Page 50 [50]
48 I THE PHiLosopHY oF Eco-Porrrics
enough. Ihe concept of optimal measure, writes Daly, is not unknown
in corporate economics. If a company has a size beyond which further
growth would be uneconomical in the given circumstances, why not
introduce the concept of optimal size as regards national or world
economy as well??? If we can shake off the fixation that the development
of society depends on the increased traffic of goods, then there is no
barrier to concluding from the indicators of real prosperity to the state
of society and to evaluating the national economy according to whether
its performance increases the improvement of these indicators. (‘These
indicators can be quite variable. The data most often considered is
connected to the population’s education and health, the quality of the
environment, social security and equity.)
‘The other sacred cow of the ruling economic school of thought is the
theory of rational decisions. This holds that if the economic actors
possess the requisite information (which of course is contained in the
prices), then they will most likely favour the solution most cost-effective
for them. This benefits not only them in the short and long run, for the
selfishness (profit-maximalising behaviour) of the mutually competing
individuals is also the most suitable means for keeping the national
economy in balance. Garret Hardin’s model known as the tragedy of
the commons thoroughly disproves this theory. It proves that choosing
the solution that brings them the most short-term profit can actually be
reasonable for competing individuals under certain circumstances, since
foresight and self-control would merely give their competitors the
advantage. If, however, every individual were to behave in this way
separately (i.e., make decisions that are rational from their own point
of view), then the foreseeable yet unavoidable result is a common
catastrophe: the destruction of the indispensable public goods.
‘The opinion that the driving force behind economic development is
individual selfishness is as old as the competitive market economy itself.
Bernard Mandeville was the first to say, in The Fable of the Bees at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, that general economic growth is
best served by concupiscence, envy, miserliness and greed, giving these
qualities a positive ethical value.*! Even if one sets ethical reservations
9 Herman Daly — John B. Cobb: For the Common Good. Beacon Press, Boston 1989.
21 And temp'rance with sobriety,
Serve drunkenness and gluttony.
The root of evil, avarice,
That damnd ill-natur’d baneful vice,
Was slave to prodigality,
That noble sin; whilst luxury