They postulate an
inexorable drive toward greater welfare and utility (i.e., the idea of
progress). They render our chaotic world meaningful and make us feel
part of a larger whole. Economics strives to answer the "why's" and
"how's" of our daily life. It is dialogic and prescriptive (i.e.,
provides behavioral prescriptions). In certain ways, it is akin to
religion.
In its catechism, the believer (let's say, a politician) asks: "Why...
(and here follows an economic problem or behaviour)".
The economist answers:
"The situation is like this not because the world is whimsically cruel,
irrational, and arbitrary - but because ... (and here follows a causal
explanation based on an economic model). If you were to do this or that
the situation is bound to improve".
The believer feels reassured by this explanation and by the explicit
affirmation that there is hope providing he follows the prescriptions.
His belief in the existence of linear order and justice administered by
some supreme, transcendental principle is restored.
This sense of "law and order" is further enhanced when the theory
yields predictions which come true, either because they are
self-fulfilling or because some real "law", or pattern, has emerged.
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