At Marginal Revolution, I found a link to the history of the term "the dismal science", coincidentally at the same server as econlog. It's fascinating reading.
Good evidence that not all libertarians think the weak deserve to suffer, & that sort of thing.
It's a bit heavy on the rhetoric sometimes, putting the 11. september attacks into a context of anti-capitalist racism, but there is also some inspiring self-insights. The authors believe that while classical economics were based on the equality of man, it was corrupted by the other side by eugenicist and racist thinking, and then ceased being "classical". This was then corrected by the rise of the Chicago school of economics, but apparently only partially:
But while the Chicago school returned the homogeneity principle to economics, the fate of ethical norms [...] has been one of relative obscurity. Removed from economics so that Eugenical remaking might occur, sympathy and reciprocity have remained largely outside economics.
Perhaps we don't disagree as much as I believed. It's anyway heartening to read a wholehearted rejection of racism and eugenics from ideologists I have come to associate more with "survival of the fittest"-type ideas.
Wish I had time to write a more complete review.
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Posted by vintermann at May 22, 2006 01:26 PM