HES: Re: RVW--Jones on Marglin, _The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community_

[Deirdre McCloskey]

Dear Eric,

Good and fair review of Steve Marglin's book.  I reviewed it briefly for 
the Times Higher.  Your review has its share of Jonesian Zingers, but 
also Jonesian Insights.  Steve's book is very well and engagingly 
written.  But I think you're right that his reading of the history is 
tendentious.  For example, it was usually disputes over (say) tithes, 
that is, among the well-to-do themselves, that determined how quickly an 
enclosure went forward.  Stealing the commons from the goose was a very 
minor source of profit.  And the smallholders generally got a high price 
for the buying out of their rights, a high price that came from the 
(modest) increase of efficiency.  The level where I think Steve is 
exactly right, though, is that of ideology.  The ideology of Greed Is 
Good has been available since Mandeville, and grows in popularity, 
partly, as Steve and I and many others would agree, because it is 
favored by economists and calculators, and not more than by the recent 
Sons of Samuelson (the Daughters are more sensible).

Regards,

Deirdre McCloskey