Good article about economics, power and ethics, with which I would substantially agree as a philosopher.
However, Professor Ruccio passes over the economic aspect of power, which bestows the ability to extract economic rent.
Power results in asymmetries that vitiate perfect competition and generate imperfect markets. This allows for rent extraction. Rent goes to the powerful, that is, the owners of real and financial capital, to the disadvantage of those lacking power, basically workers.
Economic rent, rent-seeking, and rent extraction create inefficiencies and therefore fall under the purview of purely economic inquiry.
Employing models whose assumptions are so limiting that they ignore rent is either unscientific, or worse, ideologically biased. The former is ignorant and the latter is unethical.
Let's get real here and call a spade a spade. Morons or crooks?
Occasional Links & Commentary
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame
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