Colleagues: Just read the Feb issue of Atlantic Monthly; therein an
interesting article by philanthropist George Soros on the dangers of
capitalism. What makes it interesting to me (and, potentially, us) is
the perspective he brings to the argument. In essence, capitalism only
works in theory, and then only because of some faulty mental maps; and
it suffers from what he calls "reflexivity" (I call reciprocal
interaction), the two-way feedback between market participants thinking
and the situation they think about. In other words, economics as a
discipline suffers from the systemic problem that everything is
connected to everything else, and our theories and decisions (market
decisions?) influence events, which simultaneously influence our
decisions, etc. In an attempt to be a hard science, economics ignores
the "system" and its social-science dynamics.
First time I had really looked at capitalism in this light. Anyway, an
interesting read that I recommend. The Feb issue will probably be on
their web site (http://www.theAtlantic.com/atlantic/) shortly ... I just
checked and they still have the Jan issue up.
Steve
--
Stephen B. Wehrenberg, Ph.D.
Chief, Forecasts and Systems, US Coast Guard;
Administrative Sciences Program, The George Washington University;
wstephen@erols.com
Reflexivity - Article on capitalism
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