Unfolding the Allegory Behind Market Communication and Social Error and Correction

52 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2016

See all articles by Daniel B. Klein

Daniel B. Klein

George Mason University - Department of Economics; George Mason University - Mercatus Center

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 12, 2016

Abstract

One aspect of the present paper is to draw out the Adam Smith in Friedrich Hayek. I suggest that common economic talk of market communication, market error and correction, and policy error and correction invokes a spectatorial being and appeals to our sympathy with such being. Behind such common economic talk, I suggest, are implicit allegories wherein an allegorical figure runs a system of superior knowledge, communication, and voluntary cooperation. Theoretical discussions of social error invoke the notion of agent error applied to the allegorical being. Similarly, theoretical talk of social correction invokes the notion of agent correction applied to the allegorical being. The allegory behind such talk is vital and necessary because without it the talk of social or market communication, error, and correction cannot be sustained. Unfolding the allegory clarifies the meaning, limitations, and value of such talk. Making what had been implicit explicit helps economists to avoid overstating their generalizations or making those generalizations sound more precise and accurate than they are. Meanwhile, scholars have pointed out that spectating impartially involves something of a paradox – distant-closeness, or cool-warmth. Concurring, I explore the connections between the features of the allegorical being and the doings of the economic agents. I suggest that the cogency of such theorizing depends on such correspondences, and that they are matters of culture, of both the context within which the theorizing is done and of the context theorized about.

Keywords: Market communication, price system, error, correction, coordination, Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek, impartial spectator, invisible hand

JEL Classification: A1, B1, B4

Suggested Citation

Klein, Daniel B., Unfolding the Allegory Behind Market Communication and Social Error and Correction (February 12, 2016). GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 16-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2731504 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2731504

Daniel B. Klein (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://economics.gmu.edu/people/dklein

George Mason University - Mercatus Center ( email )

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