Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tells the story of the conservative economists espousing free market and deregulatory policies during the four decades between 1969 and 2008. Leading figures such as Milton Friedman, Arthur Laffer, Walter Oi, Alfred Kahn, and Thomas Schelling believed that government should stop trying to manage the economy, and that markets would deliver steady growth and ensure that all Americans shared in the benefits. But, Applelbaum argues, these policies failed to deliver on their promise of broad prosperity, and the singleminded embrace of markets has come at the expense of economic equality, the health of liberal democracy, and future generations.