tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post3753252309996643511..comments2023-05-08T04:01:34.561-08:00Comments on Students Who Enjoy Economic Thinking: Hayek's DisclaimersAdam Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15257124483756325652noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post-71537957628480655912011-02-03T16:39:54.353-09:002011-02-03T16:39:54.353-09:00"So, while specialization does work in specif..."So, while specialization does work in specific areas of human activity (division of labor, comparative advantage!), beware the specialist who tells you how to live your life and how to organize society in its last detail of engineering." - Nikolai G. WenzelNewsConnectionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10859440957593787660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post-42486526995874607612011-02-03T16:24:48.627-09:002011-02-03T16:24:48.627-09:00"However, to me in the economic way of thinki..."However, to me in the economic way of thinking the absence of interfering with humans choices..."<br /><br />Indeed. However, humans interfere with each other all the time, and it often becomes a choice of who to restrict. <br /><br />You may be familiar with Coase and his theorem: that when transaction costs are low, you (i.e. the government) can pretty much assign property rights to either party, walk away, and the efficient use of the resource will be the outcome. <br /><br />Assuming for a moment that we are in one of those low transaction moments, we still have to decide who assign property rights to. Do we flip a coin? No, as moral persons, we have the obligation to take into account other, more normative, economic factors into account. What particular set of ethics and values inform us at that point is an individual question, but it is a question an economist making recommendations must ask if he is to do his job well. Economics gives us tools of analysis, but to only look at one toolbox leaves the job half-done.B. Newmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16819569281978325448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post-69820928712206370902011-02-02T16:57:49.680-09:002011-02-02T16:57:49.680-09:00Thanks for the comment. I see how this interpretat...Thanks for the comment. I see how this interpretation makes a lot more sense and is in line with the way that economists typically view the manner of how choices should be made. However, due to the vagueness in which Hayek refers to other specialists and experts I made judgments about the work which lie outside his main point.<br />At the same time I wonder though if we can possibly draw this thick line between this way of thinking and all other schools of thought. I guess to me there seems to be some sort of paradox in this reasoning at some point. "The ever recurring conflict between the economist and other specialists will repeatedly come up in this book...I want to make it quite clear here that the economist can not claim special knowledge which qualifies him to co-ordinate the efforts of other specialists" Hayek then notes economists are the only ones who deeply understand that a society knows more than any person or group of persons and how due to this reasoning Economics or any one single area of specialty can't not define what choices should be made because they don't fully know the answers. However, to me in the economic way of thinking the absence of interfering with humans choices and that this in itself is still a choice (choosing to let others have liberty is still using your specialty school of thought to change how efforts can be coordinated).<br />In this work Hayek will not just use economic lens. Granted this follows on the point that all of these experts don't know what society does, if economists know this well wouldn't you want to use economics to show this rather than diving into other "specialties" when these other disciplines are coined to not understand?...At the same time this makes sense though since no one discipline should force a position. ok, ok, I'm just going to stop be because I'm over analyzing this and making no coherent sense at this point.Camilla Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02449045341190889112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post-12575290869700123882011-02-02T15:13:00.030-09:002011-02-02T15:13:00.030-09:00This comment has been removed by the author.Camilla Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02449045341190889112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598831864333990375.post-56392774245467951182011-01-30T21:24:35.683-09:002011-01-30T21:24:35.683-09:00This comment has been removed by the author.NewsConnectionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10859440957593787660noreply@blogger.com