JAMES MARTIN ROCK
Professor Emeritus
Department of Economics
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
rock@econ.sbs.utah.edu
(801) 581-7481
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Economic beliefs spill-over very easily into philosophic, political, religious, and other beliefs. W e typically choose or inherit our economic dogma based on where, when, how, and to whom we are born, married, employed, and so forth. With these economic beliefs come a community of believers with whom we feel we have commonality. I have been a disciple of John Maynard Keynes all my professional life. Believers in the economics of Keynes are latitudinarians (to which my wife responds, Jim matriculated as a geographer!). It is a school of thought that believes in tradeoffs and nonviolent persuasive techniques. The value of everything, every belief-economic, political, sociological, psychological, et al.-is open to question and to discussion. Some of the more interesting tradeoffs are efficiency vs. equality, free will vs. determinism, action vs. structure, and individualism vs. community.
The first session of Spring Semester is devoted to teaching Econ 5050/6050: John Maynard Keynes. The rest of the year is devoted to my family, research, and writing.
Economics 5050/6050 studies the evolution of Lord Keynes' philosophic and economic thought; he originated the systematic study of macroeconomic theory and policy (moral condition). Economics is given the hard task of explaining the problems, understanding the possible tradeoffs, and providing the solutions. The basic economic policy problem is the optimal amount of government intervention needed in our free enterprise system to encourage both equity and efficiency, whether it be fiscal or monetary policy or other programs.
In economics as well as elsewhere, when reason, given its assumptions, is unsatisfactory, passionate persuasion is necessary. Nonviolent persuasion is best provided by models and "figurative language." Models and figurative language are always open to interpretation. Economics is rife with both. The "art" of persuasion needs to be as succinct as possible to maintain interest. Interest will stimulate relevancy.
In the hard and social sciences, Thomas Kuhn's epistemology of "revolution" is often the approach used to sort out which areas of research are growing and expanding or constant or receding in interest. "Normal" science progresses by means of beliefs and ideas that have commonality. "Revolutionary" science happens when normal science cannot answer the new questions presented and/or empirical data cast doubt on the validity of earlier beliefs. Keynes' economic theory was a revolution, a revolution in method, which utilized human logic ahead of the logics of induction and deduction. The revolution is explained in full in my manuscript: Keynes on Paradox, Common Sense, Rationality & Passion, which is read in Econ. 5050/6050 along with Keynes' The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money and his memoir "My Early Beliefs."
My economic upbringing was and is normal and revolutionary. Nothing like a rural Wisconsin childhood and one-room schoolhouse education to achieve motivation without bribes or the whip. To me, the scope of economics is three-fold: a positive science for the establishment of uniformities, a normative science for the determination of ideals, and an art for the formulation of models and policies relevant to the real world. Tradeoffs are grist for the mill of economics. The metaphysical tradeoff between free will and determinism is neatly illustrated by Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five. Earthling Billy Pilgrim is on display in a zoo on planet Tralfamador, a world of closed timelike lines. The zoo keeper is speaking (p. 74):
"I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber."
"You sound to me as though you don't believe in free will," said Billy Pilgrim.
"If I hadn't spent so much time studying Earthlings," said the Tralfamadorian, "I wouldn't have any idea what was meant by 'free will.' I've visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will."
As Billy Pilgrim would say, "So it goes." Human logic is a decision-making process that accords with the human condition.
Additional information is available on these subjects by tapping the links:
Econ 5050: John Maynard Keynes