生态中心博客- Down With The Economic Man: Thoughts on the Shortcomings of Our Economic Paradigm
生态中心博客- Down With The Economic Man: Thoughts on the Shortcomings of Our Economic Paradigm
概括
So many of the assumptions within economics are rooted in the idea that people are, first and foremost, self-interested. This mindset may have served well to explain how our economic systems are, but it can prevent us from imagining how they should be. To solve our most challenging environmental and social problems, we need economic thinking that sees people as more than merely self-interested.
A big part of last week’s post on thedemise of coal是关于经济学的。您可能会认为我会在刮擦这种特殊痒后独自一人离开经济学。你会想错了。宝贝，那个柠檬有更多的果汁！
An Introduction to the Economic Man
Back in my college economics classes, we heard a lot about the “economic man.” He isn’t so much a person as he is a construct, and he is often called the “rational man,” “homo economicus,” or the archetype of理性选择理论。由于经济学是一门基于人类行为的观察的社会科学，因此经济学家经常对人类行为做出假设。然后，这些假设允许发展和应用经济模型和理论。
经济人的构造是最常用的假设集之一，可以从本质上描述他：面对决定时，经济人将是自私自利的，并将做出最大化的决定或一组决定他的个人实用程序。基本上，他是一个聪明但自以为是的混蛋，只为自己照顾自己，他是人们认为人们如何在我们一些最广泛接受的经济理论中表现出来的代表人物。
Now that I think of it, I never heard a professor talk about the economic woman…that seems like an oversight on their part.
The Roots of Our Economic System
这个概念的智力根源可以一直追溯到The Wealth of Nations，由亚当·史密斯（Adam Smith）撰写。我确实认为，人类历史上最有影响力的书之一，我确实认为这本书的中央论文被史密斯著名的“无形的手”的隐喻所捕捉。他认为，当政府允许生产和消费自由（即自由市场）时，市场中竞争和自身利益的现象将像看不见的手一样，将市场朝着效率和稳定的方向发展。更简单地说，史密斯认为，让人们在市场上自由寻求自己的自身利益是符合社会集体的最大利益。换句话说，当人们像经济人物一样，这是一件好事！从我的语气中，您可能可以看出我对理性选择理论及其中心主角非常不屑一顾。需要明确的是，这个概念背后有很多优点。只需将原则应用于您自己的经济决定即可。如果您决定在两个同样令人兴奋的工作机会之间，并且每年将向您支付5,000美元，我敢打赌，您将获得更高的薪水。如果您正在杂货店看两个类似的花生罐，而一个花费少于一美元，您会购买便宜的花生。 So would I. These are obvious, rational choices, and Mr. Economicus was invented by economists because they observed people making such choices over and over again. Further, I value tremendously the freedom to choose how I live my personal and professional life, and I know others do as well. I take no issue whatsoever with personal choice being a defining characteristic of an economic system, and in fact I celebrate it.
Making Room for More Than Mere Self-Interest
我知道您可以感觉到“但是”来了，这就是：经济人士用太宽的刷子绘制了绘画。在个人和集体行动的规模上，人类行为有很多细微差别。我认为将我们的经济假设减少到如此纯净的自身利益是不明智的，幸运的是，许多经济学家也有同样的感觉。整个经济学领域称为behavioral economics由于古典经济理论（例如理性选择理论）的缺陷而涌现。当我带孩子去邮局时，柜台后面的当地邮政工人总是手头上有一碗棒棒糖。当我看着他微笑并在我的孩子们开始兴奋时向我的孩子们弹跳时，我看不到一个自私的人采用某种策略来让我回到他的生意。如果我通过私人邮件运营商使用邮局，他不会增加一分钱！我看到有人为孩子们的自然喜悦而高兴。当有人将食物给无家可归的人时，那不是自私的。当有人在杂货店退房时，当有人为慈善机构汇总时，这不是自私的。当某人购买碳信贷以抵消家人的碳足迹时，这并不是自私的。那都是利他主义。我们人类一直都这样做。 I think we should fire the economic man and replace him with the Maslow person. I’m referring to Abraham Maslow’s需求的层次结构, which is a psychological framework theorizing that humans are first motivated to satisfy their physiological needs of food, clothing, water, and shelter, but upon doing so, humans become motivated to satisfy higher order needs. Next comes safety in its various forms, followed by love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Where the economic man so often focuses on more of the stuff that ensures his physiological and safety needs are met, the Maslow person makes room for the higher order values. These have economic implications as well. A person might choose to get their busywork done at their local coffee shop instead of at home because of a sense of community and belonging. An accomplished business executive might resign from a lucrative and powerful position to take a job in the nonprofit sector because she wants to work on solving social challenges. A banker might teach personal finance to high school students on the side because he wants his skills to help others live better lives. All of these decisions create real value, just not of the sort that Mr. Economicus tends to care about.
We Need a New Economic Paradigm to Solve Our Greatest Environmental Problems
I think that the economic man’s self-interest mindset has so deeply penetrated the world of economics, commerce, and business that it is now assumed to be the only correct way to operate. It’s as if we are supposed to only maximize utility and never think of the common good. This mindset is to the detriment of our communities, our economies, and our environment. How are we supposed to solve a challenge like climate change, the ultimate collective action problem, if we expect all economic actors to only pursue their self-interest? I know the counterpoint that classical economists would say to that. “It’s our job to try and explain the world as it is, not as it should be!” To that I say, “Bollocks.” The economic man and the invisible hand won’t solve biodiversity loss, ocean plastics, topsoil depletion, ocean acidification, and a whole host of other environmental and social challenges. Often, they are the root cause of those challenges. We need our economists to say when “the world as it is” is broken. Then we need them to help us design economic systems that work for all of life on this planet. This blog is available weekly via email subscription.Click here to subscribe.
