In this discussion, economist Samuel Bowles shares insights on the evolution of cooperation and economic inequality. He highlights how human behavior shapes economic systems and critiques traditional self-interest models, introducing the significance of altruism. Bowles also reassesses neoliberalism, examining its shortcomings revealed by the 2008 financial crisis. Additionally, he delves into free-riding in historical contexts and its implications for modern challenges like climate change, advocating for community cooperation over top-down solutions.
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insights INSIGHT
Shifting Analogies in Economics
Economists previously favored physics analogies due to shared interests in collective behavior.
Now, biology analogies are more relevant because of economists' focus on system dynamics.
insights INSIGHT
Intentionality's Impact on Economics
Human intentionality makes economics more complex than physics, as individuals have goals and consider others' intentions.
Economics is shifting from transportation metaphors to those of conversation, acknowledging the interactive nature of economic actions.
insights INSIGHT
Limits of the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith's "invisible hand" suggests that self-interest can lead to positive social outcomes.
However, this applies mainly to simple transactions with complete contracts, like buying shirts, not labor.
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Published in 1759, 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' is Adam Smith's first major published work, based on his lectures at Glasgow University. The book argues that morality is driven by humanity's natural sociability and the need for approval from peers, rather than by rational calculation or innate moral sense. Smith introduces key concepts such as sympathy, the impartial spectator, and the invisible hand, which explain how individuals judge the conduct and character of themselves and others. The work delves into the emotional and social aspects of human behavior, highlighting the role of emotions like pity and compassion in shaping moral sentiments and behaviors[1][3][4].
Schooling in Capitalist America
Herb Gintis
Samuel Bowles
A Cooperative Species
Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution
Herbert Gintis
Samuel Bowles
In 'A Cooperative Species', Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis provide a compelling account of human cooperation, arguing that it cannot be fully explained by kinship or reciprocity alone. They propose that group-level competition and the co-evolution of genes and culture played crucial roles in shaping human cooperation. The book draws on experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to support its arguments.
Economics, much like thermodynamics, is a story of collective behavior arising from the interactions of many individual constituents. The big difference is that in economics, the constituents are themselves complicated human beings with their own goals and limitations. We can still make progress by positing some simple but plausible axioms governing human behavior, and proving theorems about what those axioms imply, such as the famous supply-and-demand curves. The trick is picking the right axioms that actually do apply to any given situation. Samuel Bowles is a highly regarded economist who has helped understand the emergence of political hierarchy and economic inequality, often drawing on wide-ranging ideas from game theory and evolutionary biology. We talk about how people evolved to cooperate, and why nevertheless inequality seems to be ubiquitous.
Samuel Bowles received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of Siena, and he is currently Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Leontief Prize, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of the developers of the CORE Econ project.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 
