free Markets’ begins with a rousing chapter on the thoughts and proclamations of Cicero, the renowned Roman statesman. Cicero was of the unshakeable belief that if men of privilege and stature focused on agriculture, and in the process, exchanged goods in a moralistic and righteous fashion, the markets would need no intervention and would function like clockwork thereby leading to a prosperous republic. The influence of Cicero’s works on Adam Smith, the pioneer of the “Invisible Hand” theory is unmissable.

Two centuries after Cicero was decapitated under the orders of Mark Antony and his head (along with his hands) nailed on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum, the free market theory was provided an eschatological twist, courtesy Saint Augustine. Bringing a distinctly Christian appeal to his economic thoughts, Saint Augustine decreed that there was a ‘higher power’ that regulated all wealth. All that was required for people transacting with one another was to ‘enter’ God’s system and fulfill the necessary exchange. God’s grace would take over the rest. The Franciscan monk Peter John Olivi foretold the law of diminishing marginal utility by proposing that increased access to and consumption of a good would lead to the product diminishing in value.

Soll’s book is a wonderful tapestry whose warp and woof is splendidly and contentedly discernible. The reader traipses along the less trodden path from the medieval to modern, but without the accompanying botherations of either fatigue or frustration. While Soll traces the journey of the free market idea by referring to the works of a plethora of lambent and ignominious personalities, the reader cannot but notice his undisguised admiration for Jean Baptiste Colbert, the Prime Minister of the eccentric Sun King of France, Louis XIV. Colbert’s philosophies and practices formed the precursor for the introduction of the field of development economics. Colbert’s State would assist commerce and industry attain a competitive edge. He was firm in his belief that for business to function unhindered, the internal market of France needed to be freed, and the necessary infrastructure constructed. Colbert’s unparalleled vision led to the establishment of industries such as the Gobelins tapestry works and the Saint- Gobain glassworks. Colbert also anticipated the now ubiquitous and sprawling Special Economic Zones by welcoming investors into France, luring them with state pay and even enticing them with the prospects of monopolies to commence new industries and introduce novel technologies.

Colbert’s works were published in his memoirs titled ‘Commercial Code.’ Co-authored with Jacques Savary, a trade expert, this stellar publication earned Colbert a relief portrait along with 23 of the great law givers in the gallery of the US House of Representatives. Colbert now shares rarefied space with the likes of Justinian, Lycurgus and Thomas Jefferson.

Before ending with an almost jeremiad of sorts that has at its epicentre, marauding free market mavens of the likes of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, Soll also gives his readers a sneak peek into the works of lesser known economists such as Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, and Jean Domat. Boisguilbert wedged the theory of pacifism into the machinery of free market by contending that conflicts created famines, eviscerated agriculture, exacerbated taxes, before undermining trade.

An economist guild titled the free market physiocrats, led by the fire brand French economist Francois Quesnay virulently railed against the advancement of industry by advocating the cause of agriculture. Quesnay, whose thoughts were echoed later on by a host of other economists such as Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and Adam Smith himself (with some variations) was a rabid agrarian advocate. Labelling merchants “idiots” and terming industry itself as “sterile”, Quesnay attempted to upend the wisdom of Colbert by proposing taxes on traders and exemptions from all levies for the farming community. Quesnay termed all nonagricultural products “destructive” and classified manufactured goods as falling under the ambit of a “sterile class”. Wholeheartedly concurring with the philosophy of Quesnay, Adam Smith opined that wealth stemmed from agriculture and the basis of any industrial wealth production was agricultural surplus.

Soll ends his book with a plea to exercise a great degree of common sense while furthering the cause of free markets. There is a need for private enterprises to work in tandem with the Government for the furtherance of any economy. Most industries would need state support in the form of government contracts, as was the case with Apple and Microsoft initially and social welfare programmes, the classic example of which being Amazon’s early use of the US Postal service and McDonald’s reliance on Medicaid.

Abhorring jargon and staying away from avoidable ‘econspeak’, “Free Market” is a compelling read for the expert and rustic alike

(Free Market: The History of an Idea by Jacob Soll is published by Basic Books and will be available for sale beginning 6th September 2022. Thank you Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy).

A very much needed corrective to the almost constant misunderstanding and mythmaking behind the free market, its history, its purpose and its applications. This book needs to be on a lot of bookshelves because so many people pretend they know something about this topic but do not. The free market and its history are one of the mostly sorely misunderstood subjects in our culture and discourse. College do not teach this well. Mr. Soll provides an excellent corrective here. It is a fascinating survey of the free market's rich intellectual history and how fundamental it is to human growth and happiness. Essential reading.