Seeing Like A State
Liberal-left economist Brad DeLong knew his Austrian economics better than the author of Seeing Like a State did. Amusing.
Hat tip to John Hagel.
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January 2nd, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Good article. The Scott book is one of my favorites. I have a different assessment of Scott. My theory is that Scott knows perfectly well that he is writing something completely consistent with Hayek. He attacks Hayek at the very beginning of the book nonetheless. He knows that the academic audience he is writing for will be sniffing around for a basis to attack what he has written. His professional viability and any prospect of being taken seriously would be totally destroyed if anyone were able to say that he is somehow following Hayek or Milton Friedman, whom he also attacks, in an embarrassingly superficial way. Scott is, I believe consciously, attacking these writers so that his own critique will get a hearing and to inoculate himself against professional ostracism. Morally courageous? Ha. Not at all. Spitting on the people who had the same ideas before you did, and who suffered the consequences of being honest about them, just to maintain your PC cred, is pretty pathetic. Rhetorically effective? Maybe. Having plausible deniability that he is any kind of conservative may mean that Scott’s message will reach people who would otherwise never listen to it. I think that is what is happening here. So, Scott is a guy whose books I am happy to read, but who it would be difficult to respect as a human being.
January 3rd, 2011 at 4:24 am
" Rhetorically effective? Maybe. Having plausible deniability that he is any kind of conservative may mean that Scott’s message will reach people who would otherwise never listen to it. I think that is what is happening here. So, Scott is a guy whose books I am happy to read, but who it would be difficult to respect as a human being."
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You might be right. I occasionally used to debate with DeLong on H-Diplo when we were both active on that listserv and I think he would have written a much different review if Scott came across as an Austrian fundamentalist preaching the old time religion.
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Like DeLong, I am also surprised von Mises did not feature prominently, given that he was Hayek’s mentor and his On Socialism, demolished the idea that central planning would be viable. That’s not appearing "conservative" though, it would just be good research.