Social and Political Aspects
Anita Graf (agraf@agecon.uga.edu)
Wed, 7 Jul 1999 13:39:19 EST5EDT
David wrote:
> Maybe I'm just defending my chosen discipline, but I think economics is a useful
> way of lookin at things, and markets may be the best way to allocate resources
> Any thoughts?
>
Well, since you asked... Having found myself in this same funny
discipline as you, I am able to follow your sound logic and econ
jargon, and can very much appreciate the fact that you regard
yourself as a "frequent critic" of the profession. It is my
experience so far, that although economics can be used as an
excellent tool for understanding certain aspects of society (like
markets) and *should* be used to efficiently allocate resources, it
is often used in careless and dangerous ways. (For example,
externalized costs are rarely addressed.) It's sort of like the
discipline of statistics which should help us get at the truth but is
just as often employed to obfuscate it. We all have a remarkable way
of bending most types of evidence and academic tools until they
"prove" whatever it is we were hoping to prove -- especially in the
realm of social science. Like any tool, it is only as good as the
person employing it, which is why I think it is imperitive that
issues of ethics, spirituality and morality be discussed openly.
There is an ethical dimension to every decision we make, and only by
bringing this out of the closet (having been stashed behind the
cloaks of "objective" science) can we hope to make good use of any of
our tools. I guess what I'm saying is that there is no "biology"
without "social and political aspects." And to this I would add the
aspect of spirituality/morality. Anita
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