Gintis in the Sixties

[Eugene Coyle <eugenecoyle@xxxxxxx>]

Here is a stanza and a bit more from Gintis' poem from the Sixties:

"Bourgeois welfare economics
Begins
With the assumption that individuals’ “tastes”
Or “preferences”
Are given as data
For economic analysis
And that they form the basis for his “rational choice”
Among alternative “bundles”
Of productive and consumptive activities.
From this assumption
One derives
Through a series of subtle and serious manipulations
And on the basis of a series of secondary assumptions
At a justification
Of capitalist institutions and technology.

This basic assumption may be attacked
In many directions
And indeed may be said to be
Basically false."


Gene Coyle