Donald Luzzatto, the editorial page editor of The Virginian-Pilot, had a really nice column about both me and my new book, The Surprising Design of Market Economies. A really nice summary of the book and of me, and he drew links between economic and religious thinking that was stimulating. Check out the column here. The Virginian-Pilot is my hometown newspaper and where I worked as a reporter for a decade.

Julia Vitullo-Martin, in the newsletter I edit, had a great piece about cities that take big approaches to the business of food, making themselves even more into food cities. London, Portland and others have done this. Should New York? Check it outhere, in Spotlight on the Region of the Regional Plan Association. 

The piece dovetailed with an excellent piece this morning by New York Times’ Mark Bittman about establishing a new City Market, ala Pike Place or Barcelona’s covered market, down on Fulton Street. This is such a great idea. I would sacrifice much to see this happen.

all corporations are not cities. What’s this all about? Read here, in this column of mine on the subject in Citiwire. This draws from my new book, The Surprising Design of Market Economies

I’ve got a nice set of speaking engagements lined up. Here’s the schedule. 5/ 3/12 – 3:00 pm. Speak at Hannam University in Daejeon 5/3/12 – 6 pm. Speak at Hannam University 5/7/12 (1:30 pm) Speak at Hannam University. 5/8/12 – 3 pm. Choongbuk University. 5/9/12 (noon) Visit to Audit and Inspection Research Institute in Seoul. 5/10/12 (4 pm) Lecture at Korea Research Institute for Local Administration, Seoul Development Institute 5/11/12 (2 pm) Lecture and panel at Center for Global Transport Cooperation, The Korea Transport Institute(KOTI), in Seoul

I really enjoy speaking. Here are some of the talks I like to give. I am pleased to be planning a speaking tour in South Korea in May 2012. Stay tuned for dates and locations…

My latest book, The Surprising Design of Market Economies, will be published in 2012 by University of Texas Press. I’ve been working on this baby for quite a few years. Sign up for a free bonus chapter and to be notified when the book is available for purchase. Here’s how my publisher is describing the book:

The “free market” has been a hot topic of debate for decades. Proponents tout it as a cure-all for just about everything that ails modern society, while opponents blame it for the very same ills. But the heated rhetoric obscures one very important, indeed fundamental, fact—markets don’t just run themselves; we create them.

Starting from this surprisingly simple, yet often ignored or misunderstood fact, Alex Marshall takes us on a fascinating tour of the fundamentals that shape markets and, through them, our daily economic lives. He debunks the myth of the “free market,” showing how markets could not exist without governments to create the structures through which we assert ownership of property, real and intellectual, and conduct business of all kinds. Marshall also takes a wide-ranging look at many other structures that make markets possible, including physical infrastructure ranging from roads and railroads to water systems and power lines; mental and cultural structures such as common languages and bodies of knowledge; and the international structures that allow goods, services, cash, bytes, and bits to flow freely around the globe.

Sure to stimulate a lively public conversation about the design of markets, this broadly accessible overview of how a market economy is constructed will help us create markets that are fairer, more prosperous, more creative, and more beautiful.

For the past few years, more than I care to count, I’ve been working on a book about what like to call The Design of Markets. The way I figure it, the economic markets we typically refer to are not “natural,” but are designed, largely by government. This is easiest to see with something like the Patent system, which is obviously designed and set up by government. But it’s also true with things like corporations and even basic property rights. I would like to start a more open conversation about this, and thus this book. It will be published by The University of Texas Press, which published my first book, How Cities Work. Now I’ve just got to finish it . . . . If you have info, views or tips that you think might help, pass them my way. You can reach me by going to the “contact me” page at my website.