Rethinking Rationale for Planning

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a noticeable rise in anti-planning sentiment. Conservative thinkers such as George Guilder wrote about the supremacy of market mechanism and argued for futileness of public intervention. In the real world of politics and policy making Ronald Reagan championed this trend by slashing various domestic programs and supporting privatization of government services. The emphasis on private market approach has been extended to other nations as well. The Reagan government has actively pursued the idea of privatization abroad through its foreign aid system U.S.A.I.D. While their intention to reduce waste in the public sector is noble, a blinded opposition to planing and public intervention in a market democracy is misleading and possibly dysfunctional. The approach could seriously hurt the overall welfare of the people. In an age of reactions, planners need to be strongly equipped with the fundamental rationale for planning. In this article I will present the most essential reasons why even the most democratic and free society is in need of planning for social welfare.