I'm in the midst of reading Dan Ariely's fun book, PREDICTABLY
IRRATIONAL. He's an experimental economist (and calls himself a
"behavioral" one). So far, he's talked a lot about how we deceive
ourselves in choices by paying attention to alternatives which are
(strictly speaking) irrelevant, how prices can be determined by
marketing efforts rather than by supply and demand, how people are
often irrationally fooled by offers of "free!" (like "free" shipping
by Amazon.com), and the importance of non-market norms (and what
others call intrinsic motivation).
Notable is the way in which Ariely is more collectivist
("public-minded") than the dominant school of economics these days,
what I call the "Ekon." This may have something to do with the failure
of neoliberalism or with his ethnic background: he's an Israeli Jew. A
lot of the experimentalists are also Israeli (like SRPE-winner Daniel
Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky, I believe). This may have
something to do with the greater collectivist tradition of Israelis
(within the Jewish community) than that seen in the US, especially
among economists.
Of course, though he sheds doubt on markets, I don't expect Ariely to
trash capitalism. It's quite possible for someone to be collectivist
without being against class-based exploitation. The "horizontal"
dimension of competition, markets, and individual vs. government is
separate in some ways from the "vertical" dimension of domination and
exploitation.
My little finger's in the wind. It feels like the wind is blowing more
of Ariely-style collectivism our direction. But note that it can be
used not only for good (democratic socialism) but also for evil
(paternalistic capitalism or worse).
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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