"If morality represents how people would like the world to work,then economics shows how it actually does work."(Levitt&Dubner-Freakonomics-A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.)
I picked this book up today and was refreshed to learn that not all economists are hamstrung by conventional wisdom(or shall we say officially sanctioned misinformation) and as such not all are trapped in a daily cycle of explaining why yesterday's predictions weren't realised, right before giving a whole new load of predictions for tomorrow-much like channel 10's Tim Bailey armed with a degree and an(even greater) inflated sense of self importance.Steven Levitt seeks to peel away the layers of superficial econo-jargon and delve directly deeper to the incentives and disincentives that govern the way we as individuals set about getting what we need and want.He argues that the major problem with conventional economic thinking is that while there are so many answers to be gained by scrutinising economic data,nobody seems to coming up with any interesting questions.
Give this book a crack people-it'll get you thinking(about greedy fat cats who are getting away with murder simply because we allow it).
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2 comments:
short of dispossessing them them all at gunpoint....i think one of the first steps is to reduce the assymetry of access to information that these greedy bastards enjoy-then its my guess that as the uninformed become less ignorant,the less they will be able to be preyed upon by so-called experts who withhold information;lawyers,real estate agents and other bluffers who pretend to act on behalf of the best interests of their clients whilst ruthlessly pursuing their own incentives.
it seems to me that a workable substitute for money as the vehicle of distribution of resources needs to be found as well.perhaps trading in hours and minutes instead of dollars and cents-with the value of an hour directly correlating with the net service worth to the public interest???....
all well and good in theory...then the question of how rears its unavoidable head...
Here's a twist for you. Isn't it just possible that economic growth does actually reward society in the long run? That some povery stricken nations actually do rise out of squalor to develop utility that can be shared, albeit inevitably unequally to some extent? Can we always blame economists for market failures such as the failure of strong and wise leadership in developing countries (e.g. Zimbabwe, the Congo etc.)?
Shall we strip ourselves down to our bare humanity and live a life of self subsistence? Do you really think human nature can be subjected to such simplicity?
Within our collective conscious there lies a beast. This beast, off the leash, seeks to perpetuate itself and spread its own name, or reputation among society. (It is possible this may be the very beast that drives the creation of this blog). It craves attention and collects items, builds skyscrapers and other monuments to itself in order to feed an insatiable appetite. It wants to be stimulated. It has reached the top of the food chain and subjected nature to its will. What next?
But therein also lies the beauty of humanity, with all it can create and invent and our quest for knowledge, innovation and creation. Can we truly have one without the other?
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