I’m just going to do a quick run through of some definitions and some
rooting back of words. Economics has been defined as “the allocation of scarce
resources” for as long as I can remember.
I looked it up recently because as economic graduate students, my classmates and I are always talking about optimization. Some of us really do enjoy talking about how to optimize every decision we take in our routine life. I hear so much about optimization, yet I was shocked that my program was filled with few optimistic thoughts. Optimization is the maximization of the benefit desired, given some constraints. However, to my surprise, people in Economics seem to focus more on counting constraints instead of the optimization.
I have often been disheartened when the world places unnecessary constraints on themselves and on others – even if these constraints exist only mentally. I think they affect our decision-making process, and our ability to truly make the best of our situations, because I think our situations may often be better than we realize.
It is especially heart-breaking to see economists place these limits. It is as though the resources themselves have been made scarce. Allocation of these “scarce” resources can hardly be considered maximization without a proper evaluation of the constraints. Constraints must be exogenous of nature, not chosen (at least not in terms of quantity).
When I was growing up, I thought of myself as an optimist. I set out in the
world to discover myself, and I landed up really connecting to the field of
economics. My graduate studies brought me closer to the realization that this
is exactly what I am supposed to study – this is what has always been natural
to me – to make the best of the little (or a lot) that I have. When I’m viewed
as too idealistic or too optimistic by my peers, it is a bit discouraging, but
I don’t let that become a constraint – and this is part of my optimization as
an economist. I chose my advisor because he's the type of person who would
subtly point out to my classmate that the research question is not posing a
"problem", but posing the "next step".
Economists will know what I mean when they are reminded of the etymology of the term, “optimism”: 1759 (in translations of Voltaire), from French optimisme (1737), from Modern Latin optimum, used by Gottfried Leibniz (in "Théodicée," 1710) to mean "the greatest good," from Latin optimus "the best". The doctrine holds that the actual world is the "best of all possible worlds," in which the creator accomplishes the most good at the cost of the least evil. Sound a bit like Pareto?
A true economist must be an optimist! And apparently a great household manager! The etymology of "economist": 1580s, "household manager," from Middle French économiste; meaning "student of political economy" is from 1804;1580s, "art of managing a household," perhaps from French économique.
References: Dictionary.com and Etymology.com
I looked it up recently because as economic graduate students, my classmates and I are always talking about optimization. Some of us really do enjoy talking about how to optimize every decision we take in our routine life. I hear so much about optimization, yet I was shocked that my program was filled with few optimistic thoughts. Optimization is the maximization of the benefit desired, given some constraints. However, to my surprise, people in Economics seem to focus more on counting constraints instead of the optimization.
I have often been disheartened when the world places unnecessary constraints on themselves and on others – even if these constraints exist only mentally. I think they affect our decision-making process, and our ability to truly make the best of our situations, because I think our situations may often be better than we realize.
It is especially heart-breaking to see economists place these limits. It is as though the resources themselves have been made scarce. Allocation of these “scarce” resources can hardly be considered maximization without a proper evaluation of the constraints. Constraints must be exogenous of nature, not chosen (at least not in terms of quantity).
Economists will know what I mean when they are reminded of the etymology of the term, “optimism”: 1759 (in translations of Voltaire), from French optimisme (1737), from Modern Latin optimum, used by Gottfried Leibniz (in "Théodicée," 1710) to mean "the greatest good," from Latin optimus "the best". The doctrine holds that the actual world is the "best of all possible worlds," in which the creator accomplishes the most good at the cost of the least evil. Sound a bit like Pareto?
A true economist must be an optimist! And apparently a great household manager! The etymology of "economist": 1580s, "household manager," from Middle French économiste; meaning "student of political economy" is from 1804;1580s, "art of managing a household," perhaps from French économique.
References: Dictionary.com and Etymology.com
1 comment:
aw, let's optimize together!
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