Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: The early teaching of economics in the United States / Edwin R.A. Seligman

Collection:: Economics Books

56 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK EACH a Hi time or energy for earning a good living or enjoying the fruits of one’s labors. It is rational not to look after one’s interests perfectly in every respect and every relation of life; and this fact has real significance in judging the effects of an economic system which is built on the supposition that every individual does look out for his own interests in all his relations with his tellowman. Rational decision can attain perfection only in dealing with things familiar and customary, but it is only needed in dealing with things new and not yet reduced to cus- tom or routine. And those strategic decisions called “marginal” include many and significant departures from the static norm of rationality. The so-called “instinct of workmanship” is another paradoxical trait, for it is essentially one whereby any means may become an end in itself: a worker gains interest in the technique of any process which the attaining of his ends make necessary, and having done so, he may lavish his efforts, rather than economize them, or even sacrifice the end to the technique. Yet this waste and possible perversion is the price of that direct interest in the work as such, without which the most effective work is not possible. Here again, perfect efficiency, conceived after rational models, is an ideal which is not in accord with human nature as it is actually constituted. Waste of some sort is inevitable. Since intelligent choosing is so largely a matter of “trial and error,” it is important to ask how the errors operate, how they correct themselves (if they do so) and what happens if they do not. For our purposes “error” is probably an unfortunate term, suggesting as it does a mathematical calculation or the determination of an objective fact, in which there is one accurate result and departures from it can be definitely determined. This is true in many cases, especially in the field of business deci- sions, where it is a question of cheapening production or increas- ing profits. This also applies to consumption, so far as it is a matter of economical use of particular means to attain a definitely given end. But where it is a case of choosing between different ends, the case is altered. Here there are two great classes of choices: those in which it is possible to sample alternatives and then follow for the future the one which experience leads one to prefer, and those in which such sampling is difficult or impossible and the individual may be disappointed in his choice without knowing that another course would have produced greater

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