Was it remarkable that George Osborne rejected laissez-faire economics in his speech yesterday? A CoffeeHouser, Marcus Cotswell, asks why I didn’t pick up on it in my summary yesterday. It is a very good point, and perhaps one worth addressing in a post rather than a comment. The Tories have never, ever believed in laissez-faire – this was a Liberal policy, a product of late Victorian politics. But the phrase is now said to caricature and attack the right (like “trickle-down economics” and “Washington consensus” etc). As Adam Smith observed, businessmen tend to collude with each other – you need laws and regulations to stop them. It’s a basic tenet of functioning capitalism. And as for Conservatism? This is one of Thatcher’s favourite topics, so I’ll yield the floor to the Lady.
“Contrary to what is often asserted, we are not and never have been a party of ‘laissez faire,’ i.e.
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