Re:The death of neoliberalism from within
by dragonwriter on Friday June 03, 2016 @04:46PM
(#11833158)
> But I'm talking about the decision-making process.
So am I. The decision making process that goes into "social/political" things is pretty much economic.
> We don't decide whether global warming needs to be addressed using a profit-maximization algorithm.
Social/political decision making is aggregating individual efforts to maximize the world's alignment with each individual's own preferences.
There's no difference between this and economic decision making.
> It's a moral question.
"Morality" is just one subset of personal preferences against which people act to optimize. The distinction between it and other subsets of preferences (like "aesthetics", etc.) is arbitrary.
If you're including all issues that have economic effects, perhaps I'd agree with you. But I'm talking about the decision-making process.
We don't decide whether global warming needs to be addressed using a profit-maximization algorithm. It's a moral question.
The same is true of slavery from the North's perspective in the US civil war. (You can make an economic argument for the south, but it's still a stretch) Fundamentally it's a moral/social/political question, that has tremendous economic effects.
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I'd actually argue the contrary. There are almost no "economic" arguments when it comes to regulation. Any argument worth having is fundamentally moral or social.
* How much taxation is "fair"
* What level of economic inequality violates "justice"