Beyond the Right & the LeftBeyond the Right & the LeftHistory of Economic Thought RevisitedHistory of Economic Thought Revisited
Joffre Balce
[The great economists] may be called worldly philosophers, for they sought the most worldly of all of man’s activities – the drive for wealth
& power” ~ Robert Heilbroner
Why Economics’ History?
• We cannot help living in history. We can only fail to be aware of it.~ Robert Heilbroner
• Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist ... soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests which are dangerous for good or evil~ Todd Buchholz
Processing the Presentation
• Difference between principles, dogma and assumptions– Violate principles & nature punishes you; – Violate dogma & its teachers will punish you– “Assumptions are the granddaddy of all $₵®€₩ῼ₱
$”
• Be aware of the rhetoric vs. practice of ideology• Survey of the evolutionary history of ideas with a
plot
How to Get What One Wants/Needs?
Right Is Might• Produce It Yourself• Buy It/Trade for It• Borrow• To realise what one is born
with & secure it: rights & duties
Might Is Right• Steal = Cheat, Seek-&-
Grab Economic Rent • Kill = War, Invade,
Colonize• Beg = Acceptance of
Defeat & Poverty as Natural
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocracy Mercantilism
Socialism
Autarchy Anarchy
Communal ownership by society
Natural resources belong to no one; all
have an equal right
to it
Autonomy through
self sufficiency
Self- governance
through equal rights
Trade, conquer, compete & accumulate
MoneyMedium of exchange & measure/
store of value
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Socialism AdamSmith
•What are social goods?
•What is the role of government?
•What are the factors of production & their respective returns?
•How are they managed to meet everyone’s needs?
•What is the basis for international trade?
•What are the benefits of unhampered trade?
Autarchy AnarchyMoney
Trade/ Cooperation
Feudalism/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Thomas MalthusDavid Ricardo
Socialism
Ricardo-Malthus Debate•Economic Rent:
• Ricardo: value in excess of the less productive land
• Malthus: surplus profit from an undue advantage
• Economic rent as the basis of iron law of wages; the option to work for oneself & live
• Advocate of free trade as consumers have a right to cheaper quality goods
• Misery & vice – nature’s means to temper population growth: keep wages low by enclosing land
• Trade barriers are necessary as higher prices are due to excess population
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Ricardo
Quantitative Qualitative
Utilitarianism
Socialism
Hedonic Calculus
Hierarchy of Values
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Capitalism
Neo-classical
MalthusRicardo
Quantitative Utilitarians
Socialism
Autarchy Anarchy
• Maximise profit• Minimise cost• Maximise utility
Social Darwinism
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Capitalism
Keynesian
Neo-classical
Monetarism
Neo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian
MalthusRicardo
Quantitative Utilitarians
Socialism
Liberalism
IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc
Tea PartyTea Party
When government intervention is to our benefit not to our benefitor
Autarchy Anarchy
The The management of management of the economy by the economy by policy & policy & regulation or regulation or the absence the absence thereofthereof
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Karl Marx/ V.I. Lenin/
Maozedong
Ricardo
CentrallyPlanned
Economies
State/Partisan Capitalism
Socialism
“Public” Monetarism
Cuba,Cuba,North KoreaNorth Korea
““BRICAS”BRICAS”
Capitalism
State as central
monetary authority
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Capitalism
Keynesian
Neo-classical
“Private” Monetarism
Neo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian
MalthusRicardo
Utilitarians
Socialism
Liberalism
Marx/ Lenin/ Mao
CentrallyPlanned
Economies
State/Partisan Capitalism
Cuba,Cuba,North KoreaNorth Korea
IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc““BRICAS”BRICAS”
Tea PartyTea Party
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Henry George
Indifferent to “State or Private”
Monetarism
Ricardo
Social MarketDemocracies
Co-opSocieties
QualitativeUtilitarians
Socialism
Land ReformEconomies
Asian Tigers Asian Tigers + Botswana+ Botswana
Nordic/ Nordic/ GermanGermanStatesStates
ICAICA
Equal rights & their application to private property
Autarchy Anarchy
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Capitalism
GeorgeMarx/ Lenin/ Mao
Keynesian
Neo-classical
Monetarism
Neo-liberalismNeo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian
MalthusRicardo
CentrallyPlanned
Economies
State/Partisan Capitalism
Social Market
Land ReformEconomies
Co-opSocieties
Utilitarians
Socialism
LiberalismAsian Tigers Asian Tigers + Botswana+ Botswana
Nordic/ Nordic/ German German StatesStates
ICAICA
Tea PartyTea Party
IMF-WB BlocIMF-WB Bloc““BRICAS”BRICAS”
Cuba,Cuba,North KoreaNorth Korea
Autarchy Anarchy
Synopsis, Well Almost ...
