In Defense of Anagorism

political economy in the non-market, non-state sector

The whole apparatus of economic incentives and state enforcement

In We Don’t Want Full Employment, We Want Full Lives! (h/t Jack Saturday) we find a typical statement of the ideas of post-scarcity, full unemployment, etc. This particular essay stands out from the pack, if nothing else, for this gem of a way of stating the obvious (emphasis, as always, mine):

In a sane society, the elimination of all these absurd jobs (not only those that produce or market ridiculous and unnecessary commodities, but the far larger number directly or indirectly involved in promoting and protecting the whole commodity system) would reduce necessary tasks to such a trivial level (probably less than 10 hours per week) that they could easily be taken care of voluntarily and cooperatively, eliminating the need for the whole apparatus of economic incentives and state enforcement.(1)

It is always so very refreshing to see economic incentives and state enforcement lumped together as one side of the same coin than the usual libertopian formulation in which those harsh mistresses called economic incentives are held out as the natural antidote to state enforcement, or more depressingly, the only possible alternative.

I also simply love how promotion is classified as an “absurd job.”

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2 responses to “The whole apparatus of economic incentives and state enforcement”

  1. […] the -archy suffix. In my defense, I’ve promoted Meritocracy over Promotion (e.g. here and here). This is largely because I’m a frank aspie and I am a lot less (a LOT less) intimidated by […]

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