Not the Sith Are We

Professor Edward Glaeser, an economist at Harvard, posted a clarifying piece on the Economix blog about the moral heart of economics.  It is often called the “dismal science,” and economists can easily be parodied by a dry, humorless individual who would sell her mother’s kidney if the asking price was above her reservation price. 

Prof. Glaeser counters this stereotype (if it can be called that).  He posits that economists are actually good-natured people interested in helping out other people, assuming that people are better off when they are presented with a greater number of choices (something, he admits, that is perfectly contestable).  Based on this, economists then “assume that the fundamental objective of public policy is to increase freedom of choice” and advocate policies which embody this goal.

Read the full post here.

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