“I give you the toast of the Royal Economic Society, of economics and economists, who are not of civilization, but of the possibility of civilization.” John Maynard Keynes, quoted in Dwight E. Robinson, ‘Economy and’ The possibility of civilization ” Four judgments, Quarterly Journal of Economics 67 (1), February 1953, pp. 50-75, p. 50
Look around you. You will undoubtedly see people doing things that don’t make much sense when you think about it. People of middle -aged (like me) want to talk about being healthy, but then (like me) still eat too often as if they are still in high school. People talk about wanting a job and don’t look for it. People wave. People throw things away could be recycled. There is homelessness. Jobs are mainly scarce for black teenagers. It seems that the world is not logical because it is filled with fools and knaves. As long as we could find the right strong man or woman who can do that Make a plan and let it work …
Much of that, I suspect, is the product of a price structure that rewards what seems to be foolishness and knaasy. If we get the prizes well, what looks “foolish” is not necessarily foolish, and what looks Knavish is perhaps relatively easy to explain.
Consider scattering. It drives me crazy: in the 1980s I transferred messages that told us that we should not waste or waste any energy or water. The fastest way to annoy me is to leave a room without turning off the light or run a tap for no perceptible goal. I hate People see the food throwing away, especially when I paid for it.
Why are people such illegal shocks? More specifically, why don’t they all do something I Do you want them to do if I want them to do it? Do they not realize that those like me know how to live better than them?
The mistake is not in our stars and only in ourselves. The mistake is mainly in our incentives.
I will not comment on what prizes do, how they work, etc. I have covered that before. Here Are just A few examples. I would rather emphasize an unintended social overflow of leaving the price mechanism: the erosion of the social fabric and the dissolution of the ties that make civilization possible. Take a look at your Facebook and Twitter Feeds. Check Nextdoor.com. You will see many messages that deny the selfishness or foolishness of others. We have long lines outside of gas stations because people are greedy and are only interested in themselves. People “don’t want to work anymore” because they are lazy. People support this or that foolish thing Du Jour Because they are fools.
However, we would often do well to ask about people’s stimuli. What stimulans do people have not To support the stupid thing? Campaign advertisements are clear examples of what Joseph Schumpeter meant by people who move to a lower level of mental performance when political questions are on the table. I followed Bryan Caplan when building a bit of a bubble that isolates me from political campaignsBut it is important to consider the stimuli of people when they ask why they vote as they do. Since a single mood will be extremely unlikely, we have very weak incentives to develop epistemically justified true beliefs about what is conducive to the public interest.
Instead, we trust intestinal reactions and simple heuristics. “Gosh, candidate Betty Blue wants to help the children! I also want to help the children! I vote for Betty Blue! “” Candidate Rhonda Red likes weapons? I also like weapons! I vote for Rhonda Red! “Schumpeter notes that people regularly enjoy thinking and consider” arguments “that they would rightly reject in just about any other context.
Our family spends a lot of time in the evening park of Birmingham. Like every city park there is a bit of a nest problem. It doesn’t have to be because people throw carefully beer cans in the grass when they are ready. On busy days or at the weekend (especially during the baseball season of the youth), waste cans and everything that is light enough to be blown away in the grass, the forest or the pond. Firstly, people are confronted with little social sanction for litter in the park. The police are never there and few people want to be the self -proclaimed nest police.
The same happens when people feed ducks and geese in the park. There are huge signs with photos of ducks that say: “Thanks for not feeding our bread”, and explained that it makes the animals sick and contributes to the green excerpt that makes the park pond bad and looks worse. Of course it is common to see people who feed the local nature bread, crackers or other non-bird-friendly foods.
Compare this with Disney World or just about any other theme park. It is probably cleaner, and because the park owners have a clear stimulus to keep the animals healthy, they probably have dedicated staff to remind people (always with a smile!) That we do not feed the animals. I know I don’t want to be the nest or bread police. Maybe I just have to bring some bird seeds or something.
The social matter frays when we do not have clear, well -defined stimuli and institutions. We turn against each other and see our guys as fools and knaves when they only respond predictably to the incentives. John Maynard Keynes roasted famous “the economists” as “the managers not of civilization, but of the possibility of civilization. “Insight into the role of stimuli, institutions and information is a way we do that.