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> Economics is amoral Such a thing does not exist. It is the study of exchange between individuals, any model that brings down morality to 0 will not be useful
by conanbatt 7y ago
> Economics is amoral
Such a thing does not exist. It is the study of exchange between individuals, any model that brings down morality to 0 will not be useful, practical or a applicable.
There is a reason why the most iconic political economists were all philosophers!
- beat 7y agoWhen you buy something from Amazon, is it an exchange between individuals? When you get a paycheck from a corporate employer, is it an exchange between individuals? No, that makes no sense. It's an exchange between an individual and an abstract legal/financial entity that engages in economic activity, but is in no rational way a human being. And what about B2B exchange? Clearly, it's economics, but when Wal-Mart buys a wholesale lot of shampoo from Proctor & Gamble, it is absurd to think of that as "between individuals".
- conanbatt 7y ago> When you buy something from Amazon, is it an exchange between individuals? Yes. You exchange your labor, divided into an unseen number of customers for another one's labor, divided into an unseen number of customers. Remove individual interactions and see everything disappear. Its the building block of society.
- beat 7y agoOk, even if you take humans as the motivating agent... how does it become a moral act? How is an exchange of money for goods/services an inherent good, or an inherent evil for that matter?
- conanbatt 7y agoIs it done under coercion? Is the exchange forbidden, or punished? Is the exchange harming an innocent third party? Is the exchange guaranteed by a third party? etc.