Sunday Sep 7 2008
All times are London time
From Bluematter:
The implications of the public’s mistrust of markets are profound. Simply put, it’s the resource allocation equivalent of having invented the chainshaw and insisting on using your nails to cut down trees.
About Tim Harford
I write leaders for the FT and two columns for FT Magazine: "The Undercover Economist", about economics in everyday life, and "Dear Economist", in which readers' questions are answered, tongue-in-cheek, with the latest economic theory. To find out about my books, "The Undercover Economist" and my new book "The Logic of Life", or about my radio series, More or Less, see timharford.com.
To a man with a chainsaw, everything looks like a tree.
The public are right to mistrust markets. Not because they don’t work, but because the reasons why they work and precisely what they do and do not achieve are complex matters.
Experiments like Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” and Seva Cafe should make economists very happy. Not by virtue of their existence, but because it gives them a chance to practice game theoretic techniques other than market models (yawn). Did anyone make predictions concerning what Radiohead’s profits would be? What about Seva Cafe’s profits? To me, these are important and interesting theoretical questions.
Posted by: Dom | November 14th, 2007 at 9:22 am | Report this commentChainshaw?
(Apart from the typo, the quote’s excellent of course.)
Posted by: TG | November 14th, 2007 at 10:23 am | Report this commentMaybe the public wants more out of life than resource allocation…
Posted by: Dave | November 15th, 2007 at 12:48 pm | Report this commentThe market is more akin to a hurricane. I.e. At the worst of times total unmitigated devestation! But, the majority of the time: safe as houses
Posted by: macca | November 19th, 2007 at 11:52 am | Report this comment