Re: Plumbing "Doug Henwood" at Jul 22, 94 05:24:58 pm

[Herbert Gintis <gintis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
>A belated response to Herb Gintis' characterization of himself as a
>plumber, not a visionary. Who's the architect of this house? Or is it
>even a house? Is it a factory, maybe, or a crematorium? What is all this
>technique in the service of? Or is that left to other experts?

	A good architech is also a good plumber (i.e., knows the limits
of various types of materials and how to combine them). Perhaps it would
be better if I said I aspire to be a plumber/architect. The alternative
is visionaries with vague ideas and long wish-lists with no real way
of getting from here to there.

>Why has economics become so divorced both from its own history and from
>intellectual life in general?

	If 'intellectual life' means suggesting alternative
institutional arrangements with little concern for their viability,
efficacy, and efficiency, then I suspect that its 'intellectual life'
and not economics that is the problem.

	I am not saying that all social change should be approved by
and conforming to economic theory. There are probably lots of
interesting experiments that should be tried out because they are
interesting and they might work, even if we can't say there is much
evidence in their favor. And when they do, we must change the economic
theory. It's just that I can't say much about them beforehand as an
economist, and it is hypocritical for me to pretend I know something I
don't.

	I am saying that we shouldn't pretend to have answers to
problems when we don't, and we should try harder to find answers and
confront historical prejudices of our that have led us to make wrong
turns in the past.

Herb gintis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx