Nonetheless, during the 1980s, when the ideological climate favoured market economics, considerable privatization was initiated, government economic intervention was reduced, and the welfare state was restructured.
The practical point of his treatise on economics was to urge this restrained, modest approach to economic intervention on governing officials.
In his interview, Mr. Gore was similarly vague about his standards for economic intervention.
This Tuesday George Osborne will make arguably his most significant economic intervention since the austerity budget of June 2010.
"Sustained recovery would appear to hinge on structural reforms," it said, adding that an important element "is regulatory reform, particularly to reduce economic intervention in several sectors".
But he did take exception to the contention that Lincoln, through reading the work of Henry Carey and others, believed in federal economic intervention.
A decision to tell some businesses what services they may offer and other businesses from whom they can buy services is an extraordinary economic intervention.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made a valiant effort to put a positive spin on the unprecedented emergency economic intervention, entitling it "reinvest, reimburse, reform".
Behavioral economics should complement, not substitute for, more substantive economic interventions.
This implies that economic interventions can generate all sorts of unforeseeable consequences.
Moreover, economic interventions typically harm some while benefitting others, and the losers are rarely fully compensated.
