From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Thu Oct 26 2006 - 09:22:15 EDT
> But in political economy, as I said, a critical question is "WHO benefits > and WHO loses". That's because you are dealing with real human beings with > real interests and needs, not abstract "utility-maximising economic agents > acting on rational expectations" according to some mathematical model. And > in that case you cannot simply talk abstractly about costs, you need to > know "costs for whom" and real effects on people's lives. Hi Jurriaan, This issue, though, concerns *more* than real human beings. Posing the issue only in terms of which classes or segments of classes (or nations, regions, etc.) benefit and which are hurt allows one to, basically, lose sight of the impacts on non-humans. I believe there are frequently speciesist/human chauvinist assumptions which are often embodied in political-economic (and economic) theory. These assumptions are often rooted in the cultural values of prevailing religious institutions about the relation between humans and other species. In solidarity, Jerry
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