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While laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate State action, subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not.

— Karl Polanyi The Great Transformation (1944)

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More quotes by Karl Polanyi

The economic system is, in effect, a mere function of social organization.

The Great Transformation (1944)

What we call land is an element of nature inextricably interwoven with man’s institutions. To isolate it and form a market for it was perhaps the weirdest of all the undertakings of our ancestors.

The Great Transformation (1944)

Such economic solipsism, as it might well be called, was indeed an outstanding feature of the market mentality. Economic action, it was deemed, was "natural" to men and was, therefore, self-explanatory.

The Livelihood of Man (1977)

Pauperism had become a portent. But its meaning was still anybody's guess.

The Great Transformation (1944)

Both the personnel and the motives of this singular body invested it with a status the roots of which were securely grounded in the private sphere of strictly commercial interest.

The Great Transformation (1944)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Karl Polanyi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.