From the late 1970s, the laissez-faire wing took control. It did a few welcome things. In some areas, the market was a better provider of services than the state, in others a certain degree of deregulation was welcome. But it did not limit itself to those areas and in fact did not show any real interest in assessing the matter in individual cases. It was akin to a religious mission, a deep-seated belief that the market was always best. It was the reverse face of communism: a zealous commitment to the market in all things, as the solution to all problems. This proposition was simplistic and the
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