Eli Cook
@elicook.bsky.social
Historian writing a book about choice architects.
4/You can read the article here: read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article.... It's pretty critical of modern neoclassical economics - especially mainstream textbooks (Mankiw!), law and economics and cost-benefit analysis and I tip my hat off to the editors of HOPE for publishing it! I learnt a ton.
Money Talks: The Rise of Willingness to Pay Without Apology | History of Political Economy | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
August 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
4/You can read the article here: read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article.... It's pretty critical of modern neoclassical economics - especially mainstream textbooks (Mankiw!), law and economics and cost-benefit analysis and I tip my hat off to the editors of HOPE for publishing it! I learnt a ton.
3/ Only in 1970s did economists brush away these criticisms and institutionalize WTP as a central metric of societal welfare. Today, WTP has a massive influence on our lives, yet it often can be biased against the needs of the poor in favor of the whims of the rich. Not good!
August 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
3/ Only in 1970s did economists brush away these criticisms and institutionalize WTP as a central metric of societal welfare. Today, WTP has a massive influence on our lives, yet it often can be biased against the needs of the poor in favor of the whims of the rich. Not good!
2/ These econs also recognized that because of the principle of diminishing returns on marginal utility, the free market will often lead to inefficient outcomes and allocations where goods are *not* put into the hands of those (the poor) who would benefit the most from them.
August 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
2/ These econs also recognized that because of the principle of diminishing returns on marginal utility, the free market will often lead to inefficient outcomes and allocations where goods are *not* put into the hands of those (the poor) who would benefit the most from them.
The whole "behavioral surplus" framework is really odd and just overcomplicates stuff in my opinion. Also feeds narrative that Google "just gives people what they want" and the real problem isn't power but privacy
July 9, 2023 at 2:30 PM
The whole "behavioral surplus" framework is really odd and just overcomplicates stuff in my opinion. Also feeds narrative that Google "just gives people what they want" and the real problem isn't power but privacy