Re:Why Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?
by cirgue on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @07:30PM
(#18189848)
> Health care is a mess but blaming say, insurance companies in particular, is problematic.
I think this attitude is the key problem: fuck blame. Seriously, who cares? There absolutely are concrete things we can do about healthcare and climate change and so on, but not if we collectively think that blaming this or that institution is going to motivate people to fix the problem.
Re:Why Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?
by whatshisface on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @09:51PM
(#18190501)
Someone has to pay for any change that happens - for example if a company is dumping toxic waste into the environment, $100M is going to be lost from their pockets if they have to stop (cleanup + price of proper disposal). That $100M could come from anywhere in the economy, so unless you want Amazon warehouse workers to start paying in to an industrial waste disposal subsidy system you better start constructing arguments that look something like, "the perpetrator should pay to clean it up."
Re:Why Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?
by colechristensen on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @04:49PM
(#18188742)
What we have are complex problems instead of simple ones.
For example, slavery up to 150 years ago vs. segregation up to 50 years ago vs. subtle often unconscious racism today.+ Fighting to abolish slavery is a lot simpler than fighting for racial equality. It is not that there are not problems, but there are not so many obvious problems with obvious solutions today.
+ I'm trying to make a broad point here not perfectly depict the history of racism in America, forgive any unjust implications
Re:Why Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?
by joe_the_user on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @06:05PM
(#18189343)
Stopping global warming seems very simple - just limit C02 production. The main thing is institutions are complex and so even simple change requires complex processes.
Re:Why Is Behavioral Economics So Popular?
by colechristensen on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @06:30PM
(#18189516)
I would strongly disagree that any plan to limit CO2 production would be simple.
Yeah but the key phrase is clear cut. We have plenty of big institutions and one can see them do terrible things. It's just they fade into each and so challenging a single one becomes a dubious interest. Health care is a mess but blaming say, insurance companies in particular, is problematic. The environment and global warming are huge problems but blaming single institutions misses the point, etc.
Moreover, large institutions are adept at harnessing issues-as-social-signal and directing them according to their interests. One can fight all this but such a fight doesn't follow the path of least resistance. And boy, are people trained, today, to follow that path, whether in rebellion or conformity.