Sunday, November 20, 2016

Economics, Logic, Validity, and Viability

The economic point of view is the logical point of view extended from propositions to actions. Economics is the logic of action. Logic is the economics of propositions. Thus, it is meaningless to say that, when considering the viability of any action, it is prudent to weigh "economic logic" against other perspectives and considerations. It would be just as meaningless to say that, when considering the validity of any argument, it is prudent to weigh logic against other perspectives and considerations.

In other words, in the realm of action there is no logic that is not economic logic. There is, for instance, no separate "moral logic" that can be insulated from the considerations of scarcity and uncertainty. To believe otherwise is not to dignify morality or any other field of action by making it independent, but to turn it, at best, into empty fantasizing, or, at worst, into dangerous superstition. In sum, uneconomic action is bound to be just as counterproductive, if not more evidently so, as illogical thought, and there can be no happy ending to the story of human flourishing that does not pass the cost-benefit test.

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