braddelong.substack.com/p/briefly-note…
First: An ur-text for the doctrines of Dark Satanic Millian Liberalism. Here George Stigler writing back in 1949 seeks to assimilate the classical economists Smith, Senior, and Mill to his claim that a good economic system does not produce... 1/
First: An ur-text for the doctrines of Dark Satanic Millian Liberalism. Here George Stigler writing back in 1949 seeks to assimilate the classical economists Smith, Senior, and Mill to his claim that a good economic system does not produce... 1/
... prosperity but rather builds character: George Stigler (1949): Five Lectures on Economic Problems: ‘Why encourage men to work and save ? The customary answer is to maximize output…. One might defend the goal of maximum output by arguing that the ultimate utilitarian... 2/
... goal was maximum satisfaction, and that greater output will lead to larger increases of satisfaction than will greater equality. This interpretation is plausible, but I believe it is mistaken.... Why, then, did the classical economists display such great and persistent... 3/
... concern with policies that maximize output? Their concern was with the maximizing, not with the output. The struggle of men for larger incomes was good because in the process they learned independence, self-reliance, self-discipline—because, in short, they became better... 4/
... men..." <github.com/braddelong/pub…>
As history of economic thought, these observations by Stigler are… quite bad. In the Grand Architecture of Stigler thought, he misuses the classical economists here to gain support for the first of the three grand claims that make... 5/
As history of economic thought, these observations by Stigler are… quite bad. In the Grand Architecture of Stigler thought, he misuses the classical economists here to gain support for the first of the three grand claims that make... 5/
... up his intellectual edifice: 1. The actual quantity and distribution of wealth is unimportant—needs to be dismissed from consideration. 2. It is very important that the rich not be taxed and regulated, because to do so would keep them from exerting their powers to... 6/
...the fullest to become excellent and demonstrate their excellence. 3. It is very important that the not-rich not be insured by society against want, for to do so would deprive them of the spur that they need to improve their characters and achieve what excellence they... 7/
...might be capable of.
For most people who make this three-part argument, it is, as John Holbo quotes Lionel Trilling as assessing it, not a thought but only an “irritable mental gesture”. At least as I read Stigler, however, he is dead serious... 8/
For most people who make this three-part argument, it is, as John Holbo quotes Lionel Trilling as assessing it, not a thought but only an “irritable mental gesture”. At least as I read Stigler, however, he is dead serious... 8/
...Cue John Holbo @jholbo1 examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2003…: 9/END
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