Timothy Taylor — The Need for Generalists

One of the many political cliches that makes me die a little bit inside is when someone claims that all we need to address a certain problem (health care, poverty, transportation, the Middle East, whatever) is to bring together a group of experts who will provide the common-sense solution that we have all been ignoring. But while bringing together a group of specialist experts can provide a great deal of information and insight, they are often not especially good at melding their specific insights into a general policy.

Why every policy design problem of any significant size needs the participation of a generalist. Who are the generalists? Some are philosophers, in that philosophy property conceived studies the whole in terms of systems and conceptual modeling. Others are general systems theorists and systems thinkers. Lawyers are also generalists in institutional design. These are the disciplines that currently produced generalists. 

Many generalists are also specialists in a particular field. Kenneth Boulding, a co-founder of General systems Theory was an economist. Another co-founder Ludwig von Bertalanffy, who conceived the concept, was a biologist. 

In addition, most policy issues concern values that fall outside the expertise of most specialists. Policy solutions must not only "work" but also be viable. To often, viability is not a concern in the articulation of the policy design problem.

Conversable Economist
The Need for Generalists
Timothy Taylor | Managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, based at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota

Izabella Kaminska — Scaling and why it matters

Not enough attention is paid to scale. Scaling is the basis of civilization. As Roger Erickson has pointed out, it is also the basis of evolution. Dizzy calls our attention to it with respect to the push for decentralization and sharing. Descaling won't work, especially in a capitalistic system in which there are economies of scale.

Dizzynomics
Scaling and why it matters
Izabella Kaminska

Division of labor was pre-Smithian

"Division of labor" was not an invention of Adam Smith.

Read it at INET | History of Economics Playground (very short)
Division of labour was common knowledge by the 1770s
by Benjamin Mitra-Kahn