Roots of the Financial Crisis; The Role of Government Policy

摘要

To some observers, the continuing struggles in U.S. markets, and mounting demands for higher spending and deeper government involvement, have signaled an even more fundamental transition for Americas economy: the twilight of the free-market system itself. An analysis in The Washington Post gave an early account of the sentiment: The hands-off brand of capitalism in the United States is now being blamed for the easy credit that sickened the housing market and allowed a freewheeling Wall Street to create a pool of toxic investments that has infected the global financial system. Heavy intervention by the government, critics say, is further robbing Washington of the moral authority to spread the gospel of laissez-faire capitalism. This perspective, however, ignores the various ways government itself set the stage for the financial crisis that has played out this year. Although failures among private-sector actors and institutions were significant, the roots of the financial crisis can be traced to flawed government policies. For that matter, the housing sector where most of the difficulties started is hardly the kind of unbridled market the term laissez-faire suggests: it has substantial government components, including the financial and regulatory roles of large government agencies. In short, the current crisis reflects not a failure of the capitalist system, but the ways in which government distorted the functioning of private markets.