The crisis of (confidence in) global capitalism

In The Crisis of Global Capitalism, George Soros claims that the internatio nal financial economy is inherently unstable, and that while economists hav e failed to recognize this because of their commitment to static equilibriu m theory, politicians have failed to stabilize the global economy because o f their commitment to an unquestioned faith in the complete efficiency of l aissez faire. While Soros is right to argue that market participants' expec tations about the future can cause instability, he is wrong to maintain tha t this has gone unrecognized by economists, and his notion that ive live in a world of economic laissez faire is equally mistaken. Indeed, his own ana lysis of the Asian financial crisis points to the "moral hazard" created by expectations of government intervention, rather than to laissez faire, as the culprit.