Davos

[Brad De Long]

>>>Are there any good books that discuss the World Economic Forum?
>>>
>>>Ben
>>>
>>
>>
>>Lewis Lapham's _The Agony of Mammon_,  which I talk about at
>>http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Econ_Articles/Reviews/mammon.html
>
>I dunno, Brad, you seem as obtuse in your book review as Lapham was 
>on the scene at Davos.
>
>In that review, you say:  "In previous eras the meetings that were 
>of genuine interest were those between princes to decide between war 
>and peace, or between churchmen to decide which of their number were 
>heretics to be burned at the stake and which districts would suffer 
>the fire and sword of the crusade. But in this era people meet to 
>talk about monetary policy, productivity, business organization. To 
>me at least that is a very hopeful sign--commerce and productivity 
>being much more pleasant things to experience than war or 
>excommunication."
>
>However, discussions about "monetary policy, productivity, business 
>organization" and the like are anything but innocuous and can well 
>have war-or-peace implications.  Some time ago, I noted here that 
>the comment "There are few ways in which a man can be more 
>innocently employed than in getting money" was the silliest remark 
>Samuel Johnson ever made.  Your thinking and Dr. Johnson's seem to 
>me quite similar in their complacency.
>
Carl

Well it *was* supposed to be a *deliberate* echo of Dr. Johnson. And 
I do agree with him: Economic Growth is at least a positive sum game. 
War and Theology are clearly negative sum games--as the computer said 
in "War Games," "...interesting. The only way to win is not to 
play..."

Brad DeLong