Angus Deaton won a Nobel Prize in economics. Now he says he got it wrong on globalization.

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

"I don't think I've stopped being an economist, nor have I stopped thinking a lot of the things I thought about before," he said. "It's just that around the edges, there are sort of assumptions that probably weren't true — and that sometimes we have to take a broader view of things."

He's fond of the phrase "sandbagged by reality," which can perhaps explain why he says historians tend to be critical of economists: The most efficient answer to a problem doesn't always promote optimal well-being for the humans involved.

(snip)

He said Rodrik made the important point that economists are right: Those who stand something to gain in trade gain more than the losers lose. But that gain comes at the expense of redistribution, which may not be what one hopes for.

"Now the standard recipe, which the trade people in the textbooks say is, 'OK, you can tax the gainers and give it back to losers,' to which I say, 'Oh, yes, when did you last do that?'" Deaton said. "And the gainers don't want to give it up because they think, 'Oh, we've done really well here. Why is the government trying to take it away from us?'"

(snip)

https://www.businessinsider.com/nobel-prize-economist-angus-deaton-rethinks-unions-free-trade-immigration-2024-4#:~:text=Angus%20Deaton%20won%20the%20Nobel,%2C%20free%20trade%2C%20and%20immigration.



I'm thinking that if the economy were as a human body, this would be like clogging up the arteries.

[hlthe2b]

1. "sandbagged" seems a useful term, almost synonymous with all economic discussions.

Sigh...