Some Fun with Evolution & Economics
Why is economics the 'dismal science' ?
The Dismal Science - extrapolating doom & gloom to apocalypse now!
Thomas Carlyle was writing in support of slavery when he coined the term 'dismal science'. He believed -
'it is unwise to have a situation where supply & demand is the all sufficient substitute for command'
It was kowtowing to market forces which he (and many others) found 'dismal'.
Many assumed he was writing about the pessimistic predictions of Malthus and population growth but his real gripe was the apparent way economics undermined human choice. Free trade economists were putting the sugar barons on the slave plantations out of business, by increasing the cost of labour and removing protective tariffs. But was the debate about protectionism & free trade really about intelligent design and natural selection? ... wouldn't it be nice if we could override supply & demand and design our own future? ...
Belief in intelligent design is not confined to religious fundamentalists, it can be applied to all Soothsayers who believe in a supernatural capacity to manipulate the future. It is the plausible assumption underpinning of much of the 'Standard Social Science Model' and mainstream neo-classical economics - the assumption of rational purposeful intentional planning, of 'rational calculating economic man' ...
But economic reality can be very different ... when we come to the fork in the road how do we know whether to go right or left? Imitating yesterday's success is a good place to start ... but even if that can figured out ... the numbers are prone to change ... that wretched 2nd law again? ...
There are fundamental truths about all decisions -
nobody can foresee the future unintended consequences and
nobody knows how other folk will respond to them ...
... the only way to proceed is by trial & error ... a dismal prospect?
Evolutionary economics analyses the unleashing of a process of technological & institutional innovation by generating & testing a diversity of ideas which discover & accumulate more survival value for the costs incurred than competing alternatives.
Evolution seems to have been going on since the big bang at the latest ( ! ) and the explanatory power of evolutionary economics can be applied quite generally, exposing the improbability of the supernatural magic that some folk call intelligent design.
Perhaps intelligent design is really about exciting experiments in the imagination? Now that is fun!
So the fun way to survive is to generate & test, discover & accumulate ... and discard the failures ... and thus adapt? Individual discovery and social accumulation of tricks is quite uplifting and far too exciting to be described as dismal!
Here are some stories and some personal polemics for you to argue about - use your imagination!
Education - the apapa generators - did my own education start under the soap pans in Apapa? - or from a family tradition of education & compound interest?
Decision Making - mitochondrial eve - how on earth do you choose a wife? - a light hearted look at decision making - the story turns out to be about adaptation not intelligent design ...
Trade & Technology - ricardo's friends - does trade & technology explain economic prosperity? - some fun with unlikely cooperative gains - it seems that specialisation is necessary for synergy ...
Freedom & Democracy - tommy jeffers - was freedom & democracy invented? - another implausible tale about the downfall of intelligent design - larger groups have big advantages but only if you can stop them falling apart - it seems cunning protection from parasites & predators is necessary for economies of scale ...
Cooperation & Trust - adam the smith - crickey Adam Smith was a moral philosopher at my old university - he wrote about 'moral sentiments' ... is there an internal moral logic to evolution? - can tort law evolve? - can complex chemistry really distinguish between good & evil? - it seems Dickie Dawkins opened a Pandora's Box in 1976 ...
Deep Cultural History - joe sixpack - what is distinctive about Anglo Saxon culture? - evidence for the evolution of culture may lie in deep deep history - a curious tale of Joe's ancient ancestors may throw new light on the mists of history where 'stuff happened' - maybe you have to go far far back back and think think if you are to cotton on ...
Emergence - emergent puzzles - do you believe in Evolution? - to really get you thinking - does the whole perplexing 'shebang' really evolve?
Self Consciousness - intelligent design - what is deliberate rational purposeful intentional planning? - plans aren't what they seem to be - an outrageous example of the arrogance of megalomaniacs, tax & spend and red tape - adaptation requires diversity, choice, failure and growth in populations ...
Questions of Time - gardens of forking paths - fun with labyrinths & evolutionary metaphors? - central to economics is the thorny problem of human decision making in time - Jorge Luis Borges' weird story introduces an interesting metaphor - but does it help? ...
Science & Religion - the kelsall pulpit - can evolutionary economic analysis help explain magic, myths & illusions? - a few cryptic notes about science & religion ...
Cultural Tit for Tat - war in iraq - why get our knickers in a twist over culture? - some more provocative notes on evolutionary economic analysis ...
Thermodynamics - james watt - can steam engines really evolve? - fundamental science is sometimes stranger than fiction ...
Money & Banking - creative destruction - is the emotional flip flopping of excitement & fear in the business cycle a Darwinian process of diversity & competition? - differential survival is hard to take ...