• A race is not determined by the size, carrying capacity or horsepower of the vehicle but its design according to principles & the manner in which one drives. (otherwise, Duct Tape Panacea)
• Menu of options is wider than many think ... Because ideologues don’t want you to think
• One does not have to choose; they can mix & match or shift paradigms
• There is one more frontier: Money
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Malthus
Socialism
Autarchy Anarchy
Bullionists
Karl Marx/ V.I. Lenin/
Maozedong
Capitalism
Monetarist Battle:
State or the Private
Management?
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Capitalism
Keynesian
Neo-classical
Private Monetarism
Neo-liberalismNeo-Keynesian
MalthusRicardo
Quantitative Utilitarians
Socialism
Liberalism
Financial Financial HermaprhodytesHermaprhodytes
Tea PartyTea Party
When government intervention is to our benefit not to our benefitor
Autarchy Anarchy
Bullionists
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Neo-classical
Non-State Monetarism
Ricardo
Socialism
Liberalism
CommonsNatural
Virtual
Pre-Colonial Pre-Colonial South America,South America,South Pacific South Pacific
PyraMMMidaPyraMMMidaCyber CurrenciesCyber CurrenciesQuantumQuantum
Autarchy Anarchy
Utilitarians
property of the printer & bearer
All money is people’s fiat
Capitalism
Bullionists
Trade/ Cooperation
Politics/ Competition
Ethical/Philosophical Accounting/
MathematicalPhysiocrats Mercantilists
Smith
Neo-classical
Non-State Monetarism
Ricardo
Utilitarians
Socialism
Liberalism
Commons
property of the printer & bearer
Georgists
Co-opSocietiesSocial Market
Democracies Land ReformSocieties
Autarchy Anarchy
All money is people’s fiat
Nash Equilibrium
Natural
Virtual
• PerishablePerishable• UsableUsable• No “monetary No “monetary
authority”authority”
• UBI/Citizens’ UBI/Citizens’ DividendDividend
• Responsible Responsible Seignorage Seignorage
• Efficiency & Efficiency & Productivity Productivity with Freedomwith Freedom
Capitalism
Bullionists
My Personal Biases
• Primacy of human rights & the equality/ equanimity in their application
• Restoring the symmetrical relationship between employer & employee, without resorting to an external agent (i.e., government or union
• Most efficient use of resources by maximising both utility & profit, rewarding parties for their positive externalities while minimising waste & restoring the commons & damage to them
My Personal Biases
• Solve social problems: – Sharp business cycles triggered by speculation becoming the preferred
economic activity & overtaking production– What has destroyed every previous civilisation has been the tendency
to the unequal distribution of wealth & power. ~ Henry George
• End the “Age of Entitlement” of the rent seeker/grabber & recover the economic rent for the general economy’s purpose– Raise Land Value Taxes BUT reduce, if not eliminate, taxes on income,
consumption & transactions (except for the “Tobin Tax”, if it can be collected on the spot)
– Democratisation of currency– Free AND Fair Trade
My Personal Biases
• Examine & Prioritise Ethics: Question Laws– Corporations ARE NOT Human Beings!
• Maintain Mathematical Rigour: Best Estimates• Use Economic “Laboratories” that test the
universal applications of proposed principles• Gestalt Approach Over Gut Fears: Provide
Concrete, Lasting & Foundational/ Systemic Solutions
Open Conclusion"I don't care who writes a nation's laws—or
crafts its advanced treaties—if I can write its economics textbooks.“
~ Paul Samuelson
It is from the scope and wisdom of the economists of the past that we must reap
the knowledge with which to face the future.~ Robert Heilbroner
“Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may
be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.”
~Henry George .