« Intelligent Design and Evolution | Main | Assorted links »
Sentence of the Day
It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a curse.
Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Jonathan Sacks quoted in McCloskey's The Bourgeois Virtues.
Hat tip to Steve Horowitz at The Austrian Economists who rightly says "Have the benefits of specialization and exchange ever been presented more concisely and beautifully than in that one sentence?" Maybe this should be sentence of the year.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on September 12, 2008 at 07:39 AM in Economics, Education | Permalink
Comments
I wonder if the statement is meant to include the exhange of ideas.
Posted by: Mario Rizzo at Sep 12, 2008 8:25:22 AM
One man's blessing is another man's curse.
Maybe he means the exchange of property against one's will. Like illegal settlements.
Posted by: meter at Sep 12, 2008 8:43:03 AM
It is not clear to me how difference is a curse without exchange. A curse for whom? Those who are different? From whom? Everyone is different from someone - would it be a curse for all of mankind? If so, could it really be considered a curse? Compared to what?
Posted by: chrisare at Sep 12, 2008 8:48:23 AM
Excellent.
Commenters above - you're over thinking it.
Posted by: at Sep 12, 2008 9:00:25 AM
Commenters above - you're over thinking it.
Or, as Tyler might say, "You're just not too bright."
Or thick, intentional or otherwise....
Posted by: at Sep 12, 2008 9:03:06 AM
No, you're under-thinking it.
Posted by: meter at Sep 12, 2008 9:07:45 AM
The quote doesn't make sense. It should be: Exchange is valuable because of differences.
I don't think we (or Tyler) want to make a normative judgment about whether differences are good or bad. They just "are."
Posted by: John H at Sep 12, 2008 9:32:22 AM
Rabbi Sacks has articulated the outcome of exchange. Friedman described the reason for it.
"The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."
Agnostically this would be: It is through exchange that difference becomes a benefit, not a burden.
Posted by: The other Eric at Sep 12, 2008 9:35:36 AM
Yes, that's concise and very true. Specialize, exchange and benefit!
Not sure why commentators are thinking astray over this simple concept. Friday morning may be.
Posted by: Harsh at Sep 12, 2008 9:57:53 AM
Alex, the quote can't be the quote of the year, because it's five years old. It comes from Jonathan Sacks' 2003 book, "The Dignity of Difference." The entire paragraph from which the quote is drawn, answers many of the questions in the comments:
I quote the entire paragraph from Jonathan Sack's book, the Dignity of Difference:
"I have suggested a different model and metaphor. The world is not a single machine. It is a complex, interactive ecology in which diversity -- biological, personal, cultural and religious -- is of the essence. Any proposed reduction of that diversity through the many forms of fundamentalism that exist today -- market, scientific or religious -- would result in a diminution of the rich texture of our shared life, a potentially disastrous narrowing of the horizons of possibility. Nature, and humanly constructed societies, economies and polities, are systems of ordered complexity. That is what makes them creative and unpredictable. Any attempt to impose on them an artificial uniformity in the name of a single culture or faith, represents a tragic misunderstanding of what it takes for a system to flourish. Because we are different, we each have something unique to contribute, and every contribution counts. A primordial instinct going back to humanity's tribal past makes us see difference as a threat. That instinct is massively dysfunctional in an age in which our several destinies are interlinked. Oddly enough, it is the market -- the least overtly spiritual of concepts -- that delivers a profoundly spiritual message: that it is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a curse. When difference leads to war, both sides lose. When it leads to mutual enrichment, both sides gain."
First note that the quote does not contain the vitriol that 'steve', in his lie or strangely sarcastic comment, attributes to Rabbi Sacks (I ask that Alex or Tyler remove steve's comment). Second the curse of difference is our "primordial instinct ... [that] makes us see difference as a threat." The blessing of "mutual enrichment" that exchange brings, lets us overcome this instinct.
Posted by: Josh S at Sep 12, 2008 11:11:51 AM
Josh - thanks for posting the whole paragraph. The quote McCloskey extracted looks even BETTER seen in context.
Posted by: Steven Horwitz at Sep 12, 2008 11:26:57 AM
I haven't read the book(s) but it appears from the amazon excerpts that one truly fundamental problem is ignored: for a market to function the products, and the market itself, requires capital; and that capital is controlled by a government, acting (ideally) in the interests of the people who have subjected themselves to its rules.
The treatment of ideas is likewise suspect; stating that "differences in ideas are inherently good". I would offer that such differences, with the only true means of resolution through the application of power, are also merely the foundation of our existence and are neither good nor bad in themselves (see John H's comment).
