Apparently also, if you have a Ph.D. in economics, you can give whatever life advice and theories about human nature that you have and pass it off as manifesting economic expertise. Much of the book is about [Tyler] Cowen's vague ideas about the human need for "control." The last anecdote that made me decide I couldn't justify spending any more time with the book began...
August 23, 2007
Jeremy reads six chapters of "Discover Your Inner Economist"...
... hits the curb and kicks the book to the curb.
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Apparently on that theory, the word "control" is often used in advertisements as an enticement, desirable feature of the thing being sold: "Manage your hormones. Stay in control."
I hate that. As if.
Curious - push back to "economic imperialism" seems underway, although its social cost is surely low - yet we still elect lawyers to the majority of our legislative offices and happily grant them power to second-guess complicated medical procedures. I know lawyers are widely mocked; yet compared to lawyers, the "threat" of "economic imperialism" seems utter quaint.
I blame Krugman and Levitt. And Dubya too, of course.
PS: What did Sociologists ever do? That was worthwhile, that is?
Clearly, Jeremy needs to be having more sex.
You could drop the word "economics" and substitute pretty much any other discipline, and the point would still hold: "Apparently also, if you have a Ph.D. in economics, you can give whatever life advice and theories about human nature that you have and pass it off as manifesting economic expertise." And it doesn't require a Ph.D. The same distressing tendency shows up often in the classroom, where some teachers freely substitute "life advice and theories about human nature" when they're supposed to be teaching history or biology or some such subject.
*picks up book from curb*
*wonders what went wrong*
Knew a guy who tossed Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings against the wall disgusted at the onset with the description of the activities of the ka, which I found odd because it was the best description of Egyptian ka I've ever read.
I've come to believe nearly every human thing can be described in terms of economics. And nearly every human thing can be described in terms of control.
The title of the book makes it sound uninteresting, but Jeremy's reaction to it and his reason suddenly makes me interested.
Off to Amazon to read reviews.
Tim,
The aqueduct?
No wait, that was the Romans.
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