Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite and the post-Keynesian economics of football

Ronaldo, Kaka and Keynes - a dream galacticos front line. The notion that this summer's transfer market has been blighted by a sporting equivalent of stagflation is addressed elsewhere in this blog. At the same time, Sepp Blatter has spoken of the need for regulation of the transfer market, while in yesterday's edition of The Guardian newspaper Matt Scott wrote about '[sport's] contribution to the Keynesian fight against recession.' All we need now is for Michel Platini to call for quantitative easing in football. Are any comparisons that one can draw between national and international economies, and the current state of the player transfer market, correct, appropriate and helpful? Can football learn anything from the way in which authorities across the world have dealt with the global economic crisis? In which case, is an interventionist approach similar to that advocated by John Maynard Keynes the best way to deal with the transfer market's problems? Or is a more laissez-faire, Friedmanite approach a better way of addressing football's difficulties? And what about quantitative easing - is an equivalent measure such a silly idea? Could a form of quantitative easing re-establish fairness, equity and balance in the transfer market? If so, who should do the easing and how should it be done?