Majorities in most countries continue to support the free market system, but over the last two years support has eroded in 10 of 18 countries regularly polled by GlobeScan. In several countries this drop in support has been quite sharp.
The latest polling was completed before the current stock market volatility that began
earlier this year.
Back in 2005 only one country polled—France—had more citizens disagreeing than agreeing with the statement that “the free enterprise system and free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world.”
Displacing France as the least supportive of the free market system today is Turkey where approval of the free market system has plunged from 47 percent in 2005 to 34 percent now, while opposition has risen from 36 to 41 percent.
Support for free markets has also dropped 15 points in South Korea since 2005, though a majority (55%) continue to be supportive. Opposition there has jumped 20 points from 19 to 39 percent.
Support among Chileans is also down 14 points since 2003 when Chileans were last polled on this question.
Support in other countries is down by more modest though significant numbers: China (down 9 points), Britain (7 points), Brazil (7 points), Mexico (6 points), and Kenya (6 points).
The one country to show upward movement in agreement with the free market system is France—up five points. However, more continue to disagree (45%) than agree (41%).
The GlobeScan poll of 9,357 people worldwide also found that large numbers continue to look to their government to take a strong hand in regulating the market. In 17 of the 18 countries a majority (15 countries) or a plurality (two countries) agreed that “the free enterprise system and the free market system work best in society’s interest when accompanied by strong government regulation.”
Interestingly, supporters of the free market show more enthusiasm for a strongly regulated free market system than critics. Among those who agree that the free market system is the best system, three-quarters also agree that it works best with strong government regulation.
Those who are not enthusiastic about the free market system are divided as to whether it works best with government regulation.
At the same time agreement with this proposition, while still averaging 62 percent across all countries polled, is down in ten countries. This appears to be related to the drop in confidence in the free market system. Among the ten countries for which
there was a drop in agreement with the proposition that the free market system works best with strong regulation, six of them also had a significant drop in support for the free market system, and only one had an increase.
Interestingly, three countries that in 2005 were among the four highest in support for the free market system—China, the Philippines, and South Korea—showed substantial increases in agreement with the idea that the market works best with
regulation.
Also, this new poll from Pew shows Americans are continuing to shift their support away from the current neoliberal 'free' trade policies of our government, which is heartening to see (h/t SirotaBlog).
Update (5/1): For more on the limits of markets in general, check out this book review by economist James Gailbraith in the Washington Monthly back in March 2001. He reviews "Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness" by James Arnt Aune.
Update II: Another helpful resource on this important topic is this interview of TAP Editor Robert Kuttner by The Atlantic. Kuttner's book on the subject, "Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets" qualifies as mandatory reading for those who want to understand the very real downsides to out-of-control capitalism and an unregulated free market to be used for all human transactions . . .
0 comments:
Post a Comment