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Have you listened to Civic Action’s podcast, Pitchfork Economics?
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Click here to listen to our episode, “How thinking like an economist holds us back,” with special guest sociologist Elizabeth Popp Berman. >>>
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While we’re all big economics nerds here at Civic Action, we also recognize that “thinking like an economist” isn’t the best way to solve every problem. In fact, some theories that you may have learned in Economics 101 are the very same ideas that hold our country back from making the best policy decisions.
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In a recent episode of Pitchfork Economics, we talked to sociologist Elizabeth Popp Berman about the dangers of evaluating public policy from a purely economic lens, as described in her new book, “Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy.”
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Berman explains that when it comes to public policy, measuring impact in terms of cost/benefit, efficiency, and return on investment just doesn’t cut it. Some of our most impactful programs – like Medicare or the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency – were not “cost-effective” or “affordable” when they were first passed.
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These days, ambitious policies that are not easily quantifiable – like the Build Back Better plan – are subject to intense economic scrutiny that prioritizes dollars and cents in the short term but fails to recognize the long-term benefits such policies would deliver to the American people. And yet, these are exactly the kind of far-reaching investments we need to make to improve the lives of the most vulnerable Americans. When more people have better, healthier, and more financially stable lives that allow them to fully participate in the economy, we all benefit and our economy grows.
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The bottom line is that until our political leaders in Washington, D.C., stop using short-sighted “Econ 101” ideas to evaluate every single public policy, we aren’t going to make the large-scale investments we need.
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Interested in learning more? Listen to Berman’s episode of Pitchfork Economics now. >>>
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Thanks for reading!
Paul
Team Civic Action
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