The economics behind gift giving and charity have long been a neglected topic among researchers and economists.
Jörg Guido Hülsmann: The economic literature on gifts is actually quite massive, but it's true that these writings don't make it into standard micro- and macroeconomics.
The pope wondered how the scope of gratuitous goods could be increased in the human economy, and he called on all people of good will to deal with this issue in thought and action.
In 2018, during a sabbatical semester, I therefore set out to study three specific areas in more detail: How do gifts fit into the general theory of economic goods? Is the act of giving a distinct praxeological category on its own? Which are the major types of positive externalities, or side-effect goods, that spring from profit seeking and other human actions that do not have the express purpose of providing gratuitous benefits to others? Which are the causes that promote and hamper the development of such side-effect goods? In which ways and to what extent do government interventions influence these processes?
People do not desire to own as much money as possible but the proper amount of money, along with the proper amounts of all other goods that they also wish to own.
Present-day general equilibrium economics la Debreu and Arrow postulates that each good provided to others is, or at least should be, adequately remunerated, unless it is provided as a deliberate gift.
TM: How is bad economics in this field a problem for ordinary people? That is, has a failure to understand the economics of gratuitous goods led to justifications for interventionist economic policy?
https://mises.org/misesian/understanding-true-meaning-charity
No comments:
Post a Comment