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| Templates for an economic ‘church’ that does not exploit selfishness | Templates for an economic ‘church’ that does not exploit selfishness |
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| Letters | |
| Thu 13 Jul 2017 18.34 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 20.13 GMT | |
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| John Rapley quotes the belief of Nobel laureates George Akerlof and Robert Shiller that “storytelling is a ‘new variable’ for economics, since ‘the material frames that underlie people’s decisions’ are shaped by the stories they tell themselves” (Greed is God, 11 July). Rapley refers to one story that the “comfortable” tell themselves about their privileged existence being the “reward of life in a meritocratic society”. Raoul Martinez in his Creating Freedom counters that story with a far more convincing one. | John Rapley quotes the belief of Nobel laureates George Akerlof and Robert Shiller that “storytelling is a ‘new variable’ for economics, since ‘the material frames that underlie people’s decisions’ are shaped by the stories they tell themselves” (Greed is God, 11 July). Rapley refers to one story that the “comfortable” tell themselves about their privileged existence being the “reward of life in a meritocratic society”. Raoul Martinez in his Creating Freedom counters that story with a far more convincing one. |
| Rapley then quotes the American economist Wassily Leontief, also counselling against the dangers of self-satisfaction, calling for economists “to work more closely with other disciplines”. Kate Raworth in Doughnut Economics does just that, offering, for example, a lovely quotation from Janine Benyus, “a leading thinker and doer in the field of biomimicry” who writes: “We are big-brained animals, but we are newcomers on this planet, so we are still acting like toddlers expecting Mother Nature to clean up after us.” And the wonderful storyteller Naomi Klein concludes her No Is Not Enough with: “Here is what needs to be understood in our bones: the spell of neoliberalism has been broken, crushed under the weight of lived experience and a mountain of evidence.” | Rapley then quotes the American economist Wassily Leontief, also counselling against the dangers of self-satisfaction, calling for economists “to work more closely with other disciplines”. Kate Raworth in Doughnut Economics does just that, offering, for example, a lovely quotation from Janine Benyus, “a leading thinker and doer in the field of biomimicry” who writes: “We are big-brained animals, but we are newcomers on this planet, so we are still acting like toddlers expecting Mother Nature to clean up after us.” And the wonderful storyteller Naomi Klein concludes her No Is Not Enough with: “Here is what needs to be understood in our bones: the spell of neoliberalism has been broken, crushed under the weight of lived experience and a mountain of evidence.” |
| These eminently readable books offer frame-shaping joyful stories for summer reading. Not heavy, just inspiring.John AirsLiverpool | These eminently readable books offer frame-shaping joyful stories for summer reading. Not heavy, just inspiring.John AirsLiverpool |
| • John Rapley misses the point. As we show in our book Who Needs the Cuts: Myths of Economic Crisis, economics has lost its origins in moral philosophy. Adam Smith was, in fact, professor of moral philosophy, and from Bentham, Mill, Malthus, Pareto and right up to Keynes, economists sought basic principles not in money but in social ethics. Marx was, of course, the most prominent example. Leading contemporary economists (we would exclude such as Stiglitz, Sen and Krugman) put money first and then make their peace with the kind of society that unfolds – often at one with resulting inequities. Rapley is wrong. It is precisely the loss of spiritual, ethical and moral concerns that defines the modern pathology that is economics. Saville Kushner Emeritus professorBarry Kushner Labour councillor | • John Rapley misses the point. As we show in our book Who Needs the Cuts: Myths of Economic Crisis, economics has lost its origins in moral philosophy. Adam Smith was, in fact, professor of moral philosophy, and from Bentham, Mill, Malthus, Pareto and right up to Keynes, economists sought basic principles not in money but in social ethics. Marx was, of course, the most prominent example. Leading contemporary economists (we would exclude such as Stiglitz, Sen and Krugman) put money first and then make their peace with the kind of society that unfolds – often at one with resulting inequities. Rapley is wrong. It is precisely the loss of spiritual, ethical and moral concerns that defines the modern pathology that is economics. Saville Kushner Emeritus professorBarry Kushner Labour councillor |
