Political economist Schelling (JFK School of Government, Harvard)
specializes in trying to untangle problems of economic policy -
distinguishing the problem-solving aspects from the ethical and
political concerns. In this collection of 15 previously published
essays, he takes up such issues as gasoline pricing, policies
regarding organized crime, decisions involving terminally ill
patients, and much else - including the rationality of New Year's
resolutions. Schelling believes in economics as a science of
choice; and though he often criticizes his fellows - for putting
issues in terms of "efficiency," for example, instead of saying
that a potential solution is preferable because it lets more people
have more of what they want - his faith never wavers. Dealing with
the social cost of death, for example, Schelling lays out some of
the ways in which death is special: its impact on families; the
fact that it comes only once, and awesomely; the fact that it is
generally treated as a low-probability event during an individual
lifetime, etc. But death is an important economic concern in areas
from insurance costs to government budgetary items - those that
effect statistical deaths through overall health impact. The first
set of exceptional considerations makes death difficult to deal
with; Schelling, however, thinks we should find ways for the
"consumer" to think about what it's worth (in individual costs) to
reduce the risk of death. So he devises some hypothetical questions
about how much income an individual might willingly defer to lessen
the likelihood of untimely death over fixed periods of time; then,
he puts the question in terms of an individual as a member of a
group - what would it be worth to each to lower the probability
within the group? Schelling is trying to reduce the question to a
size meaningful for the individual, so that a reasoned choice can
be expressed. The alternative is to rely on behavior - consumer
behavior, the linchpin of welfare economics - and that is
misleading because individuals facing an immediate choice may not
choose as they would collectively at a distance. Finding the right
distance is his concern; but whether the issue is death or the
decision to quit smoking, it isn't clear that economic reasoning
adds anything to the analysis of ethical questions. Is the
individual who extracts a promise from others not to let him out of
a painful experience the same one who pleads to be let out while
under pain? When Schelling gets through, the answer isn't any
clearer; he never takes sides and argues for a particular position.
A technician's approach to sticky questions - likely to be
discussed in academic circles. (Kirkus Reviews)
Thomas Schelling is a political economist "conspicuous for
wandering"-an errant economist. In Choice and Consequence, he
ventures into the area where rationality is ambiguous in order to
look at the tricks people use to try to quit smoking or lose
weight. He explores topics as awesome as nuclear terrorism, as
sordid as blackmail, as ineffable as daydreaming, as intimidating
as euthanasia. He examines ethical issues wrapped up in economics,
unwrapping the economics to disclose ethical issues that are
misplaced or misidentified. With an ingenious, often startling
approach, Schelling brings new perspectives to problems ranging
from drug abuse, abortion, and the value people put on their lives
to organized crime, airplane hijacking, and automobile safety. One
chapter is a clear and elegant exposition of game theory as a
framework for analyzing social problems. Another plays with the
hypothesis that our minds are not only our problem-solving
equipment but also the organ in which much of our consumption takes
place. What binds together the different subjects is the author's
belief in the possibility of simultaneously being humane and
analytical, of dealing with both the momentous and the familiar.
Choice and Consequence was written for the curious, the puzzled,
the worried, and all those who appreciate intellectual adventure.
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