If this election is to be a national vote on the role of government versus markets to advance our nation’s wellbeing – as pundits suggest it is – it’s best that we step back to discuss what markets can and cannot do. In the process we will hopefully remember that we all benefit from a vibrant private sector and that government plays a vital role in its creation. Economists rightly applaud the role of markets and price in particular as the invisible hand that aligns demand and supply. Compare the economies of West Berlin and East Berlin before the fall of the USSR and you can see the power of price and free markets versus a planned economy in creating an economy that responds to people’s needs. Yes there is beauty in the invisible hand, and it generates significant national wealth. But the…