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The Tragic Science
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The Tragic Science

How Economists Cause Harm (Even as They Aspire to Do Good)

George F. DeMartino
University of Chicago Press, 2022
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Professor George F. DeMartino notes that economists often reach conclusions about how to handle thorny and all-encompassing problems, like climate change, despite the many uncertainties and unknowns that the issues present. That leads to advice and actions that can cause real harm to societies and individuals. This academic study draws attention to the damage that economic policy can do, and it provides some wise pointers for practitioners of the dismal science.

Summary

The “moral geometry” approach favored by economists allows all harms to be measured against each other and all benefits.

A central role of the economics profession includes analyzing the many trade-offs that occur among groups of individuals in an economy, trade-offs that can benefit or hurt those groups. But while economists undoubtedly contribute much good to society, the flaws in their approaches and techniques are easy to see. One characterization of mainstream economists’ methods consists of a “moral geometry,” in which benefits and harms are all converted into monetary values and fed into complex equations. Foregone potential opportunities and actual economic harms are equally weighted. In other areas of life, however, values like liberty and rights provide constraints on how people treat each other that are independent of any calculus involving monetary value.

This type of thinking also assumes that harmed individuals can always be compensated and made whole again. For example, if you like apples but can’t get any, you can always buy more oranges. This preference-satisfaction rationale is fine when applied...

About the Author

George F. Demartino is a professor of international economics at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He has written books and published widely on the ethics and normative aspects of economics.

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