Jonathan Rowe – Page 7 – Jonathan Rowe

Why Economists Are So Often Wrong

What is called “economics” is really psychology on steroids. It starts with a model of human nature and extrapolates an entire scenario for how the world works from that. The model is homo economicus,the myopic protoganist of the economics texts. This hypothetical person has no social affinities, no lapses of judgment or hang-ups, no capacity even for thinking about anyone besides him or herself. He goes through life with an unfailing and relentless calculus of personal loss and gain.

As I explained in the first part of this essay, The Tragedy of Economics this portrayal of our basic nature did not arise from actual inquiry. Homo economicus was from the beginning a polemical construct, devised to serve political ends. At first this was to help undermine the secular authority of the Roman Church, and then the divine right of kings. More recently it has served to justify a fundamentalism of what is called “the market.” Along the way, it has provided economists with the semblance of a predictable atom of economic activity. This has enabled them to declaim under the banner of “science,” and has given them a hook on which to hang their arcane math.

The Tragedy of Economics: Market Theory Vs. Human Nature

When Jimmy Wales, a refugee from options trading, set out to create an encyclopedia online, he thought first of the Britanica model, except with volunteers. He assigned articles to professional experts, and established panels for peer reviews. Then he started to write one himself – on options trading – and realized it was a drag.

It was like “handing in an essay at grad school,” he said later. So Wales shifted gears. He kept the volunteer model; but made it an open and social experience rather than a hierarchical one. Anyone could write an entry, on anything. The peer reviewers would be the readers themselves, who could correct factual errors and omissions, and challenge biases.

A Local Hero

When I was in college there was a member of the Boston City Council by the name of Christopher Iannella. He was not always what you might call a fount … More

Smart funny lady: Emily Levine coming to Point Reyes Station

I’ve never asked. But I suspect that Emily Levine, when she was little, used to brood over questions that no one could answer. What is at the end of the … More

Our Phony Economy

Suppose that the head of a federal agency came before this committee and reported with pride that agency employees had burned 10 percent more calories at work last year than they did the year before. Not only that–they had spent 10 percent more money too. I have a feeling you would want to know more. What were these employees doing when they burned those calories? What did they spend that money on? Most important, what were the results? Expenditure is a means, not an end, and to assess the health of an agency, or system, you need to know what it has accomplished, not just how much motion it has generated and money it has spent. The point seems obvious, yet Congress ignores it every day when it talks about “the economy.” The administration and the media do it, too. Every time you say that “the economy” is up, or that you want to “stimulate” it, you are urging more expenditure and motion without regard to what that expenditure is and what it might accomplish, and without regard to what it might crowd out or displace in the process.

On Thneeds and Needs: Why a Footbridge Matters

Today I received an anonymous email with talking points for opponents of the proposed footbridge to connect the wetlands path to Inverness Park. The contents suggest that the debate already … More

From Raising Hell to Raising Barns

There is something to be said for writing in a hostile political environment. You can’t coast on prevailing opinion. You have to use your wits.

This is one reason Texas has produced some of the most arresting progressive voices of the last generation. Working against the state’s Rightward flow, they have harkened to its populist tradition. They are funny and a little outrageous. They have swagger, and tell stories.

The Bridge and the Transition Zone – Part 2

It is tricky, this “nature” business. When we talk about it we are talking about ourselves, in more ways than one. (Mark Dowie explored the question evocatively on these pages, … More

The Bridge and the Transition Zone

When I walk down Mesa Road towards town these days, I pass the new wetlands where the dairy farm used to be. One morning not long ago, the scene morphed … More

The Gross Domestic Product

Testimony of Jonathan Rowe
Co-director of the West Marin Commons
Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade and Tourism
March 12, 2008

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Let’s suppose that the head of a federal agency came before this committee and reported with pride that agency employees had burned 10% more calories in the workplace than they did the year before. Not only that – they had spent 10% more money too.

I have a feeling you would want to know more. What were these employees doing when they burnt those calories? What did they spend that money on? Most important, what were the results? Expenditure is a means not an end; and to assess the health of an agency, or system, or whatever, you need to know what it has accomplished, not just how much motion it has generated and money it has spent. . The point seems obvious. Yet Congress does this very thing every day, and usually many times a day, when it talks about this thing called “the economy.” The administration and the media do it too. Every time you say that the “economy” is up, or that you want to “stimulate” it, or get it going again, or whatever words you use, this is what you actually are saying. You are urging more expenditure and motion without regard to what that expenditure is and what it might accomplish – and without regard to what it might crowd out or displace in the process.