Economics of Postmodernity

…is Economics for Suicides, Emo’s and Sadists

Andrew E. MoMuD

TOLERATION

• infinite needs, scarce resources

• no direct violence (indirect violence is OK)

• “Optimal” rather than “fair”

Economics vs. conflict

Violence

• assume Violence = Injustice– Justice means a subjective yet

conscious notion of equilibrium.– to recognize violence, a victim

must envision justice

Поскольку вошло в моду высмеивать Смита и его современников за их якобы ошибочную психологию, я

готов, пожалуй, рискнуть и высказать мнение, что для любых практических

задач мы все еще можем больше узнать о поведении человека из

"Богатства народов", чем из большинства претенциозных современных трактатов по

"социальной психологии".

(«Индивидуализм», курс лекций)

An “orthodox” economist

Friedrich von Hayek

Economic Men @ General Equilibrium

-Pareto criterion for Justice

-What does it have to do with [indirect] violence?Indirect violence vs. legal entities: Money-Laundering laws + Tax legislations on transfer pricing: “show me your economic purpose”

Indirect violence vs. individuals: segregation+Responsibility

Responsibility• You are somehow different from the Normal Man =>

you either fight for your basic needs or spend extra on them.

• You want something extraordinary => you have ill Motivation. Go consult a psychoanalyst.

• You caused trouble => you wanted trouble

Civilization has a price, and in the absence of God, the Society is always ready to write out the bills.

Orthodox economist’s “handwriting” in Ecological Discourse

• Internalization; markets rule• Someone should own the

rights for clean air and soil. No matter who.

• Today’s issues alone matter.

Ronald Coase, “the Problem of Social Costs”, 1959

Responsibility to the Environment

…vs. Responsibility to the Industries?!

Marx sees more violence• there is always

misunderstanding on value of goods in stock.

• Equilibrium on labour market does not make wages fair

• Behind money circulation there is a reality of (class) interests and self-consciousness

Polanji is surprised there are so many rights

• Land, labour and clean environment have not been produced for sale => economic resources and “3rd Party claims” should not belong to anyone!

• Market Economy institutions haven’t proved to be most efficient, but rather most violent

Dealing with uncertainty “The sense in which I am using the term

[uncertainty] is that in which the prospect of a European war is uncertain, or the price of copper and the rate of interest twenty years hence, or the obsolescence of a new invention, or the position of private wealth owners in the social system in 1970. About these matters there is no scientific basis on which to form any calculable probability whatever. We simply do not know” (Keynes, 1937: 113).

Money and the mimetic hypothesis

• Man needs Society to introduce money – of mere egoism.

• If it doesn’t, or if it introduces money that can’t compete, individuals will try to speculate on rarity, and all markets will be in crisis.

• No one knows what he/she wants “strategically” unless King declares: “this is money, you all must like it,want it and pay it to me”

• Money causes wars, famine and rebellion.

<-Prof. M.Aglietta

Prof. A.Orlean->

The “Novelistic Man”

• People should be considered even more mutually suspicious than Homo Economicus.

• Real men seen as too bad for liberalism, too mean for individualism, too greedy for uncertainty settlement.

• Most living men, however, are not that “normal” as to engage in endless fight for both items and definitions…

Growing particularistic:

There already exists Economics for Paupers

• Giffen studies

• “Mein Kampf”

• Bangladeshi experience

No math beyond these lines!

Personalitychallenged

assumption

Economic Agents

Some of Economics is rather

Karl Marx Price->Value as D/S balance exploitor/exploited Politics

the "social psychologists" individualism living cell Sociology

John M. Keynes probabilistic nature of Uncertainty beastPractical Psychology (Crisis

management)

Karl Polanji availability of the limited resources thief Geopolitics

Aglietta&Orlean egoistic preferences self-sufficiency the Novelistic Man Diplomacy

Us infinite material wants Eccentrics Theology and Metaphysics

Eccentrics: the EMOboy

• Features: Totally “subjective”, he gets what he wants and wants what he gets, including everyone around hating him

• Makes us relax assumptions of: objective reason in preferences

Quote on EMO effect: человек делает не то, что ему выгодно, а то, что ему приятно. (Достоевский)

Eccentrics: the Suicide

• Features:Tries to quit the fight; his past decisions affect not only his present opportunities, but also his decision-making rule – in a self-destructive way…

• Makes us relax assumptions of: utility-maximizing behavior

Quote on Suicide effect: Ненависть всегда обращена к прошлому и зависит от прошлого. Человек, охваченный аффектом ненависти, не может быть обращён к будущему, к новой жизни. (Бердяев)

Eccentrics: the Sadist• Features:

Cruelty is not a “drug” Violence boosts his impetus for life and (probably) consumption

• Makes up relax assumptions of: internalization possibility (cultural constraints)

Quote on Sadist effect: он вредит не "только себе", но всем: колодцы человеческих душ имеют как бы подземное (бессознательное) сообщение, и тот, кто засоряет и отравляет свой колодец, тот засоряет и отравляет все чужие. Человек, не соблюдающий духовную гигиену, есть очаг всеобщего, общественного заражения. (Ильин)

A postmodern ecologic issue

• Problem: Factory polluting the environment yet giving work to inhabitants of the nearby town, producing high-quality output, also a major source of tax income to the town’s budget.

• Pigouvean approach: levy a tax on pollution, despite that could make Factory shut down…

• Coasian approach: compare advantages and disadvantages of Factory closure; grant the right for clean air and soil to either Citizens or even the Factory

Now what if…

• Social Activists behave like EMOs

• Mayor of the Town is as honest and/or consistent as a Suicide

• Agents of a competitor factory play (though legally) for Sadists

Why do I think that Economics of Meanings is scientific?

• It is pessimistic enough. None of the given Eccentric types is supposedly altruistic

• It does not deny the graphs and Individualism; rather, it constrains.

• The Internet and other postindustrial facilities have broadened the eccentrics’ field and opportunities of economic and social activity.