Book Review

That's Not What We Meant to Do: Reform and Its Unintended Consequences in Twentieth-Century America by Steven M. Gillon

Gillon Should Learn Some Economics

JULY 01, 2001 by PHILIP MURRAY

The art of economics, as Henry Hazlitt might put it, is to uncover the unanticipated effects of an act. In "That's Not What We Meant to Do," historian Steven M. Gillon details the history of five federal acts. He states, "My goal is fairly modest: to tell a few stories of how unintended consequences occur, to speculate about their significance, and to inspire more research and discussion about this often mentioned but infrequently explored theme."