McMillan Ch. 1

1. I think that McMillan's most important characteristic of a market is the "hand" He really focuses on how a market would act with some form of control verses no control or in this case the control of God. What McMillan is arguing is that a free market will not function properly in today's economy without rules to help regulate it. "The problem in developing countries is not that markets are absent; it is that they are working badly (pg 14)." The way to fix the markets is through the Government either having it back off or make more rules. 

2. I have seen types of opinions that think markets are bad. I think people distrust markets because of the harm they cause to the individual. Some people will feel the effects of the market more than others will and when the market does not work well people tend to not trust it as much. Non-market action can be distrusted as well because of the lack of regulation and everything that is needed to help make transaction fair. Personally I like markets because they provide competition that helps to make products better for the buyers and helps the sellers sell their product to multiple buyers easily. 

3. I think that making sure there cannot be a monopoly in the market is a great rule. Monopolies hurt the buyers and if there are no more buyers then the market will start to fall apart. Also competition is great for the market because it helps to create innovation which is a big deal in furthering our society.