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The economic pendulum and the myth of Sisyphus

A book has just been published in Italy, which illustrates the last two hundred years of history as an alternation between market and state. And it provides a third solution

 

Being aware of where one is. Measuring the world that surrounds us. These conditions also apply to entrepreneurs and their managers. They are essential conditions to position their business correctly. Businesses that are therefore not divorced from the world, but rather immersed in the current economic and social shifts. Reading good books that help travel in this direction is therefore essential. And one good book that has just been published in Italian is the one written by Paul De Grauwe, professor at the London School of Economics and member of parliament in Belgium between 1991 and 2003.

“I limiti del mercato. Da che parte oscilla il pendolo dell’economia?” (The limits of the market. Which way does the pendulum of the economy swing?) manages – in just a few pages – to provide an idea of the general evolution of the economy over the last two hundred years. A story of ups and downs, which has oscillated between market and State and which must be understood in full to understand where one is headed.

Written in a plain language, the book by De Grauwe begins with the observation that if what counts is the prosperity of people, of the market and of the state, the eternal poles between which the economy oscillates, they are nothing more than an instrument to achieve that goal and ideological statements are useless. But this is not enough, because according to the author, today the contrast between state and market appears to be quite outdated: it will become increasingly necessary to provide a combination of both.But in this dialectic that has a hard time achieving a balance, often disruptive events come along to foster dangerous radicalisations.

So we need to ask ourselves some questions. What, for example, are the limits of the market? Do we therefore need to prepare ourselves for the overthrowing of the capitalist system and the supremacy of the state? Will this bring prosperity? Does the market need to worry about creating welfare or is the state responsible for ensuring the welfare of citizens?

To answer these questions, the book starts right from the image of the pendulum and its economic oscillations, then investigates first the limits of capitalism (in other words the market) followed by those of the state. In the end, De Grauwe does not provide unequivocal forecasts: he leaves the reader free to choose between two alternatives. The first confirms the “oscillations of the pendulum” and therefore the continuous alternation between moments when the market prevails and others in which the state does. The second is a kind of level leap that envisages a reform of relations and relationships founded on cooperation rather than on competitiveness. This is a prospect that De Grauwe considers difficult to achieve right now.

But for De Grauwe the important thing is to try anyway. At the end of a little less than two hundred pages of the book, there is a beautiful image: the myth of Sisyphus forced to push a boulder to the top of the mountain every morning, after the boulder rolled back down to the bottom of the hill every night. This myth was also remembered by Albert Camus with a particular interpretation, one that De Grauwe resumes confidently, writing: “Camus saw the punishment inflicted on Sisyphus as a metaphor for the absurdity of life. “Should we deal with this nonsense?” – he wondered. One option is to commit suicide. Camus rejects this option. He suggests instead that we should be rebelling against the absurdity of life by throwing ourselves into it, by living intensely and with creativity. The revolutionary hero is the one who, despite the absurdity of the thing and knowing that his rebellion could potentially lead to nothing, nevertheless continues to push the boulder up and stays happy”.

I limiti del mercato. Da che parte oscilla il pendolo dell’economia?” (The limits of the market. Which way does the pendulum of the economy swing?)

Paul De Grauwe

Il Mulino, 2018

A book has just been published in Italy, which illustrates the last two hundred years of history as an alternation between market and state. And it provides a third solution

 

Being aware of where one is. Measuring the world that surrounds us. These conditions also apply to entrepreneurs and their managers. They are essential conditions to position their business correctly. Businesses that are therefore not divorced from the world, but rather immersed in the current economic and social shifts. Reading good books that help travel in this direction is therefore essential. And one good book that has just been published in Italian is the one written by Paul De Grauwe, professor at the London School of Economics and member of parliament in Belgium between 1991 and 2003.

“I limiti del mercato. Da che parte oscilla il pendolo dell’economia?” (The limits of the market. Which way does the pendulum of the economy swing?) manages – in just a few pages – to provide an idea of the general evolution of the economy over the last two hundred years. A story of ups and downs, which has oscillated between market and State and which must be understood in full to understand where one is headed.

Written in a plain language, the book by De Grauwe begins with the observation that if what counts is the prosperity of people, of the market and of the state, the eternal poles between which the economy oscillates, they are nothing more than an instrument to achieve that goal and ideological statements are useless. But this is not enough, because according to the author, today the contrast between state and market appears to be quite outdated: it will become increasingly necessary to provide a combination of both.But in this dialectic that has a hard time achieving a balance, often disruptive events come along to foster dangerous radicalisations.

So we need to ask ourselves some questions. What, for example, are the limits of the market? Do we therefore need to prepare ourselves for the overthrowing of the capitalist system and the supremacy of the state? Will this bring prosperity? Does the market need to worry about creating welfare or is the state responsible for ensuring the welfare of citizens?

To answer these questions, the book starts right from the image of the pendulum and its economic oscillations, then investigates first the limits of capitalism (in other words the market) followed by those of the state. In the end, De Grauwe does not provide unequivocal forecasts: he leaves the reader free to choose between two alternatives. The first confirms the “oscillations of the pendulum” and therefore the continuous alternation between moments when the market prevails and others in which the state does. The second is a kind of level leap that envisages a reform of relations and relationships founded on cooperation rather than on competitiveness. This is a prospect that De Grauwe considers difficult to achieve right now.

But for De Grauwe the important thing is to try anyway. At the end of a little less than two hundred pages of the book, there is a beautiful image: the myth of Sisyphus forced to push a boulder to the top of the mountain every morning, after the boulder rolled back down to the bottom of the hill every night. This myth was also remembered by Albert Camus with a particular interpretation, one that De Grauwe resumes confidently, writing: “Camus saw the punishment inflicted on Sisyphus as a metaphor for the absurdity of life. “Should we deal with this nonsense?” – he wondered. One option is to commit suicide. Camus rejects this option. He suggests instead that we should be rebelling against the absurdity of life by throwing ourselves into it, by living intensely and with creativity. The revolutionary hero is the one who, despite the absurdity of the thing and knowing that his rebellion could potentially lead to nothing, nevertheless continues to push the boulder up and stays happy”.

I limiti del mercato. Da che parte oscilla il pendolo dell’economia?” (The limits of the market. Which way does the pendulum of the economy swing?)

Paul De Grauwe

Il Mulino, 2018