Yes, Brad, like me, is a great believer in enlightened capitalism, but every once in a while the socialist dreamer in him peeks out. Wouldn’t it be nice, really, if the world were run by professors from Berkeley rather than thirty-something bond traders in four-thousand dollar suits?
An example of this yearning appears in his May 1, 2012 “Quote for the Day,” which is as follows:
“But the bounty of capitalism has at least one downside. It does not automatically produce what people really need; it produces what they think they need, and are willing [and able] to pay for.”—George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy
I am way not a fan of thirty-something bond traders in four-thousand dollar suits, but I see a lot of things wrong with that quote. In the first place, I can’t think of any system that will “automatically produce what people really need” (at, presumably, no cost to anyone), but I do think, and I think that Brad, George, and Robert would all agree with me, that capitalism comes a hell of lot closer to doing that than any other economic system.
But what’s particularly amusing is the subtle dichotomy that George and Robert draw between what people “really need,” versus “what they think they need,” with the very strong implication that lynx-eyed folk like George n’ Bob n’ Brad know what folks “really need” while they themselves do not. For instance, folks don’t “really need” McMansions, and 400-horsepower SUVs, and trips to Disney World, even though they think they do. What they really need are energy-efficient living centers, public transportation, and (I guess) baseball games.
What George and Robert are really saying, and what Brad is really applauding, is the notion that the downside of capitalism is that it allows people to have what they want, instead of what they ought to want. Which strikes me as an upside rather than a down.
