Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/cotm_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Boldeman, Lee. The cult of the market : economic fundamentalism and its discontents. ISBN 9781921313530 (pbk.) ISBN 9781921313547 (online) 1. Economics. 2. Economic policy. I. Title. 330 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by Emily Boldeman Printed by University Printing Services, ANU This edition © 2007 ANU E Press To Ken and Don Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................. ix Chapter 1. Setting the Scene .................................................................... 1 Chapter 2. The Creation of Social Order is Irreducibly a Moral Project .................................................................................................... 39 Assumptions Underlying Contemporary Public Policy Debates ........... 39 How is Social Order Possible? ............................................................ 40 Social Order is an Evolved Complex Moral Order ............................... 49 The Maintenance of Social Order Also Involves the Creation of Moral Institutions ...................................................................................... 57 The Maintenance of Social Order Involves Moral Choice and Struggle ........................................................................................... 61 Summary ......................................................................................... 67 Chapter 3. The Relationship Between the Economic System and the Social Order ........................................................................................... 73 Introduction .................................................................................... 73 Current Theories Explaining the Existence of Social Order ................. 74 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 97 Chapter 4. A Brief Account of the Historical Origins of Economic Fundamentalism ................................................................................... 103 Introduction ................................................................................... 103 A Brief History ............................................................................... 106 Summary ....................................................................................... 120 Chapter 5. A Critique of the Conceptual Foundations of Economic Fundamentalism ................................................................................... 125 Introduction: The Contemporary Epochal Transformation in the Western Mind ................................................................................ 125 The Excessive Western Faith in Objectivism .................................... 132 Chapter 6. The Privileged Status of `Science' ....................................... 153 Introduction: Science and Rationality .............................................. 153 The Contemporary Philosophy of Science ........................................ 157 The Particular Difficulties of the Social `Sciences' ............................. 164 Summary ....................................................................................... 177 Chapter 7. What, Then, Can We Say of the Status of Economics? ......... 181 Introduction ................................................................................... 181 The Distinction Between Positive and Normative Theorising, Particularly in Economics ................................................................ 181 vii The Cult of the Market The Questionable Status of Economics within the Human Conversation .................................................................................. 189 Can Moral Philosophy Assist Economists in Providing Policy Advice? .......................................................................................... 191 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 199 Chapter 8. The Critique of Neoclassical Economics and its Influence on Policy Decisions ............................................................................... 203 Where Are We Going? .................................................................... 203 Mainstream Economics ................................................................... 204 The Long-Running Critique of Neoclassical Economics and its Limited Relevance to Policy ......................................................................... 207 The Mainstream Reaction to this Torrent of Criticism ........................ 209 Economic Policy and Epistēmē ......................................................... 212 Idealisation in Neoclassical Economics ............................................. 213 The Normative Use of Neoclassical Economic Idealisations ................ 217 The Flawed Assumptions of Neoclassical Economic Idealisation ........ 218 The Formal Ontological Critique of Neoclassical Economics ............... 229 The Appreciative Justification for Competitive Markets and its Association with Lockean Political Theorising .................................. 233 Economics and Economic Growth .................................................... 235 New and Revived Schools of Economics ........................................... 236 The Reform of Economic Teaching ................................................... 240 Chapter 9. The Doctrine of Freedom of Contract ................................. 245 Introduction ................................................................................... 245 Some Reflections on the Doctrine of Freedom of Contract .................. 252 The Recent Fair-Trading Debate in Australia .................................... 256 Chapter 10. Some Normative Reflections ............................................. 269 Reiteration ..................................................................................... 269 Development .................................................................................. 274 Economics as a Secular Religion ....................................................... 278 The Need for Intellectual Humility .................................................. 282 Complexity .................................................................................... 284 Final Thoughts ............................................................................... 287 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 291 viii Introduction Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. Ð J. M. Keynes1 Let us clear from the ground the metaphysical or general principle upon which, from time to time, laissez-faire has been founded. It is not true that individuals possess a prescriptive `natural liberty' in their economic activities. There is no `compact' conferring perpetual rights on those who Have or those who Acquire. The world is not so governed from above that private and social interests always coincide. It is not a correct deduction from the Principles of Economics that enlightened self-interest always operates in the public interest. Nor is it true that self-interest generally is enlightened; more often individuals acting separately to promote their own ends are too ignorant or too weak to attain even these. Experience does not show that individuals, when they make up a social unit, are always less clear-sighted than when they act separately. Ð J. M. Keynes2 There are many others who are much better equipped than I am to write this book. Many sympathetic social theorists and economists schooled in philosophy and economics could have unravelled the complex issues underpinning economic fundamentalism and its perverse influence on public policy. While there is a huge literature critiquing libertarian philosophy and mainstream economics in great depth from every possible angle, I found few texts that provided an overview that addressed my needs as a policy analyst and none that covered the field as I would have liked. I am therefore writing my own broad-ranging multi-disciplinary account to explain how we arrived at this point and what is wrong with it. I initially wrote primarily for my own benefit so as to better understand the critique that was lurking somewhere in my subconscious, and in a wide range of literature, and which underpinned the widely shared concern that mainstream economics and its derivativeÐeconomic fundamentalismÐwas simply `bullshit'. In doing so, I make few claims to originality other than in respect of the selection and organisation of the material. I leave it to economic fundamentalists and mainstream economists to defend their positions. In his paper and subsequent book On Bullshit,3 leading American philosopher Harry Frankfurt has described bullshit as a form of bluffing, arguing that it is a greater threat to truth than lies. He believes that the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic