history of economic thought revisited: beyond left and right

Beyond the Right & the LeftBeyond the Right & the LeftHistory of Economic Thought RevisitedHistory of Economic Thought Revisited

Joffre Balce

[The great economists] may be called worldly philosophers, for they sought the most worldly of all of man’s activities – the drive for wealth

& power” ~ Robert Heilbroner

Why Economics’ History?

• We cannot help living in history. We can only fail to be aware of it.~ Robert Heilbroner

• Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist ... soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests which are dangerous for good or evil~ Todd Buchholz

Processing the Presentation

• Difference between principles, dogma and assumptions– Violate principles & nature punishes you; – Violate dogma & its teachers will punish you– “Assumptions are the granddaddy of all $₵®€₩ῼ₱

$”

• Be aware of the rhetoric vs. practice of ideology• Survey of the evolutionary history of ideas with a

plot

How to Get What One Wants/Needs?

Right Is Might• Produce It Yourself• Buy It/Trade for It• Borrow• To realise what one is born

with & secure it: rights & duties

Might Is Right• Steal = Cheat, Seek-&-

Grab Economic Rent • Kill = War, Invade,

Colonize• Beg = Acceptance of

Defeat & Poverty as Natural

Trade/ Cooperation

Politics/ Competition

Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/

MathematicalPhysiocracy Mercantilism

Socialism

Autarchy Anarchy

Communal ownership by society

Natural resources belong to no one; all

have an equal right

to it

Autonomy through

self sufficiency

Self- governance

through equal rights

Trade, conquer, compete & accumulate

MoneyMedium of exchange & measure/

store of value

Trade/ Cooperation



MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists

Socialism AdamSmith

•What are social goods?

•What is the role of government?

•What are the factors of production & their respective returns?

•How are they managed to meet everyone’s needs?

•What is the basis for international trade?

•What are the benefits of unhampered trade?

Autarchy AnarchyMoney

Trade/ Cooperation

Feudalism/ Competition



Smith

Thomas MalthusDavid Ricardo

Socialism

Ricardo-Malthus Debate•Economic Rent:

• Ricardo: value in excess of the less productive land

• Malthus: surplus profit from an undue advantage

• Economic rent as the basis of iron law of wages; the option to work for oneself & live

• Advocate of free trade as consumers have a right to cheaper quality goods

• Misery & vice – nature’s means to temper population growth: keep wages low by enclosing land

• Trade barriers are necessary as higher prices are due to excess population

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Ricardo

Quantitative Qualitative

Utilitarianism

Socialism

Hedonic Calculus

Hierarchy of Values

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Capitalism

Neo-classical

MalthusRicardo

Quantitative Utilitarians

Socialism

Autarchy Anarchy

• Maximise profit• Minimise cost• Maximise utility

Social Darwinism

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Capitalism

Keynesian

Neo-classical

Monetarism

Neo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian

MalthusRicardo


Socialism

Liberalism

IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc

Tea PartyTea Party

When government intervention is to our benefit not to our benefitor

Autarchy Anarchy

The The management of management of the economy by the economy by policy & policy & regulation or regulation or the absence the absence thereofthereof

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Karl Marx/ V.I. Lenin/

Maozedong

Ricardo

CentrallyPlanned

Economies

State/Partisan Capitalism

Socialism

“Public” Monetarism

Cuba,Cuba,North KoreaNorth Korea

““BRICAS”BRICAS”

Capitalism

State as central

monetary authority

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Capitalism

Keynesian

Neo-classical

“Private” Monetarism


MalthusRicardo

Utilitarians

Socialism

Liberalism

Marx/ Lenin/ Mao

CentrallyPlanned

Economies



IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc““BRICAS”BRICAS”

Tea PartyTea Party

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Henry George

Indifferent to “State or Private”

Monetarism

Ricardo

Social MarketDemocracies

Co-opSocieties

QualitativeUtilitarians

Socialism

Land ReformEconomies

Asian Tigers Asian Tigers + Botswana+ Botswana

Nordic/ Nordic/ GermanGermanStatesStates

ICAICA

Equal rights & their application to private property

Autarchy Anarchy

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Capitalism

GeorgeMarx/ Lenin/ Mao

Keynesian

Neo-classical

Monetarism

Neo-liberalismNeo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian

MalthusRicardo

CentrallyPlanned

Economies


Social Market

Land ReformEconomies

Co-opSocieties

Utilitarians

Socialism

LiberalismAsian Tigers Asian Tigers + Botswana+ Botswana

Nordic/ Nordic/ German German StatesStates

ICAICA

Tea PartyTea Party

IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc““BRICAS”BRICAS”


Autarchy Anarchy

Synopsis, Well Almost ...

