Keynes was interested in the behavior of commodities, while I was interested in the behavior of people.
I do not accept the basic premise on which economics as a discipline is based and without which it cannot be sustained. I do not accept that the economic sphere is an independent sphere, let alone that it is the dominant one. It is surely an important sphere. And as Bertolt Brecht said, " first comes the belly and then morality" - and filling the belly is what economics is all about in the main. I not only willing, but insist that in all political and social decisions the economic costs are calculated and taken into account. To talk only of the "benefits," I consider irresponsible and bound to lead to disaster.
But still, for me the economic sphere is one sphere rather than the sphere. Economic considerations are restraints rather than the overriding determinants. Economic wants and economic satisfaction are important but not absolutes. Above all, economic activities, economic institutions, economic rationality are means to non-economic (that is, human or social) ends rather than ends themselves. And this means that I do not see economics as an autonomous "science." In short, it means that I am not an economist - something I have known since, in 1934 as a young economist in a London merchant bank, I sat in the John Maynard Keynes seminar in Cambridge. I suddenly realized that Keynes was interested in the behavior of commodities, while I was interested in the behavior of people.
ACTION POINT: Before you finalize a major budget or strategic decision, set aside half an hour to make sure you have really considered the impact it will have on your people in your organization and on your customers.
Quoted from The Daily Drucker, January 22 , Page 24
No comments:
Post a Comment