Ormai mi sembra chiaro, gli unici intellettuali “di destra” sulla piazza sono gli economisti (e “chi pensa come loro”).
Ma come pensano? Ecco gli 8 capisaldi:
1. People Face Tradeoffs
2. The Cost of Something is What You Give Up to Get It
3. Rational People Think at the Margin
4. People Respond to Incentives
5. Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off
6. Markets Are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic Activity
7. Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes
8. A Country's Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods and Services
All’ apparenza ci vorrebbe poco a convincere i “colleghi”, si tratta solo d’ invitarli a pensare razionalmente l’ interazione tra individui.
A quanto pare la resistenza maggiore si produce una volta arrivati al punto 4. Una volta che sentono la parola “egoismo” cominciano a fantasticare sull’ avidità vampiresca del genere umano e li abbiamo persi per sempre.
Per la conversione dell’ infedele dire che “gli incentivi contano” è una cattiva mossa, lo spiegano bene Jeffrey e Shterna Friedman nel loro recente saggio su “Critical Review”: "Capitalism and the Jewish Intellectuals". Fortunatamente esistono alternative:
Q: Why are so many Jews hostile to capitalism when, as Milton Friedman argued, it is the one system that breaks down discrimination against Jews and allows them to thrive?
A: Because many Jews, particularly the ones we hear from, are intellectuals, and intellectuals are hostile to capitalism.
Q: Why are so many intellectuals hostile to capitalism?
A: Because many intellectuals do not have first-hand knowledge of economics. They have heard that "incentives matter," and this confirms their impression that capitalism is based on greed. Even intellectuals with training in economics take away from "incentives matter" the message that "we" (meaning intellectuals making policy) should manage, or at least tweak, everyone else's incentives.
Q: How would you break down that hostility to capitalism?
A: By de-emphasizing "Incentives matter" and instead emphasizing that "unintended consequences matter." That is the message of Adam Smith. It is the message of Hayek. Once we embed people in complex economic and political systems, selfish intentions can turn out well (because of competition), and good intentions can turn out badly (because of imperfect knowledge).