I prefer the re-phrase "Exchange is valuable because of differences" since it properly orders cause and effect: we have exchange because we are different. The downside comes from those persons who have little or nothing to exchange; but are otherwise "suffered" to live (and not be "exploited") through the policies of government, and thus rely upon either the forced charity of social programs or the internal exchange of feelings for money in voluntary charity.
The government/society has this power because the individuals who form it give it such authority in order to protect their own differences from those who would either simply take what they want or who, especially with ideas, simply disagree and believe that killing the opposing view is necessary.
Posted by: David J at Sep 12, 2008 11:39:56 AM
"differences" refers to comparative advantage, yo.
Posted by: pants at Sep 12, 2008 11:57:43 AM
"Comparative advantage" - it can...and in this particular case, except for the extension into ideas, I have assumed it does. Societies are formed so that the members of that society can protect and enjoy their comparative advantages.
I appreciate the original context provided by Josh S, though I could debate the middle section pertaining to systems, as well as the instinct section. It does, however, provide a clear context in which exchange can be used as a source of power (i.e., I have/provide something you want/need so you need to behave in ways I find acceptable). Aside from food and shelter little else can be rightly considered a necessity (required to sustain life). Ignoring the use of comparative advantage on ideology and actions misses a substantial component of the human system; the component that not only wants to live but wants to do so comfortably and in accordance with ones own desires. I may desire to drive fast, and have the means to do so, but refrain because I have given that comfort up in exchange for the benefits of belonging to a society.
Posted by: David J at Sep 12, 2008 12:58:46 PM
Ask Steve Horwitz what he thinks of the quotes I have given him from Mises, Hayek, and Boudreaux, about redistribution, that he will not allow on his blog,and what he thinks of the free exchange of ideas with myself, Mises, Hayek,
and Bourdreax.
Posted by: d g lesvic at Sep 12, 2008 1:00:17 PM
OK, that sentence is wonderful. It has my vote for sentence of the year.
But, before market supporters become all warm and fuzzy, let´s ask the following question: what should we do about the manual worker who spends his day in a firm inside which no market exists? Just let him become a standardized dumbed-down imbecile who will be downsized in the next technological change and/or market fluctuation?
Is it entirely accurate to say this guy is free (at least after he has done signing the contract)? He is being forced into being different, over-specialized in something he couldn't care less about. Sure, the market encourages freedom, and so on, but it also produces the firm, which is not such a freedom-loving institution.
It´s one thing to think of difference as blessing when you are picturing Cowen writing books for the market and buying gourmet foods in the market. A large part of the population is forced to be different, forced to be worse, forced to be dumber, because their universal nature, their qualities or their intelligence have no market value. It is somwhow funny to call a defense of that "individualism".
Sure, that beats the hell out of slavery, serfdom, communism, or any sort of economically stagnant society. I'm all for the market to deal with most stuff. But it is not good enough to make me feel too pleased about myself.
Posted by: NPTO at Sep 12, 2008 2:03:48 PM
@NPTO:
This is a good illustration of the difference between value and price.
The market determines prices, but value is whatever you make of it.
If there is a cautionary tale here, it not to place too much value on things whose prices can readily be determined.
Posted by: Robert at Sep 12, 2008 5:45:16 PM
A good argument for the late Paul Heyne's contention that defining economics as "the science of exchange" beats all that junk about optimal allocation of resources under conditions of scarcity etc.......
Posted by: Brent Wheeler at Sep 16, 2008 5:48:47 AM
Welcome to our company which sells all kinds of cabal online alz.
Posted by: cabal online alz at Jan 2, 2009 12:31:50 AM
2moons dil
2moons gold
buy 2moons dil
2moon dil
cheap 2moons dil
Posted by: aion kina at Mar 18, 2009 3:36:30 AM
what are mean
Posted by: green at May 15, 2009 3:46:52 AM
Is it realistic?
Posted by: bater at May 15, 2009 3:48:04 AM
aion gold
aion money
cheap aion gold
cheap aion money
buy aion gold
Mabinogi online gold
Mabinogi gold
buy Mabinogi gold
cheap Mabinogi gold
Mabinogi money
2moons dil
2moons gold
buy 2moons dil
2moons dil
cheap 2moons dil
flyff gold
flyff penya
flyff money
buy flyff penya
cheap flyff penya
cheap flyff gold
Dofus kamas
buy Dofus kamas
cheap kamas
Dofus kama
Dofus gold
Dofus money
Knight online gold
Knight Gold
Knight Noah
Knight online Noah
Posted by: aion at Jul 10, 2009 2:47:05 AM
