Totally; economics has become misguided. Although some intellectuals have always misunderstood it, it has now become the law. The goal is to create a utopian society with the right people in power rather than to describe the consequences of anyone's actions, as an individual or in a group.
"The goal is to create a utopian society with the right people in power..."
Excellent point...my gripe is that the profession has gone too far down the path of prescribing top-down policy to be imposed than on thinking of bottom up ways to reduce frictions, make markets more efficient, run value-creating businesses, etc.
Also some good books about him. I actually haven't read any, just learned about his work in a growth class in the PhD program and then watched his interview with Tyler Cohen, which got me digging a little further into his background.
Ha-Joon Chang gets close enough to talking about morality. Among other things, he argues that: "all major developed countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing similarly" in his book "Kicking Away the Ladder". That book was followed by "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism".
Modern Monetary Theory as put forward by Bill Mitchell et al. also doesn't shun the odd moral discourse.
Many people here of the "free market will solve all and the less intervention the better"-ilk will have steem (hah!) coming from their ears when they read these books, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Totally; economics has become misguided. Although some intellectuals have always misunderstood it, it has now become the law. The goal is to create a utopian society with the right people in power rather than to describe the consequences of anyone's actions, as an individual or in a group.
"The goal is to create a utopian society with the right people in power..."
Excellent point...my gripe is that the profession has gone too far down the path of prescribing top-down policy to be imposed than on thinking of bottom up ways to reduce frictions, make markets more efficient, run value-creating businesses, etc.
Does he have any books out? I've never heard an economist talk about morality before.
LOL that's a shame...morality should be at the heart of economics!
Yes, some of his work available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jeffrey+sachs
Also some good books about him. I actually haven't read any, just learned about his work in a growth class in the PhD program and then watched his interview with Tyler Cohen, which got me digging a little further into his background.
OK cool. Thanks:)
Ha-Joon Chang gets close enough to talking about morality. Among other things, he argues that: "all major developed countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing similarly" in his book "Kicking Away the Ladder". That book was followed by "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism".
Modern Monetary Theory as put forward by Bill Mitchell et al. also doesn't shun the odd moral discourse.
Many people here of the "free market will solve all and the less intervention the better"-ilk will have steem (hah!) coming from their ears when they read these books, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks for the recommendations:)