Economic Folklore

Arnold Kling hits the nail on the head when he says that the influence of folklore is much more powerful than the intellectual theorization that may have inspired it. His article at Tech Central here explains the point nicely.


[Thanks to TCS for this image.]

He has made me become conscious of what I unconsciously (up to now) consider my purpose to be, i.e. it is to interpret economic wisdom so that folklore can take hold of it and run. My problem is, I hope against hope that it runs in the right direction.

No pun intended here; after all, that would depend upon which "right" popped into the reader's mind. There's the "religious" right, the "Republican" right, the "conservative" right, the "neocon" right, the moderate "John Cain" right, or the just plain "correct" right, that some day I'll define for myself. (It definitely must include "free market," "small government," "strict Constitutionalist," "states' rights," "balanced budget," "non-interventionist," "low taxes," "no inflation," and perhaps a "gold [or silver] monetary standard.")