JBG
10-14-2006, 08:06 PM
One of the reasons why the "New World" is such a great place is its economic dynamism. The recent Nobel prize in Economics rewards a leading writer and thinker about this dynamism, Columbia University's Edmund "Ned" Phelps (link) (http://www.nysun.com/article/41268).
This coincides with my pet views about the New World, that the dynamic, innovative people largely left Europe in disgust at their inability to move ahead, trapped behind the elites. France blew its chance, with the Revolution and its chaos and violence, to join the classically liberal world that was being created in America. It became a statist, schlerotic successor to the caste-driven monarchy it replaced. Similar things happened throughout Continental Europe. Thus, Europe stagnated when its one-time boost of economic vitality from exploiting its overseas colonies evaporated.
Now, in the form of the UN and Kyoto, Europe seeks to re-impose the shackles of statism (modern label "market socialism") on the US, Canada and Australia. It is no wonder that the Canadian forces supporting Kyoto emerge largely from Quebec, through Desmairis and Strong. Quebec has largely inherited the statism of France, and similarly fears unshackled market activity.
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October 10, 2006 Edition > Section: Editorials > Printer-Friendly Version
A Nobel for New York
New York Sun Staff Editorial
October 10, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/41268
It's hard to think of a more delightful and satisfying piece of news than word that the Nobel prize in economics has gone to Columbia University's Edmund "Ned" Phelps. He and his wife Viviana are not only wonderful individuals, as we learned on several occasions in the past few years, but in a career spanning more than four decades, there are few economic puzzles to which Mr. Phelps has not turned his intellect. He earned the prize for his work on the particular problems lying at the intersection of monetary policy, inflation control, and employment, but for the past few years he has been speaking regularly about the importance of that quality, which almost defines the city where he and Viviana have made their home — "dynamism."
He is almost like a great painter in the perceptiveness with which he sees things over which others gloss. In an interview not long ago with our A.L. Gordon, Mr. Phelps described New York's proliferation of pizza parlors as "an economist's model of competitive behavior." His ability is to detect economics at work just about anywhere. Recently he has been turning his eye to capitalism, especially as head of Columbia's Center on Capitalism and Society. He started down this road in the early 1990s at the same time Russia was throwing off communism. Aware that Russia was on the verge of choosing either European-style market socialism or American-style capitalism, Mr. Phelps realized that no one had undertaken serious study of capitalism in more than a generation.
*SNIP*
This is no doubt how Mr. Phelps latched onto the importance of "dynamism," which can be defined loosely as the qualities in a country's economic system that create work, allow talent to shine, and encourage creative problem solving. Mr. Phelps has recognized that America's dynamism has been the key to its economic success, while many European countries have stalled for lack of it.
*snip*
As the Web site of Mr. Phelps' Columbia center puts it, he and his colleagues "are united in believing it is time for economics to go beyond the mainstream models of markets to a serious study of capitalism — to the questions about its dynamism and its stability and how capitalism compares in these respects with its rivals, corporatism and market socialism."
*snip*
It can't be a coincidence that a New Yorker would be one of the most enthusiastic scholars of dynamism in economics.
This coincides with my pet views about the New World, that the dynamic, innovative people largely left Europe in disgust at their inability to move ahead, trapped behind the elites. France blew its chance, with the Revolution and its chaos and violence, to join the classically liberal world that was being created in America. It became a statist, schlerotic successor to the caste-driven monarchy it replaced. Similar things happened throughout Continental Europe. Thus, Europe stagnated when its one-time boost of economic vitality from exploiting its overseas colonies evaporated.
Now, in the form of the UN and Kyoto, Europe seeks to re-impose the shackles of statism (modern label "market socialism") on the US, Canada and Australia. It is no wonder that the Canadian forces supporting Kyoto emerge largely from Quebec, through Desmairis and Strong. Quebec has largely inherited the statism of France, and similarly fears unshackled market activity.
================================================== =============
October 10, 2006 Edition > Section: Editorials > Printer-Friendly Version
A Nobel for New York
New York Sun Staff Editorial
October 10, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/41268
It's hard to think of a more delightful and satisfying piece of news than word that the Nobel prize in economics has gone to Columbia University's Edmund "Ned" Phelps. He and his wife Viviana are not only wonderful individuals, as we learned on several occasions in the past few years, but in a career spanning more than four decades, there are few economic puzzles to which Mr. Phelps has not turned his intellect. He earned the prize for his work on the particular problems lying at the intersection of monetary policy, inflation control, and employment, but for the past few years he has been speaking regularly about the importance of that quality, which almost defines the city where he and Viviana have made their home — "dynamism."
He is almost like a great painter in the perceptiveness with which he sees things over which others gloss. In an interview not long ago with our A.L. Gordon, Mr. Phelps described New York's proliferation of pizza parlors as "an economist's model of competitive behavior." His ability is to detect economics at work just about anywhere. Recently he has been turning his eye to capitalism, especially as head of Columbia's Center on Capitalism and Society. He started down this road in the early 1990s at the same time Russia was throwing off communism. Aware that Russia was on the verge of choosing either European-style market socialism or American-style capitalism, Mr. Phelps realized that no one had undertaken serious study of capitalism in more than a generation.
*SNIP*
This is no doubt how Mr. Phelps latched onto the importance of "dynamism," which can be defined loosely as the qualities in a country's economic system that create work, allow talent to shine, and encourage creative problem solving. Mr. Phelps has recognized that America's dynamism has been the key to its economic success, while many European countries have stalled for lack of it.
*snip*
As the Web site of Mr. Phelps' Columbia center puts it, he and his colleagues "are united in believing it is time for economics to go beyond the mainstream models of markets to a serious study of capitalism — to the questions about its dynamism and its stability and how capitalism compares in these respects with its rivals, corporatism and market socialism."
*snip*
It can't be a coincidence that a New Yorker would be one of the most enthusiastic scholars of dynamism in economics.