This great video from one of our favorite Cambridge University economics professors. (We also love Guy Standing, who wrote The Precariat.) Ha-Joon Chang agrees with what Screwnomics says—Economics isn’t just numbers, it’s language, too. And language and metaphors really matter.
Why? Because language not only describes what we’re talking about—it shapes HOW we think about those things and how we value them or not . It’s hard to understand how money works on Wall Street when the language isn’t familiar to you, or the language obfuscates, or tries to impress you with insider knowledge that poor-you doesn’t know. Besides, maybe Wall Street has a purpose that doesn’t match up with what you want at all.
You might not hear this often, but ultimately economics is talking about relationships. But what sort of relationships are they? This short video shows you how it works these days—so do watch it.
Still I confess I felt some cognitive dissonance between Chang’s references to “people” in this and the images you see. It’s a strange omission, or maybe a misnaming. Do YOU see a scarcity of some “people” too? HINT: It’s what Screwnomics gives a name to, exactly what’s most wrong-headed in today’s “free market” economics.
Let’s compare notes! Post your responses on Screwnomics Twitter or Facebook. What do you see? There’s no right or wrong, here, and you don’t have to have read Screwnomics I’m just wondering what you’ll think about the language and the images, what you see and what you don’t see! I’ll post my thoughts and what you said about it next week.