• A race is not determined by the size, carrying capacity or horsepower of the vehicle but its design according to principles & the manner in which one drives. (otherwise, Duct Tape Panacea)

• Menu of options is wider than many think ... Because ideologues don’t want you to think

• One does not have to choose; they can mix & match or shift paradigms

• There is one more frontier: Money

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Malthus

Socialism

Autarchy Anarchy

Bullionists

Karl Marx/ V.I. Lenin/

Maozedong

Capitalism

Monetarist Battle:

State or the Private

Management?

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Capitalism

Keynesian

Neo-classical

Private Monetarism


MalthusRicardo


Socialism

Liberalism

Financial Financial HermaprhodytesHermaprhodytes

Tea PartyTea Party

When government intervention is to our benefit not to our benefitor

Autarchy Anarchy

Bullionists

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Neo-classical

Non-State Monetarism

Ricardo

Socialism

Liberalism

CommonsNatural

Virtual

Pre-Colonial Pre-Colonial South America,South America,South Pacific South Pacific

PyraMMMidaPyraMMMidaCyber CurrenciesCyber CurrenciesQuantumQuantum

Autarchy Anarchy

Utilitarians

property of the printer & bearer

All money is people’s fiat

Capitalism

Bullionists

Trade/ Cooperation




Smith

Neo-classical

Non-State Monetarism

Ricardo

Utilitarians

Socialism

Liberalism

Commons

property of the printer & bearer

Georgists

Co-opSocietiesSocial Market

Democracies Land ReformSocieties

Autarchy Anarchy

All money is people’s fiat

Nash Equilibrium

Natural

Virtual

• PerishablePerishable• UsableUsable• No “monetary No “monetary

authority”authority”

• UBI/Citizens’ UBI/Citizens’ DividendDividend

• Responsible Responsible Seignorage Seignorage

• Efficiency & Efficiency & Productivity Productivity with Freedomwith Freedom

Capitalism

Bullionists

My Personal Biases

• Primacy of human rights & the equality/ equanimity in their application

• Restoring the symmetrical relationship between employer & employee, without resorting to an external agent (i.e., government or union

• Most efficient use of resources by maximising both utility & profit, rewarding parties for their positive externalities while minimising waste & restoring the commons & damage to them

My Personal Biases

• Solve social problems: – Sharp business cycles triggered by speculation becoming the preferred

economic activity & overtaking production– What has destroyed every previous civilisation has been the tendency

to the unequal distribution of wealth & power. ~ Henry George

• End the “Age of Entitlement” of the rent seeker/grabber & recover the economic rent for the general economy’s purpose– Raise Land Value Taxes BUT reduce, if not eliminate, taxes on income,

consumption & transactions (except for the “Tobin Tax”, if it can be collected on the spot)

– Democratisation of currency– Free AND Fair Trade

My Personal Biases

• Examine & Prioritise Ethics: Question Laws– Corporations ARE NOT Human Beings!

• Maintain Mathematical Rigour: Best Estimates• Use Economic “Laboratories” that test the

universal applications of proposed principles• Gestalt Approach Over Gut Fears: Provide

Concrete, Lasting & Foundational/ Systemic Solutions

Open Conclusion"I don't care who writes a nation's laws—or

crafts its advanced treaties—if I can write its economics textbooks.“

~ Paul Samuelson

It is from the scope and wisdom of the economists of the past that we must reap

the knowledge with which to face the future.~ Robert Heilbroner

“Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may

be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.”

~Henry George .

history of economic thought revisited: beyond left and right

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