Friday, February 5, 2016

Ian Welsh— Problems with Economics: The Cult of Utility


Ian Welsh critiques "utility," "revealed preferences," and (economic) "rationality."

Conclusion: "It's bullshit." 

What's important is welfare and none of these concepts relate to it in a meaningful way. 

Homo economicus is not concerned with welfare in a meaningful sense. Homo socialis is.

Problems with Economics: The Cult of Utility
Ian Welsh

1 comment:

Dan Lynch said...

Ian has his faults but when he's good, he's really good.

His recent essay on how the bank bailouts caused the shitty economy is good, too. About how one of the virtues of capitalism is allocating resources efficiently and that only works if you let bad enterprises fail.