Dierdre McCloskey rightfully chides economists for 'prudence only' morality. With prudence only we would fall far short of the bourgeois, liberal virtues that she posits have made the world a richer and more peaceful place.
Here is 'prudence only' on full display, and everything that's wrong with it. Yes, it's better that Templeton can be persuaded to help Wilbur than that he can't, but we don't cheer for those who could save a life for free but do it only because they are paid, and we don't lament when others are suitably unimpressed. And sure, I guess all of the other animals on the farm are even bigger moral monsters--but this suggests that we're maybe trying to press an economics lesson from where one doesn't belong. It's a kid's book, not a Kafka novel.
We get into this mess through a vulgar intrusion of economic decision making into what McCloskey usefully calls "the sacred"--the parts of our morality that should be outside the realm of economic calculation. There's nothing peaceful about predatory commerce.
I must admit I am not overly familiar with McCloskey's work but what I have read is quite interesting and a lot easier to digest than a lot of economic papers that get lost in the details. Economists (more likely mathematicians posing as economists) too often focus on numbers rather than the implications of the numbers or the relative importance. Some economists go the other way and dismiss numbers and stick purely with qualitative. I strongly believe that both are wrong.
Mathematics should be a means to an end and not an end in itself. E.g. What does interest rate of 4% actually tell us? Another example is ordinal vs cardinal utility. Ordinal relies purely on ranking while cardinal relies on assigning values. By themselves, I would argue, neither are particularly helpful. I would love to go into more details but I don't want to turn this comment into a thesis. I am also heading out to watch 'Rampage' at the cinema. Sounds like an awesome movie.
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Sounds awesome, hope you enjoyed it. Fifty shades of grey is more my thing. I think we are both hoping @honeybee is actually Christian Grey.
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It was quite funny in places. The action was super extreme.
I really like the Harry Potter movies, I'm hoping @honeybee is Rubeus Hagrid. I know Steemit has a Voldemort and a Nagini, speak their names and receive a downvote.
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