IS ECONOMICS PLAYED OUT?
What’s the point? It’s this: Economics, as understood for hundreds of years, has played out. The major problems of econ 101 have been solved. We know about supply and demand, marginal utility, choice under uncertainty, and budget constraints. We have a wide variety of tools, ranging from game theory to econometrics, that help us identify these processes in situations ranging from war, to car sales, to dating. We are also seeing how these processes plug into classic macroeconomic issues, such as growth and international trade.
However, the market system itself, as indicated by Tim’s concluding chapter, depends on population, innovation, and liberal economic institutions. These, in turn, depend on psychology, group culture, and networks, the domain of sociologists, psychologists, historians, and anthropologists. Economists have shown how the market system processes the inputs, but there’s still much, much more to be said about where the inputs come from. That’s what’s going to be exciting in the decades to come, and I can’t wait to see it.
I mostly agree with Fabio here. Economics is played out in the West. However Economics is critical to the success of Africa. There is so much more to study and discover about the interplay of commodities, humans, and infrastructure in Africa, even a half brained scholar would stand a good chance of winning a grand prize. However statisticians are needed even more than Economist. So I'd say ship all the economists, minus this one, to Africa and lets get the ball rolling.
Too bad, blogging has been kicked to #25 on my list of priorities at the moment, I'd attempt to keep this joint updated as often as I can. Thanks all.
2Comment(s):
conomics is played out in the West. However Economics is critical to the success of Africa. There is so much more to study and discover about the interplay of commodities, humans, and infrastructure in Africa
huh ?
Economics is economics, especially at the theory level. I don't see what would make a model of human/infrastructure/commodities interaction different in Africa than anywhere else.
Unless we're discussing policy ad applied economics. But then that would mean convincing our leaders and people to accept some basic econ 101 realities first.
@Random African
Convincing them is going to be a herculean task.
The Economic Theories that have worked elsewhere will work in Africa also, if we as a people are willing to let go of injecting "personal agenda" into the implementation of our national Economic Policies.
Often times, policies that are meant to run for minimum of 5years before their result can be visible get short down just because a new officer occupying the Policy Maker Office wants to prove that his predecessor is not intelligent.
You can hardly see an Economic Policy that is allowed to run its full course without been shot down by opponents or successors of the policy maker.