Opinion: American democracy is ailing. Thinking like an economist can help.
By Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro April 10 at 3:34 PM Gary Saul Morson is a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Northwestern University, where Morton Schapiro, a professor of economics, is president. They are the authors of “Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities.”
Consider policies advocated by many on the left or the right about issues they care about most deeply, and it soon becomes apparent that they are thinking not practically, but almost theologically — unable to tolerate compromise, unwilling to consider trade-offs. With politics becoming a secular religion, and its practitioners taking similarly inflexible stands, affording little discernible benefit to the nation, it might be worthwhile to consider how an economist would approach some of the vital issues today.
Scarcity exists, and imperfect choices must be made. Great literature, as well as great economics, has illustrated this truth. Anton Chekhov repeatedly criticized the self-indulgence of those failing to allocate time, money and energy effectively. For him, high-minded waste is never desirable. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in “The Brothers Karamazov,” portrays Ivan and Alyosha as high-mindedly agreeing that they would not save millions of children if it meant sacrificing even one of them.
Or consider the minimum wage. Just as eliminating it would hurt many workers, raising it too much would reduce employment opportunities for precisely those in greatest need of them. Today, most American economists favor a range between $12 and $15 an hour. Go far above or below these numbers and the harm will far outweigh the good.
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