Comments on: Conference – The Free Market Mindset http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/conference-the-free-market-mindset/ Thu, 23 May 2013 19:48:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Harvard Law School conference on Free Market Ideology - Gorkemgozleme Sports | World's Sport News http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/conference-the-free-market-mindset/#comment-24861 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:18:32 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/?p=5642#comment-24861 [...] Sciences of Harvard Law School will be hosting its third annual conference. The topic is “The Free Market Mindset: History, Psychology, and Consequences.” Given all that is going on in today’s economy and the government’s efforts to [...]

]]> By: Skeptikos http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/conference-the-free-market-mindset/#comment-14242 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:53:54 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/?p=5642#comment-14242 Monetary self-interest is a simplifying assumption economists make, not something they actually believe. I mean, not even economists are dumb enough to believe this is the case in real life.

So when I read descriptions of papers like Marglin’s and Schwartz’s above, I’m kind of puzzled.

Why don’t social scientists ever critique physicists for assuming that objects are volumeless masses in simple calculations? That kind of view could have disastrous effects, if it spread to intellectually vulnerable children.

And why aren’t economists criticized for assuming perfect information? If they consistently use this assumption, won’t they be risking delusions of omnipotence?

The only explanation I can think of is that these criticisms are the result of some kind of motivated reasoning. Perhaps we should be less worried about the free market mindset and more worried about the anti-market mindset.

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