| • “Economics … moves in cycles,” writes John Rapley. So too should money, the lifeblood of the economy. The problem is that the government has had its rightful place at the heart of the economy supplanted by powerful elite members directing money to select parts of the economy, withering other parts through deficit and causing economic imbalance. | • “Economics … moves in cycles,” writes John Rapley. So too should money, the lifeblood of the economy. The problem is that the government has had its rightful place at the heart of the economy supplanted by powerful elite members directing money to select parts of the economy, withering other parts through deficit and causing economic imbalance. |
| If the government were to regain its cardinal position to direct the flow of money to all parts of the nation and receive it back again by taxation, it could nourish the whole country and abolish a great number of taxes. This could be achieved, in the main, by an excess wealth tax on corporations and individuals and a basic universal citizen’s income.Geoff NaylorWinchester, Hampshire | If the government were to regain its cardinal position to direct the flow of money to all parts of the nation and receive it back again by taxation, it could nourish the whole country and abolish a great number of taxes. This could be achieved, in the main, by an excess wealth tax on corporations and individuals and a basic universal citizen’s income.Geoff NaylorWinchester, Hampshire |
| • I once researched some American writers who had been influenced by Henry George and discovered that his “single tax” on land values was considered a heresy among “proper economists”. As John Rapley remarks, Milton Friedman was then “one of the most influential economists of the late 20th century” but his belief that the single tax on land values was “the least bad tax” went unnoticed by admirers Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and their countries subsequently suffered near terminal property price crashes.DBC ReedNorthampton | • I once researched some American writers who had been influenced by Henry George and discovered that his “single tax” on land values was considered a heresy among “proper economists”. As John Rapley remarks, Milton Friedman was then “one of the most influential economists of the late 20th century” but his belief that the single tax on land values was “the least bad tax” went unnoticed by admirers Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and their countries subsequently suffered near terminal property price crashes.DBC ReedNorthampton |
| • John Rapley’s comparison of economics with religion omits one interesting detail. The University of Chicago’s department of economics is now based in what was previously the university’s theological seminary. I wondered when I walked past whether the chapel had been converted into a shrine for Milton Friedman, but it appears to be a student common room.William WallaceLiberal Democrat, House of Lords | • John Rapley’s comparison of economics with religion omits one interesting detail. The University of Chicago’s department of economics is now based in what was previously the university’s theological seminary. I wondered when I walked past whether the chapel had been converted into a shrine for Milton Friedman, but it appears to be a student common room.William WallaceLiberal Democrat, House of Lords |
| • As I read John Rapley’s essay I kept wondering: “When will he speak of the 2009 Nobel economics prize winner, the late Prof Elinor Ostrom?” | • As I read John Rapley’s essay I kept wondering: “When will he speak of the 2009 Nobel economics prize winner, the late Prof Elinor Ostrom?” |
| I wondered in vain. Why was her work, so based upon society and the altruism that is built into respected institutions, not seen as the template for an economic “church” that did not exploit selfishness?Robin Le MareAllithwaite, Cumbria | I wondered in vain. Why was her work, so based upon society and the altruism that is built into respected institutions, not seen as the template for an economic “church” that did not exploit selfishness?Robin Le MareAllithwaite, Cumbria |
| • Your long read, an edited extract of John Rapley’s Twilight of the Money Gods, prompts a consideration of neoliberal economics. Essentially, free markets are always right, once you have decided that the general population is entirely dispensable. As the Aztecs decided centuries ago, human sacrifice makes the world go around.Martin London Henllan, Denbighshire | • Your long read, an edited extract of John Rapley’s Twilight of the Money Gods, prompts a consideration of neoliberal economics. Essentially, free markets are always right, once you have decided that the general population is entirely dispensable. As the Aztecs decided centuries ago, human sacrifice makes the world go around.Martin London Henllan, Denbighshire |
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| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
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