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发自芝加哥——各个自由民主国家在二战后所取得的经济成就可不仅仅是放任市场蓬勃发展的结果。欧美洲国家也将各类市场嵌入到了一个允许人们充分利用它们的架构中。然而这一架构已经陷入崩溃并为左右两翼民粹主义领导人打了鸡血。虽然这些人都提出了正确的问题,但却很少能拿出正确的答案。也许他们应当反过来让人们更便利地去创设自己的解决方案。
那么这套战后架构为何又会崩溃了呢?在战后初期,美国拥有一个强大的中等教育体系来为学生将来参加工作或者进入世界上最好的大学深造做好了准备。学生们在刚加入劳动力队伍时就已经具备能找到好工作的相关技能。经济的快速增长以及相对宽松的监管又促使许多人开办自己的企业。灵活的劳动力市场政策允许下岗工人迅速在其他地方找到工作。在此情况下就算经济衰退也是轻微而短暂的。
也正是美国人通过教育系统所获得的优质“出社会前”准备以及人们手中的众多经济机遇使得美国能够以相对有限的社会保护措施来应对市场波动。失业保险没有多少钱,许多人连医疗保险都没买——即便是在1960年代为老年人和穷人推出了由联邦政府拨款支持的保险计划之后。
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