[drn-discuss] UKPO consultations

[David M. Berry]

On 30 Sep 2005, at 17:10, Ian Brown wrote:

> David M. Berry wrote:
>
>> By concentrating on economics you are missing that this is   
>> essentially
>> a political matter.
>>
>
> nope.
>

Yep. What has economics ever managed to forecast successfully? They  
constantly miss the ups and downs of the economy, miss all the  
crashes and bubbles and are not able to rule out certain economic  
events.. eg. Stagflation took 'em by surprise.

> do you write provocatively with the intent to provoke, or out of  
> habit?

I write to critique.

>
>> People are losing jobs, and manufacturing continues its decline.
>>
>> What is to be done?
>>
>
> develop policies that have the slightest hope of increasing
> investment/jobs/etc, even before wider considerations of social  
> welfare
> are taken into account.
>

Yes but those policies require political decision to be taken. The  
question of social welfare is not, nor could it be, the domain of  
economics.

To think that you can make economic decision divorced from politics  
is neo-liberal and simplistic.


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